Impact of Subsurface Oxygen on CO2 Charging Energy Changes in Cu Surfaces

Abstract

Subsurface oxygen in oxide-derived copper catalysts significantly influences CO$_2$ activation. However, its effect on the molecular charging process, the key to forming the CO$_2^{\delta-}$ intermediate, remains poorly understood. We employ many-body perturbation theory to investigate the impact of the structural factors induced by the subsurface oxygen on charged activation of CO$_2$. By computing the molecular single-particle state energy of the electron-accepting orbital ($\sigma*$) on Cu (111) surface, we examined how this molecular quasi-particle (QP) energy changes with varied vicinity of adsorption and multiple subsurface oxygen configuration. We demonstrate that subsurface oxygen impairs CO$_2$ charging, with its presence and density being influential factors. The non-local potential proves substantial for accurate excitation energy predictions yet is not sensitive to minor atomic structural changes. More importantly, state delocalization and hybridization are critical for determining QP energy. These insights are enlightening for designing atomic architectures to optimize catalytic performance on modified surfaces.