Ethylene hydrogenation on Ni(111) / equilibrium geometry calculations for Ni2 dimer, Ni13 and Ni55 nanoclusters / and ethylene adsorption on Ni(100), Ni(111), Ni2, and Ni13 were studied quantum mechanically by means of energetic and kinetic differences. Ethylene hydrogenation on Ni(111) was simulated by use of DFT/B3LYP/6-31G** formalism. The reaction mechanism was mainly composed of three elementary steps. Firstly, ethylene adsorption on bare Ni(111) surface was performed. Second step and third step were the formation of ethane from adsorbed ethylene by use of two types of hydrogen atom, bulk and surface. During the hydrogenation reaction of ethylene on Ni(111), bulk hydrogen atom, representing for hydrogen atoms emerging from the bulk of Ni metal, was determined to be rather reactive than surface hydrogen atom, as suggested by experimental findings. Small Ni clusters, Ni2 and Ni13, were investigated by means of DFT/B3LYP/modified-6-31G**. Equilibrium geometry calculations resulted in Ni2 binding energy of 1.078eV/atom, showing good agreement with experimental value. Ni13 was found to have a structure of icosahedral, suggested experimentally, and binding energy of 2.70eV/atom. Ni55 was, also, studied by semi-empirical PM3 formalism, resulting in expected icosahedral structure. Finally, DFT/B3LYP/6-31G** investigation of ethylene adsorption was performed on Ni(111), Ni(100) and Ni13 surfaces which were selected according to their nickel atom coordination numbers of 9, 8 and 6, respectively. Comparison of adsorption energies of -18.00kcal/mol, -31.4kcal/mol and -43.42kcal/mol, respectively, indicated that the change in energies for ethylene adsorption on different nickel surfaces was directly proportional to coordination number of the nickel atoms constructing the surfaces.

Sustainable energy sources are of great importance, and will become even more important in the future. Gasification of biomass is an important process for utilization of biomass, as a renewable energy carrier, to produce fuels and chemicals. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate i) the effect of co-adsorption of water and CO on the Ni(111) catalysed water splitting reaction, ii) water adsorption and dissociation on Ni(111), Ni(100) and Ni(110) surfaces, as well as iii) formyl oxidation and dissociation, iv) hydrocarbon combustion and synthesis, and v) the water gas shift (WGS) reaction on these surfaces. The results show that the structures of an adsorbed water molecule and its splitting transition state are significantly changed by co-adsorption of a CO molecule on the Ni(111) surface. This leads to less exothermic reaction energy and larger activation barrier in the presence of CO which means that far fewer water molecules will dissociate in the presence of CO. For the adsorption and dissociation of water on different Ni surfaces, the binding energies for H2O and OH decrease in the order Ni(110) > Ni(100) > Ni(111), and the binding energies for O and H atoms decrease in the order Ni(100) > Ni(111) > Ni(110). In total, the complete water dissociation reaction rate decreases in the order Ni(110) > Ni(100) > Ni(111). The reaction rates for both formyl dissociation to CH + O and to CO + H decrease in the order Ni(110) > Ni(111) > Ni(100). However, the dissociation to CO + H is kinetically favoured. The oxidation of formyl has the lowest activation energy on the Ni(111) surface. For combustion and synthesis of hydrocarbons, the Ni(110) surface shows a better catalytic activity for hydrocarbon combustion compared to the other surfaces. Calculations show that Ni is a better catalyst for the combustion reaction compared to the hydrocarbon synthesis, where the reaction rate constants are small. It was found that the WGS reaction occurs mainly via the direct pathway with the CO + O → CO2 reaction as the rate limiting step on all three surfaces. The activation barrier obtained for this rate limiting step decreases in the order Ni(110) > Ni(111) > Ni(100). Thus, the WGS reaction is fastest on the Ni(100) surface if O species are present on the surfaces. However, the barrier for desorption of water (as the source of the O species) is lower than its dissociation reaction on the Ni(111) and Ni(100) surfaces, but not on the Ni(110) surface. Therefore the direct pathway on the Ni(110) surface will dominate and will be the rate limiting step at low H2O(g) pressures. The calculations also reveal that the WGS reaction does not primarily occur via the formate pathway, since this species is a stable intermediate on all surfaces. All reactions studied in this work support the Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) principles.

