CO2 adsorption on the copper surfaces: van der Waals density functional and TPD studies

We investigated the adsorption of CO2 on the flat, stepped, and kinked copper surfaces from density functional theory calculations as well as the temperature programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Several exchange-correlation functionals have been considered to characterize CO2 adsorption on the copper surfaces. We used the van der Waals density functionals (vdW-DFs), i.e., the original vdW-DF (vdW-DF1), optB86b-vdW, and rev-vdW-DF2, as well as the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) with dispersion correction (PBE-D2). We have found that vdW-DF1 and rev-vdW-DF2 functionals slightly underestimate the adsorption energy, while PBE-D2 and optB86b-vdW functionals give better agreement with the experimental estimation for CO2 on Cu(111). The calculated CO2 adsorption energies on the flat, stepped, and kinked Cu surfaces are 20–27 kJ/mol, which are compatible with the general notion of physisorbed species on solid surfaces. Our results provide a useful insight into appropriate vdW functionals for further investigation of related CO2 activation on Cu surfaces such as methanol synthesis and higher alcohol production.