The
solid catalyst with ionic liquid layer (SCILL) concept is a
promising approach to enhance the selectivity of hydrogenation reactions,
like the selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene to 1-butene using
transition-metal catalysts. In this context, the adsorption dynamics
of 1,3-butadiene and 1-butene were studied on Pt(111) modified with
ultrathin layers of the ionic liquid (IL) 1,3-dimethylimidazolium
bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([C1C1Im][Tf2N]). The sticking coefficients of the two hydrocarbons are
measured using the direct method of King and Wells. Both olefins show
pronounced precursor-mediated dynamics on clean Pt(111) and on the
IL-modified surface. Increasing the IL coverage leads to an increased
blocking of adsorption sites for the incoming olefins. Coadsorbed
hydrogen does not significantly affect the precursor and site-blocking
effects for 1,3-butadiene. Interestingly, a smaller IL amount is needed
to prevent 1-butene adsorption compared to 1,3-butadiene adsorption,
which is proposed to be directly related to the IL’s influence
on selective hydrogenation in SCILL catalysis. Indeed, molecular dynamics
simulations show IL film densification/relaxation as the key mechanism
to allowing/excluding olefin adsorption on the metal. Being a function
of IL coverage, the energy of film penetration is used to control
the effective olefin adsorption energy and thus creates an operation
regime for suppressing 1-butene while permitting 1,3-butadiene adsorption.