L’étude de la dissociation de molécules poly-atomiques en surface est d’une importance à la fois fondamentale et industrielle. La compréhension du mécanisme et la dynamique réactionnelle sous-jacents représente un défi. Comme un système modèle, la dissociation de méthane sur la surface de nickel a fait l’objet de nombreuses études pour élucider les chemins de réaction et le transfert d’énergie parmi les différents degrés de liberté durant la réaction. La mode-spécifique ou liaison-spécifique réactivité pour la dissociation de CH4 sur Ni(111) et Ni(100) ont été mise en évidence récemment par des expériences de pointe du jet moléculaire. Jusqu’à présent, les études théoriques de la dynamique réactionnelle ont été effectuées avec un modèle simplifié dans lequel CH4 est décrit comme une molécule pseudo-diatomique. Le concept d’un groupe méthyle spectateur introduit dans un tel modèle impose des contraintes drastiques. Par exemple, l’indiscernabilité des quatre liaisons C-H de méthane est violée par le fait que la liaison C-H capable de se dissocier se singularise par rapport aux trois autres liaisons inertes. En réalité, n’importe quelle des quatre liaisons est susceptible de se dissocier. Par ailleurs, l’unique mode vibrationnel du modèle pseudo-diatomique ne ressemble à aucun des quatre modes vibrationnels principaux du méthane, qui décrivent tous des mouvements collectifs de plusieurs atomes. Lorsque tous les degrés de liberté sont pris en compte, la dimensionnalité de la surface de l’énergie potentielle pour CH4/Ni(111) est très élevée (15 degrés de liberté pour CH4 et certains degrés de liberté du substrat). Construire une surface de l’énergie potentielle fiable à une telle grande dimension est, en soi, un grand défi. A notre connaissance, ce défi n’a jamais été tenté auparavant pour quelconque réaction d’une molécule poly-atomique sur une surface métallique. En utilisant un champ de force réactif, nous avons développé, dans le présent travail, une surface de l’énergie potentielle qui prend en compte tous les 15 degrés de liberté de CH4 ainsi que ceux des 3 premières couches de NI(111). Des simulations de dynamique moléculaire ont été effectuées pour étudier la dynamique réaction de CH4 sur Ni(111) aussi bien dans son état fondamental vibrationnel que dans un état excité. Ces simulations ont permis de révéler des comportements dynamiques inattendus et très intéressants. / In the present work, we undertook a challenging task, i.e., construction a full-dimension potential energy surface (PES) for a benchmark poly-atomic molecular surface reaction, CH4/Ni(111), by using a reactive force field. Careful appraisal of the PES was made in order to establish the validity of the PES. The differences between the results for the transition state (dissociation barriers and structures) given by our PES and those by DFT calculations do not exceed 15%. The molecular dynamics simulation results obtained by using our PES are compared to experimental results for CH4 dissociation probability on Ni(111). For the vibrationally excited state, v3 (v=1, J=0), the agreement between our simulation results and the experimental ones is excellent. For the ground state, the sticking coefficient is somehow over-estimated because of the under-estimation of the dissociation barrier by about 150 meV with our reactive force field. Nevertheless, the overall agreement between simulation and experiment is pretty good. Within the help of the full-dimensional PES, we have extensively studied some important aspects of reaction dynamics, e.g., the effects of surface impact position, surface temperature, vibrationally excited state, rotationally excited states etc. For CH4 in ground state (v=0, J=0), the investigation of the effect of CH4 impact position shows that the top site is the most reactive one. The surface temperature strongly affects the reactivity of methane, especially in the region of the low incident energy near to the dissociation threshold, while in the high incident energy region, the effect