New Bonding Model of Radical Adsorbate on Lattice Oxygen of Perovskites

A new model of bonding between radical adsorbates and lattice oxygens is proposed that considers both the adsorbate-oxygen bonding and the weakening of the metal-oxygen bonds. Density functional calculations of SrMO3 perovskites for M being 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metals are used to correlate the bulk electronic structure with the surface-oxygen reactivity. Occupation of the metal-oxygen antibonding states, examined via the crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP), is found to be a useful bulk descriptor that correlates with the vacancy formation energy of the lattice oxygen and its hydrogen adsorption energy. Analysis of density-of-states and COHP indicates that H adsorption energy is a combined result of formation of the O-H bond and the weakening of the surface metal-oxygen bond due to occupation of the metal-oxygen antibonding states by the electron from H. This insight will be useful in understanding the trends in surface reactivity of perovskites and transition-metal oxides in general.