Reaction intermediates of methanol synthesis and the water-gas-shift reaction on the ZnO(0001) surface

The polar Zn-ZnO(0001) surface is involved in the catalysis of methanol synthesis and the water-gas-shift reaction. We use density functional theory calculations to explore the favorable binding geometries and energies of adsorption of several molecular species relevant to these reactions, namely carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O) and methanol (CH3OH). We also consider several proposed reaction intermediates, including hydroxymethyl (CH2OH), methoxyl (CH3), formaldehyde (CH2O), methyl (CH3), methylene (CH2), formic acid (HCOOH), formate (HCOO), formyl (HCO), hydroxyl (OH), oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H). For each, we identify the preferred binding geometry at a coverage of 1/4 monolayers (ML), and report calculated vibrational frequencies that could aid in the identification of these species in experiment. We further explore the effects on the binding energy when the adsorbate coverage is lowered to 1/9 and 1/16 ML.