Carbon monoxide adsorption on molybdenum phosphides: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic and density functional theory studies

Molybdenum phosphide (MoP) and supported molybdenum phosphide (MoP/γ-Al₂O₃) have been prepared by the temperature-programmed reduction method. The surface sites of the MoP/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst were characterized by carbon monoxide (CO) adsorption with in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. A characteristic IR band at 2037 cm^-1 was observed on the MoP/γ-Al₂O₃ that was reduced at 973 K. This band is attributed to linearly adsorbed CO on Mo atoms of the MoP surface and is similar to IR bands at 2040-2060 cm^-1, which correspond to CO that has been adsorbed on some noble metals, such as platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Density functional calculations of the structure of molybdenum phosphides, as well as CO chemisorption on the MoP(001) surface, have also been studied on periodic surface models, using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation functional. The results show that the chemisorption of CO on MoP occurred mainly on top of molybdenum, because the bonding of CO requires a localized minimum potential energy. The adsorption energy obtained is ΔH_ads ≈ -2.18 eV, and the vibrational frequency of CO is 2047 cm^-1, which is in good agreement with the IR result of CO chemisorption on MoP/γ-Al₂O₃.