| Carbides of the early transition metals have emerged as low-cost catalysts that are active for a wide range of reactions. The surface chemistry of carbides can be altered by modifying the surface with small amounts of admetals. These metal-modified carbides can be effective replacements for Pt-based bimetallic systems, which suffer from the drawbacks of high cost and low thermal stability. In this dissertation, metal-modified carbides were studied for reactions with applications to renewable energy technologies. It is demonstrated that metal-modified carbides possess high activity for alcohol reforming and electrochemical hydrogen production.;First, the surface chemistry of carbides towards alcohol decomposition is studied using density functional theory (DFT) and surface science experiments. The Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) was used to calculate the binding energies of alcohols and decomposition intermediates on metal-modified carbides. The calculated binding energies were then correlated to reforming activity determined experimentally using temperature programmed desorption (TPD). In the case of methanol decomposition, it was found that tungsten monocarbide (WC) selectively cleaved the C-O bond to produce methane. Upon modifying the surface with a single layer of metal such as Ni, Pt, or Rh, the selectivity shifted towards scission of the C-H bonds while leaving the C-O bond intact, producing carbon monoxide (CO) and H2. High resolution energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) was used to examine the bond breaking sequence as a function of temperature. From HREELS, it was shown that the surfaces followed an activity trend of Rh > Ni > Pt. The Au-modified WC surface possessed too low of a methanol binding energy, and molecular desorption of methanol was the most favorable pathway on this surface. Next, the ability of Rh-modified WC to break the C-C bond of C2 and C3 alcohols was demonstrated. HREELS showed that ethanol decomposed through an acetaldehyde intermediate on Rh/WC, and that the C-C bond was broken by 200 K. Finally, the suitability of metal-modified molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) as an ethanol decomposition catalyst was studied. A new reaction pathway of partial dehydrogenation to an acetaldehyde product was achieved by using Cu as an admetal.;The second section of this dissertation was the study of metal-modified carbides for electrochemical hydrogen evolution. Previously, DFT calculations had predicted a similar hydrogen binding energy (HBE) between Pd-modified carbides and bulk Pd. Linear sweep voltammograms (LSV) demonstrated that Pd-modified WC and Mo2C possessed hydrogen evolution activity orders of magnitude greater than the bare carbides. The long-term stability of these surfaces under operating conditions was also examined. A two-hour chronopotentiometry experiment was performed, after which x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) found that negligible loss of the Pd overlayer occurred. As an extension of this work, a DFT study was performed for several admetal/Mo2C combinations. It was shown that the HBE of these surfaces mostly correlated with the pure metal HBE. Some of these combinations were tested experimentally, but were unstable in the acidic electrolyte. |
