H2-induced CO adsorption and dissociation over Co/Al2O3 catalyst

The activation of adsorbed CO is an important step in CO hydrogenation. The results from TPSR of pre-adsorbed CO with H2 and syngas suggested that the presence of H2 increased the amount of CO adsorption and accelerated CO dissociation. The H2 was adsorbed first, and activated to form H* over metal sites, then reacted with carbonaceous species. The oxygen species for CO2 formation in the presence of hydrogen was mostly OH*, which reacted with adsorbed CO subsequently via CO*+OH* → CO*2+H*; however, the direct CO dissociation was not excluded in CO hydrogenation. The dissociation of C—O bond in the presence of H2 proceeded by a concerted mechanism, which assisted the Boudourd reaction of adsorbed CO on the surface via CO*+2H* → CH*+OH*. The formation of the surface species (CH) from adsorbed CO proceeded as indicated with the participation of surface hydrogen, was favored in the initial step of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.