Electronic structure and catalytic behavior of tungsten carbides

The electronic structure of tungsten carbide was investigated by EHMO semiempirical me-thod.The most stable structure of the carbide was predicted on the basis of binding energy calcula-tions.The W-C bonding is covalent in nature with some charge transfer from the W to the C atoms.The increase in the occupancy of the d shell of the W atoms and the position of the Fermi level mayaccount for the platinum-like catalytic behavior of tungsten carbide.