Methanol activation catalyzed by Pt7, Pt3Cu4, and Cu7 clusters: A density functional theory investigation

Metal clusters were considered as excellent catalysts for methanol dissociation. In this work, two main decomposition mechanisms of methanol on Pt₇, Pt₃Cu₄, and Cu₇ clusters were investigated by the density functional theory. One was methanol direct dehydrogenation, and the other was non‐CO‐involved oxidation. Stable adsorption configurations, elementary reaction barriers, the potential energy surface (PES), and the charge analysis were elucidated. The results showed that on Pt₇ cluster, methanol was favorable for direct decomposition. On Pt₃Cu₄ and Cu₇ clusters, methanol was inclined to the pathway of non‐CO‐involved oxidation. All the transition‐state energies and the final‐state energies were related in a linear, including those for the clusters. The results may be useful for computational design and catalysts optimization.     

Water Adsorption and Dissociation on Ceria‐Supported Single‐Atom Catalysts: A First‐Principles DFT+U Investigation

Single‐atom catalysts have attracted wide attention owing to their extremely high atom efficiency and activities. In this paper, we applied density functional theory with the inclusion of the on‐site Coulomb interaction (DFT+U) to investigate water adsorption and dissociation on clean CeO₂(111) surfaces and single transition metal atoms (STMAs) adsorbed on the CeO₂(111) surface. It is found that the most stable water configuration is molecular adsorption on the clean CeO₂(111) surface and dissociative adsorption on STMA/CeO₂(111) surfaces, respectively. In addition, our results indicate that the more the electrons that transfer from STMA to the ceria substrate, the stronger the binding energies between the STMA and ceria surfaces. A linear relationship is identified between the water dissociation barriers and the d band centers of STMA, known as the generalized Brønsted–Evans–Polanyi principle. By combining the oxygen spillovers, single‐atom dispersion stabilities, and water dissociation barriers, Zn, Cr, and V are identified as potential candidates for the future design of ceria‐supported single‐atom catalysts for reactions in which the dissociation of water plays an important role, such as the water–gas shift reaction.     

Reaction mechanism of methanol decomposition on Pt‐based model catalysts: A theoretical study

The decomposition mechanisms of methanol on five different Pt surfaces, the flat surface of Pt(111), Pt‐defect, Pt‐step, Pt(110)(1 × 1), and Pt(110)(2 × 1), have been studied with the DFT‐GGA method using the repeated slab model. The adsorption energies under the most stable configuration of the possible species and the activation energy barriers of the possible elementary reactions involved are obtained in this work. Through systematic calculations for the reaction mechanism of methanol decomposition on these surfaces, we found that such a reaction shows the same reaction mechanism on these Pt‐based model catalysts, that is, the final products are all H (H_ads) and CO (CO_ads) via O? H bond breaking in methanol and C? H bond scission in methoxy. These results are in general agreement with the previous experimental observations. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010.     

Cu-ZnO催化剂上水活化的第一性原理研究

采用密度泛函理论计算研究了水在Cu-ZnO催化剂表面上不同位点的解离过程. 结果发现, 水在纯Cu密堆积面和台阶面解离能垒都较高; 而在负载的ZnO薄膜上, 由于水解离过程能垒较低并且反应约为热中性, 水将会在表面上部分解离并达到动力学平衡. Cu-ZnO界面被确定为水解离的活性中心. 水解离后产生的H原子和羟基均可以较大吸附能吸附在界面处, 并且界面处的类似台阶结构大大降低了解离能垒, 从而使得水的解离可自发进行. 另外, H原子和羟基在ZnO薄膜表面可以较低的能垒扩散, 因此水解离活性位点可以持续催化后续解离过程. 该结果深化了对水在Cu-ZnO催化剂表面活化过程的认识.     

CO2 Reduction Mechanism on the Cu2O(110) Surface: A First-Principles Study

Cu₂O is an attractive catalyst for the selective reduction of CO₂ to methanol. However, the mechanism of the reaction and the role of the Cu species in different oxidation states are not well understood yet. In this work, by first-principles calculations, we investigate the mechanism of the reaction on the Cu₂O(110) surface, which is the most selective for methanol, in different degrees of reduction: ideal surface, slightly reduced surface (SRS), and partially reduced surface (PRS). The most favorable reaction pathways on the three surfaces were identified. We found that Cu(I) on the ideal surface is not capable of chemisorbing CO₂, but surface oxygen serves as the active site which selectively converts CO₂ to CH₃OH with a limiting potential of −0.77 V. The Cu(0) on the SRS and PRS promotes the adsorption and reduction of CO₂, while the removal of the residue O* becomes potential/rate limiting with a more negative limiting potential than the ideal surface. The SRS is selective to methanol while the PRS becomes selective to methane. The result suggests that the key to high methanol selectivity is to avoid the reduction of Cu(I), which provides a new strategy for the design of more efficient catalysts for selective CO₂ reduction to methanol.     

