A theoretical analysis of adsorption and dissociation of CH3OH on the stoichiometric SnO2(110) surface

A theoretical analysis based on the Hartree–Fock pseudopotential method and a density-functional theory calculation using a hybrid combination of general gradient approximation with pseudopotential procedure has been carried out to study the adsorption and dissociation of methanol on the stoichiometric SnO₂(110) surface. The dependence of the results upon model system and computing method is discussed. An optimization procedure of adsorbate and substrate atom positions on a six-layer slab model has been selected to characterize the corresponding geometric parameters, adsorption energy and charge-transfer processes related with the molecularly adsorbed CH₃OH and dissociative channels to yield methoxy or methyl fragments. In the high-coverage limit (θ=1), we find that dissociation of the methanol molecule via the heterolytic cleavage of the C---O bond is favoured. At lower coverage (θ=1/2), this channel and the molecularly adsorbed methanol present similar adsorption energies.