Theoretical Study of Adsorption and Dehydrogenation of C₂H₄ on Cu(410)^†

Adsorption and dehydrogenation of ethylene on Cu(410) surface are investigated with firstprinciples calculations and micro-kinetics analysis. Ethylene dehydrogenation is found to start from the most stable π-bonded state instead of the previously proposed di-σ-bonded state. Our vibrational frequencies calculations verify the π-bonded adsorption at step sites at low coverage and low surface temperature and di-σ-bonded ethylene on C-C dimer (C₂H₄-CC) is proposed to be the species contributing to the vibrational peaks experimentally observed at high coverage at 193 K. The presence of C₂H₄-CC indicates that the dehydrogenation of ethylene on Cu(410) can proceed at temperature as low as 193 K.