O2 dissociative adsorption on the Cu‐, Ag‐, and W‐doped Al(111) surfaces from DFT computation

The O₂ adsorption and dissociation on M‐doped (M = Cu, Ag, W) Al(111) surface were studied by density functional theory. The adsorption energy of adsorbate, the average binding energy and surface energy of Al surface, and the doping energy of doping atom were calculated. All the doped atoms can be stably combined with Al atoms, while being slightly embedded in the surface to a certain depth. The TOP‐type surfaces are the most stable doped surfaces for O₂ adsorption, which is related to the orbital hybridization between the adsorbate and the surface atoms, the electronegativity, and the orbital energy level of the doping atoms. Moreover, the O atoms and doping atoms contribute significantly to the density of states (DOS), especially the O‐p orbital electrons and the d orbital electrons of doping atoms. The degree of O₂ dissociation is related to the doping atoms on Al surfaces, and the doping atoms actually resist the dissociation of O₂. W atoms have the best resistance effect on the O₂ dissociation as compared with Cu and Ag atoms, especially W‐1NN surface, which has both large barrier energy and reaction energy.     

Sr掺杂对CaO(100)表面吸附甲醇影响的分子模拟

借助分子模拟手段,研究了锶掺杂对氧化钙表面甲醇吸附行为的影响。构建了甲醇在CaO(100)和CaO(100)-Sr表面吸附的模型,计算了甲醇在氧化钙表面的吸附能和解离活化能,分析了甲醇在氧化钙表面成键的态密度以及锶掺杂前后甲醇在氧化钙表面电荷布局和差分电荷密度,评估了锶掺杂量对氧化钙表面甲醇吸附性能的影响。结果表明,锶掺杂能够显著强化氧化钙对甲醇的吸附性能,降低甲醇的解离活化能,且吸附性能随锶掺杂量的增加而增强;甲醇在氧化钙表面吸附时活化,锶掺杂后活化程度增加。     

利用原位APXPS与STM研究H2在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面的活化

Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃是工业中最广泛使用的甲醇合成催化剂。然而该催化反应的活性位点和机理目前仍存争议。H₂作为反应物之一,研究其在ZnO表面的活化和解离对于弄清甲醇合成反应的催化机理具有重要的帮助。本工作利用近常压光电子能谱(APXPS)和扫描隧道显微镜(STM)原位研究了H₂在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面上的活化和解离。APXPS结果表明：在0.3 mbar (1 mbar = 100 Pa)的H₂气氛中,室温下ZnO表面形成羟基(OH)吸附物种。STM实验发现通入H₂后ZnO表面发生了(1×1)到(2×1)的重构。上述结果和原子H在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面的吸附结果一致。然而吸附H₂O可以导致同样的现象。因此,我们还开展了H₂O在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面吸附的对比实验。结果表明：H₂气氛中ZnO表面发生0.3 eV的能带弯曲,而H₂O吸附实验中几乎观察不到能带弯曲发生。同时,热稳定性实验表明H₂气氛中ZnO表面的OH不同于H₂O解离吸附产生的OH,前者具有更高的脱附温度。因此,本工作的结果表明常温和常压下H₂在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面发生解离吸附。这一结果和以往超高真空下未发现H₂在ZnO(10${\rm{\bar 1}}$0)表面上的解离不同,说明H₂的活化是一个压力依赖过程。     

Density functional theory (DFT) investigation of the adsorption of the CH3OH/Au(100) system

The adsorption of methanol on flat Au (100) surface with different coverages (θ = 1.0, 0.5 and 0.25 monolayer (ML)) is studied using density functional theory. Among the three sites (top, bridge and hollow) and coverages investigated in the present work, no adsorption is stable for θ = 1.0 ML. The most energetically preferred site of adsorption for CH₃OH is found to be the hollow site for coverages of 0.25 ML and 0.50 ML. We also find that for all adsorption sites, an increase in CH₃OH coverage triggers a decrease in the adsorption energy. The geometric parameters, local density of states and work function changes are analysed in detail. The coadsorption of methoxy and hydrogen has also investigated. In addition, the dissociation of methanol on Au(100) has been studied, and an activation energy was found to be 1.72 eV. This result compare with existing data in the literature for Au(111) surface. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemoselective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol using heterogenized cobalt oxide catalysts

Cobalt oxide nanoparticles (NPs) supported on porous carbon (CoO_x@CN) were fabricated by one-pot method and the hybrids could efficiently and selectively hydrogenate phenol to cyclohexanol with a high yield of 98%.     

