Adsorption of gases on Pt/Ni(1 1 1) systems

The chemisorptive properties of bimetallic systems could be sometimes very different in comparison with those of the pure metallic components. The (1 1 1) face of Pt50–Ni50 alloys has shown a clear decrease in their chemisorptive capacity when compared with Pt(1 1 1) or Ni(1 1 1). In the present work, we study the adsorption of the H atom as well as CO and benzene molecules on a Pt/Ni(1 1 1) surface. Our approach was based on a semiempirical molecular orbital method in the cluster approximation. The binding energy of different molecules decreases significantly with respect to the pure metal surfaces, in agreement with the available experimental information. These results can be related and explained taking into consideration the electronic changes of the Pt states in the overlayer.