is less important. For CH4 v3 (v=1, J=0), an important coupling between rotation and vibration is found. The rotation of CH4 can enhance its reactivity in the following way. In its ground state (v=0, J=0), CH4 does not rotate during its flight to the surface. In this case, only one of the two lowest C-H bonds pointing initially toward the surface can be cleaved while the two other bonds never break. In v3 (v=1, J=0) vibrational state, due to the rotation induced by vibration-rotation coupling, any of the four H atoms can be dissociated even if it forms a C-H bond which has an unfavorable initial orientation (i.e., pointing away from the substrate). The rotation of CH4 induced by vibration-rotation coupling near the substrate allows for bringing an unfavorable initial orientation of C-H bond to the right one required by a transition state (TS) during the adsorbate’s approaching to the substrate. As the enhanced reactivity of vibrationally excited molecules is concerned, the intuitively limpid and overwhelmingly accepted explanation is that the vibration-induced bond stretching helps bond breaking. Our simulation results show clearly that the vibration-induced CH4 rotation contributes an important part to the enhanced reactivity of a v3 (v=1, J=0) vibrationally excited CH4. A series of simulations to determine the sticking curves for CH4 in the vibrational ground state (ν=0) but excited to higher rotational levels (J=0-12) have also been performed. Due to its small level spacing, the lowest rotational excited states (J=1-3) of CH4 do not affect its reactivity on Ni(111) as observed experimentally. We found that rotation enhances significantly CH4 reactivity on Ni(111) with a deposited rotational energy amounting only to 12% of the dissociation barrier. Moreover, in a hypothetic simulation, we found also very striking evidences that rotation can even promote better dissociation of CH4 on Ni(111) than vibration. In a vibrationally excited CH4, its C-H bonds undergo alternate stretching and compressing and the latter hinders dissociation. In this case, the reactivity is inevitably modulated by vibration phase. However, the centrifugal force due to rotation tends always to stretch the C-H bonds for CH4 in rotationally excited states. / 多原子气相分子的分解，不仅在物理，化学及相关学科有着基本的重要性，而且可以促进工业进程，如工业制氢气。对其涉及的反应，即化学键的断裂与形成，在理解其反应机制和动力学上更是一项挑战。作为多原子气相-固相化学反应中最为典型的反应，甲烷分子在金属镍表面的分解，已经被广泛地研究从而理解其在动力学过程中的能量转化和反应路径。最近，选态分子束实验报道了有关甲烷在镍表面分解反应的重要特征，即模式选择性和化学键选择性。从理论角度来看，以前大多数理论研究都是基于一个简化模型，即将甲烷分子看成是一个赝双原子分子(CH4=RH,其中R=CH3)。在该简化模型中，将甲基团当做一个“spectator”会导致严重的限制性，如四个碳氢键的不可分辨性就被破坏。因为在简化模型中，只有一个可分解的碳氢键而其他三个碳氢键则被保护起来；而在实际的分解反应过程中，甲烷分子的任何一个碳氢化学键应该都有概率被分解掉。此外，在该赝双原子分子模型中，单键伸长振动模式不能类比于甲烷的四个基本振动模式，因为其每种基本振动模式都涉及多个原子的复合运动。如果不将甲烷处理成赝双原子分子，那么该体系（CH4/Ni(111)）的势能面的维度会很高，即甲烷的15 个自由度加上部分基地原子的自由度。欲建立一个如此高维度而且又可靠的势能面，本身就是一个值得挑战的研究任务。据我们所知，目前对多原子分子在金属表面反应的高维度势能面的报道几乎没有。在本论文中，我们运用键序反应力场（REBO），为体系CH4/Ni(111)，首次建立起一个全维度的势能面。该势能面的维度包含甲烷的15 个自由度和3 层基地原子的自由度。在经典分子动力学（和准经典分子动力学）模拟下，我们研究了甲烷处于基态和激发态时在金属表面的分解活性，并发现了一些非常有趣的结果。本论文包含以下六章：第一章：简单介绍了甲烷在过渡金属表面分解的最新进展。在选态分子束试验报道中，我们介绍了一些有关该反应的重要特征，如模式选择性，化学键选择性，表面温度效应，空间效应，旋转激发效应等。在理论工作方面，主要介绍了两个理论研究小组近期在简化模型下的一些量子动力学结果。第二章：对本文所运用的理论方法和近似做了基本的介绍。这些方法主要归纳于两类：i)电子结构计算；ii) 分子动力学模拟。我们重点介绍了这些方法和近似的特征。第三章：我们运用二阶矩近似力场(SMA)和键序反应力场(REBO)模拟了氢分子在金属钯表面的分解反应, 从而验证反应力场在模拟表面化学反应的适用性。该章讨论了在参数化反应力场时的一些影响因素，如有效数据库大小，不同排斥势以及长程作用项等，为对复杂体系的研究提供了有效的帮助。第四章：基于键序反应力场(REBO)，我们首次为CH4/Ni(111) 体系建立起一个全维度势能面(PES)。同时我们对该势能面(REBO(PES))做了全面评估，如比较势能面(REBO(PES))与DFT计算得到的过渡状态结构和与之对应的分解势垒，比较两者对于不同形式相互作用给出的势能变化等。此外，我们还直接模拟了甲烷在基态时的活性，其模拟结果与实验有着很好的符合度，从而进一步地说明了该势能面(REBO(PES))的可靠性。第五章：在全维度势能面下，我们深入地研究了甲烷处于不同状态时在镍表面分解的反应活性，即基态(v=0,J=0)，反对称振动态v3 (v=1,J=0)和旋转激发态(v=0,J=1-12)。对于基态的甲烷，我们定性并定量地分析了表面碰撞位置，表面温度对其分解概率的影响。对于反对称振动态的甲烷，我们观察到振动激发态的甲烷分子反应活性比基态甲烷的反应活性要大大地增强。究其根源在于，平动能量不易转换至旋转自由度，而振动能量则非常容易转入到旋转自由度。我们利用三个定量参数详细地阐述了这种振动耦合转动的重要性。此外，对于甲烷处于旋转激发态时，我们发现其激发状态非常有利于甲烷的分解，尽管其旋转能量只有分解势垒的12%。更为惊奇的是，对于甲烷分子而言，其旋转激发态比振动激发态更有利于其分解。其相应的物理解释是，对于振动激发的甲烷，它的碳氢键处于伸长与收缩的交替中，而后者却阻止其分解。对于旋转激发中的甲烷，其离心力一直促使碳氢键的伸长。第六章：总结和展望。我们总结了本文的主要结论以及给出一些将来需要进行的工作，如同位素效应等。