Pd/ZnO催化甲醇水蒸气重整理论研究

随着化石能源的日渐枯竭和人们对环境保护的日益重视,发展清洁高效的新能源成为世界各国高度关注的战略课题。甲醇水蒸气重整是生产氢能的有效方法之一,Pd/ZnO催化剂热稳定性好、选择性高,是可能替代Cu/ZnO的催化剂。本文综述了近十年来采用理论方法对Pd/ZnO催化甲醇水蒸气重整制氢机理的研究工作。文章首先论述了催化剂的研究进展,然后对水在单体和聚集状态下在单层及多层平整的和阶梯状的合金表面的吸附和解离进行了总结;接着对甲醇、甲氧基和甲醛在合金表面的吸附和化学反应的热力学和动力学作了介绍;随后基于计算结果,对甲醇反应机理给予了详细的描述。最后对全文进行了总结并对未来的研究作了展望。     

Experimental study of albumin and lysozyme adsorption onto acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) surfaces

Many commercial soft contact lenses are based on poly-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and acrylic acid (AA) hydrogels. The adsorption of proteins, albumin and lysozyme, on such contact lens surfaces may cause problems in their applications. In this work the adsorption of proteins, albumin and lysozyme, on hydrogel surfaces, AA and HEMA, was investigated as a function of concentration of protein. Also the effects of pH and ionic strength of protein solution on the adsorption of protein were examined. The obtained results indicated that the degree of adsorption of protein increased with the concentration of protein, and the adsorption of albumin on HEMA surface at the studied pHs (6.2-8.6) was higher than AA surface, whereas the adsorption of lysozyme on AA surface at the same pHs was higher than HEMA. The change in ionic strength of protein solution affected the proteins adsorption on both AA and HEMA surfaces. Also, the amount of sodium ions deposited on the AA surface was much higher than HEMA surface. This effect can be related to the negative surface charge of AA and its higher tendency for adsorption of sodium ions compared to the HEMA surface.     

Surface morphology and active sites of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> for photoassisted catalysis

The main aim of this work is to discriminate the closely related adsorption and catalytic degradation processes that occur during a photocatalytic reaction. Very high-surface-area TiO₂ and Pd-doped TiO₂ were synthesized by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and used for degradation of methylene blue as a model pollutant dye. Thorough structural, morphological, and surface analyses of the synthesized catalysts were conducted to investigate key material properties that influence adsorption and catalytic performance. The adsorption capacity of the catalysts was determined by fitting adsorption data using the Langmuir isotherm model, and the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized samples was evaluated by periodically measuring the concentration of methylene blue as it was photocatalytically degraded under ultraviolet (UV) light. The results indicated that noble-metal incorporation compromised adsorption but favored catalytic performance.     

Heteroatom‐doped MoSe2 Nanosheets with Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Kinetics for Alkaline Water Splitting

Electrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation is a vital part for the prospect of future energy systems, however, the practical utilization relies on the development of highly active and earth‐abundant catalysts to boost the energy conversion efficiency as well as reduce the cost. Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe₂) is a promising nonprecious metal‐based electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media, but it exhibits inferior alkaline HER kinetics in great part due to the sluggish water adsorption/dissociation process. Herein, the alkaline HER kinetics of MoSe₂ is substantially accelerated by heteroatom doping with transition metal ions. Specifically, the Ni‐doped MoSe₂ nanosheets exhibit the most impressive catalytic activity in terms of lower overpotential and larger exchange current density. The density functional theory (DFT) calculation results reveal that Ni/Co doping plays a key role in facilitating water adsorption as well as optimizing hydrogen adsorption. The present work paves a new way to the development of low‐cost and efficient electrocatalysts towards alkaline HER.     

