Nature of the active sites for CO reduction on copper nanoparticles; suggestions for optimizing performance

Recent experiments show that the grain boundaries (GBs) of copper nanoparticles (NP) lead to outstanding performance in reducing CO_2 and CO to alcohol products. We report here multiscale simulations that mimic experimental synthesis conditions to predict the structure of a 10nm Cu NP (158,555 atoms). To identify active sites, we first predict the CO binding at a large number of sites and select 4 exhibiting CO binding stronger than the (211) step surface. Then, we predict the formation energy of *OCCOH intermediate as a descriptor for C-C coupling, identifying two active sites, both of which have an undercoordinated surface square site adjacent to a subsurface stacking fault. We then propose a periodic Cu surface (4 by 4 supercell) with a similar site that substantially decreases the formation energy of *OCCOH, by 0.14 eV.