水在Au1/CeO2单原子催化剂上吸附与解离的理论研究

自Haruta和Hutchings发现负载的纳米金催化剂的催化活性后,负载型金催化剂一直是非均相催化的研究重点之一.近年来,单原子催化剂因其优异的活性、选择性,超高的原子利用效率,引起了科学家们的广泛关注.越来越多的单原子金催化剂被成功制备,并被证实具有很好的催化活性.水,作为环境中最常见的物质,在实际的催化体系中往往难以避免,即使在超高真空环境中也会有痕量的水气存在.水的解离不仅是水煤气反应的重要步骤之一,而且对别的反应也有一定的促进作用.尽管水和纳米团簇催化剂之间的研究已经颇有成效,但水和单原子金催化剂之间的作用还不是非常清晰.因此,我们采用密度泛函理论从原子尺度研究了水和Au1/CeO2单原子催化剂的相互作用.我们首先研究了水在完美CeO2表面和含有一个氧空位的CeO2–x表面上的解离过程,研究发现分子态的水和解离态的水在完美CeO2表面可以共存,而一旦在表面形成氧空位后,由于较低的能垒和极大的放热,解离态的水将占据绝对优势.接下来探索了水在完美Au1/CeO2表面和含有一个氧空位的Au1/CeO2–x表面上的解离过程,发现结论恰好和CeO2表面相反.水的解离过程在完美的Au1/CeO2表面几乎是一个无能垒的过程,并且解离会放出大量的热量.而一旦在表面形成氧空位后,单原子Au的轨道处于满占状态,无法提供水的吸附位点.水的解离过程在Ce位点进行,分子吸附能与解离吸附能相当,分子态与解离态共存.为了进一步理解单原子金在水的解离过程中起到的作用,我们分析了水和Au1/CeO2之间的电子相互作用.研究结果表明,单原子金不仅为水的吸附提供了位点,金的5d轨道和水的2p轨道之间的相互作用还有效减弱了水中氧氢键的强度,使水的解离更容易进行.由此可见,在涉及到水解离的反应中,以Au1/CeO2为代表的单原子催化剂有望带来新的突破.最后,我们还测试了范德华力对研究体系的影响.研究发现尽管范德华力会使吸附能的绝对值增加,但是并不影响我们得到的结论.     

In situ SERS and SHINERS study of electrochemical hydrogenation of p-ethynylaniline in nonaqueous solvents

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) studies of electrode/solution interfaces are important for understanding electrochemical processes. However, revealing the nature of reactions at well-defined single crystal electrode surfaces, which are SERS-inactive, remains challenging. In this work, shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) was used for the first time to study electrochemical adsorption and hydrogenation reactions at single crystal surfaces in nonaqueous solvents. A roughened Au surface was also studied for comparison. The experimental results show that the hydrogenation of adsorbed p-ethynylaniline (PEAN) on roughened Au electrode surfaces occurred at very negative potentials in methanol because of the catalytic effect of surface plasmon resonance (SPR). However, because “hot electrons” were blocked by the silica shell of Au@SiO₂ nanoparticles and aprotic acetonitrile was an ineffective hydrogen source, surface reactions at Au(111) were inhibited in the systems studied. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the PEAN triple bond opened, allowing adsorption in a flat configuration on the Au(111) surface via two carbon atoms. This work provides an advanced understanding of electrochemical interfacial processes at single crystal surfaces in nonaqueous systems.     

Dissociative adsorption of molecular hydrogen onto Pt<Subscript>6</Subscript> and Pt<Subscript>19</Subscript> platinum clusters located on the tin dioxide surface: Quantum-chemical modeling

It is suggested that, for the operation of platinum catalysts based on tin dioxide in air hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen spillover (migration) leading to a change in the electron and proton contributions of the catalyst conductivity is of crucial importance. The hydrogen adsorption, dissociation, and migration in the platinum-tin dioxide-hydrogen system surface have been modeled by the density functional theory method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) under periodic conditions using a projector-augmented plane-wave (PAW) basis set with a pseudopotential. It has been demonstrated that the adsorption energy of a hydrogen molecule onto a platinum cluster increases from 1.6 to 2.4 eV as the distance to the SnO₂ substrate decreases. The calculated Pt-H bond length for adsorbed structures is 1.58–1.78 Å. The computer modeling has demonstrated that: (1) the hydrogen adsorption energy on clusters is higher than on the perfect platinum surface; (2) dissociative chemisorption onto Pt _n clusters can occur without a barrier and depends on the adsorption site and the cluster structure; (3) the adsorption energy of hydrogen onto the SnO₂ surface is higher than the adsorption energy onto the platinum cluster surface: (4) multiple H₂ dissociation on the tin dioxide surface occurs with a barrier; (5) the dissociation adsorption of hydrogen molecules onto the platinum cluster surface followed by atom migration (spillover) is energetically favorable.     

The double layer and ion adsorption at the interface between two immiscible solutions: Part III. Long chain alkyl-trimethylammonium halides at partition equilibrium between water and nitrobenzene

The surface excesses of alkyltrimethylammonium halides have been evaluated from interfacial surface tension measurements carried out at the partition equilibrium between water and nitrobenzene.The model considered is constituted by two space charge layers on either side of a central compact layer which contains alkyltrimethylammonium ions arranged as in an adsorbed monolayer.The value of the electrical potential at the junction plane between the two phases depends on the degree of dissociation within the inner layer and on the number of specifically adsorbed ions. If one assumes complete dissociation it is possible to establish the variation of the adsorption isotherms with the chemical and electrical parameters and thus determine the value of the free energy of adsorption with the number of CH₂ groups in the alkyl chain.The results obtained do not indicate an important effect due to the counter ion, which would tend to substantiate the hypothesis of a total dissociation within the central layer.Furthermore the fact is stressed that the knowledge of the isotherm depends on the magnitude of the potential drop within the compact layer, the value of which cannot be determined by purely thermodynamical measurements.     

水在HfO2(111)和(110)表面的吸附与解离

运用广义梯度近似密度泛函理论方法(GGA-PW91)结合周期平板模型, 研究水分子在二氧化铪(111)和(110)表面不同吸附位置在不同覆盖度下的吸附行为. 通过比较不同吸附位的吸附能和几何构型参数发现:(111)和(110)表面铪原子(top 位)是活性吸附位. 水分子与表面的吸附能值随覆盖度的变化影响较小. 在(111)和(110)表面, 水分子都倾向以氧端与表面铪原子相互作用. 同时也计算了羟基、氧和氢在表面的吸附, Mulliken 电荷布居, 态密度及部分频率. 结果表明, 在两种表面羟基以氧端与表面铪相互作用, 氧原子与表面铪和氧原子同时成键, 而氢原子直接与表面氧原子相互作用形成羟基. 通过过渡态搜索, 水分子在(111)和(110)表面发生解离, 反应能垒分别为9.7和17.3 kJ·mol^-1, 且放热为59.9和47.6 kJ·mol^-1.     

过渡金属表面上水生成经典Horiuti-Polanyi机理与非Horiuti-Polanyi机理选择的总体趋势（英文）

在非均相催化加氢反应中,氢气(H2)一直被公认为是通过两步基元步骤参加还原反应的,包括第一步的分子解离和之后的反应物与原子氢键合,即所谓的Horiuti-Polanyi(HP)机理.直到我们研究组在Ag或Au催化丙烯醛加氢还原反应理论研究中发现非HP机理加氢路径存在时,新的机理才被提出,并引起广大研究者的浓厚兴趣.考虑到表面羟基(OH)和氧(O)在非均相催化体系中广泛存在,如常见的过渡金属催化的费托合成、甲烷重整、水汽转化及氨氧化等反应,基于第一性原理的密度泛函理论计算方法,我们对OH/O在一系列过渡金属催化作用下还原生成水的微观机理进行了系统全面的探究.研究发现,不同金属对应于不同的催化氢化反应活性,以及不同的催化反应机理.在某些金属上H2以分子形式进攻反应物种的非HP机理有利,而在其它金属上经典的H2解离后参与氢化还原反应的HP机理更容易发生.详细分析显示, H2的解离活性决定了反应机理的种类:在对H2解离具有催化活性的金属(如Pt、Ni)表面,不论是(211)台阶面还是(111)平面, H2解离几乎都是无能垒过程,且伴随氢原子的强吸附,反应放热明显,导致活泼金属上HP机理更容易发生;与之相反,在不活泼的催化剂表面, H2解离很难发生,原子吸附也相当微弱,相比于断键裂解, H2更倾向于发生分子氢化的非HP机理.另外,本文还定义了一个新的结构描述符(η)来帮助理解两种机理发生的结构因素差异.η是衡量分子氢化过渡态结构(TS)中H–H键解离程度的参数,根据其定义上下限数值分别设定为H2在各催化剂表面解离过渡态的键长(Ddis)和游离分子态的键长(DH2).结果显示,易发生非HP机理的催化剂表面的TS结构对应的η参数普遍低于0.4,即H–H原子对的确是以近分子形式参与氢化反应;相反发生经典HP机理的催化剂表面,η参数普遍在0.5–0.8,即H–H即使以分子形式参与反应也是处于近解离状态,这预示了以解离吸附氢参与反应的优选性.