Theoretical Study on the Structures and Thermal Properties of Ag–Pt–Ni Trimetallic Clusters

The structures and thermal properties of Ag–Pt–Ni ternary nanoclusters varying with different compositions and sizes are studied by Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. It can be found that silver atoms tend to occupy the surface and platinum atoms favor the subsurface occupation, whereas the inner is occupied by nickel atoms due to the different surface energies and lattice parameters. In addition, there is a non-monotonous relationship between the melting points and compositions of Ag–Pt–Ni ternary nanoclusters according to molecular dynamics simulations. In addition, a linear decrease in melting point with \(N^{ - 1/3}\) is found for both monometallic and trimetallic clusters. This behavior is consistent with Pawlow’s law.     

Highly exposed NiFeOx nanoclusters supported on boron doped carbon nanotubes for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

The development of efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for the overall water splitting. Herein, we prepared a highly exposed NiFeO_x ultra-small nanoclusters supported on boron-doped carbon nonotubes catalyst, which achieves a 10 mA/cm² anodic current density at a low overpotential of 213 mV and the Tafel slope of 52 mV/dec in 1.0 mol/L KOH, superior to the pristine NiFeO_x-CNTs and other state-of-the-art OER catalysts in alkaline media. A combination study (XPS, sXAS and XAFS) verifies that the local atomic structure of Ni and Fe atoms in the nanoclusters are similar to NiO and Fe₂O₃, respectively, and the B atoms which are doped into the crystal lattice of CNTs leads to the optimization of Ni 3d e_g orbitals. Furthermore, in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopies reveal that the high valence state of Ni atoms are served as the real active sites. This work highlights that the precise control of highly exposed multicomponent nanocluster catalysts paves a new way for designing highly efficient catalysts at the atomic scale.     

氢原子在Ni(111)次表面和Ni(211)、(533)台阶面上的吸附与振动

应用原子与表面簇合物相互作用的五参数Morse势(5-MP)方法对氢原子在Ni(111)表面和次表面以及Ni(211), (533)台阶面进行了系统研究, 得到了氢原子在上述各面的吸附位、吸附几何、结合能和本征振动频率. 计算结果表明, 在Ni(111)面上, 氢原子优先吸附在三重位, 随着覆盖度的增加会吸附在次表面八面体位和四面体位. Ni(211), (533)的最优先吸附位都是四重位, 当氢原子的覆盖度增大时占据(111)平台的三重吸附位. 靠近台阶面的吸附位受台阶和平台高度的影响很大. 此外, 我们计算了氢原子在各表面的不同吸附位的扩散势垒, 获得氢原子在各表面的最低能量扩散通道.     

Investigation of Thermodynamic,Dynamic, and Structural Properties of H2 Adsorption on a Ag–Au Nanoalloy with a Carbon Nanotube Support

We have performed MD simulations to investigate H₂ adsorption on Ag–Au nanoclusters with the different Au mole fractions supported on the carbon nanotubes with the different diameters. Our thermodynamic results shown that the saturation value of coverage and the enthalpy of adsorption increases as the mole fraction of Au is increased. Our structural results showed that the presence of the H₂ gas exerts a significant effect on the nanocluster surface atoms and tends to stabilize the surface atoms on the nanocluster. Also, the structural changes are irreversible in such a way that by gradually decreasing the pressure to zero, the nanocluster geometry is not reversed to its initial structure in vacuum conditions. We have also shown that the nanoclusters have smaller values of the self‐diffusion coefficients in presence of H₂ molecules than those values in the initial state (vacuum), which is due to the increasing of the interface structure between the nanocluster and the nanotube.     

Adsorption‐Induced Restructuring and Early Stages of Carbon‐Nanotube Growth on Ni Nanoparticles

Carbon adsorption on various Ni surfaces is investigated as a function of coverage via a combination of first‐principles simulations and field emission microscope experiments. It is found that carbon can be efficiently stored as subsurface carbides, but with different energetics on differently oriented surfaces depending on their compactness and density of adsorption sites. In the resulting morphological reshaping, {113} facets are predicted to grow at the expense of {111} and {100} facets, in excellent agreement with experimental observations. Moreover, at high coverage on the {113} surface the carbon adsorption energy passes through a maximum after which a structural crossover is realized such that carbon atoms tend to ascend to the surface to form one‐dimensional chains (which are the precursors of graphitic nanostructures). This rationalizes the experimental observation of an incubation time between carbon storage and the beginning of catalytic growth, and provides insight into the early stages (nucleation mechanism) of carbon nanotubes on Ni nanoparticles.     

Impact of Impure Gas on CO2 Capture from Flue Gas Using Carbon Nanotubes: A Molecular Simulation Study

We used a grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation to study the influence of impurities including water vapor, SO₂, and O₂ in the flue gas on the adsorption of CO₂/N₂ mixture in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carboxyl doped CNT arrays. In the presence of single impure gas, SO₂ yielded the most inhibitions on CO₂ adsorption, while the influence of water only occurred at low pressure limit (0.1 bar), where a one-dimensional chain of hydrogen-bonded molecules was formed. Further, O₂ was found to hardly affect the adsorption and separation of CO₂. With three impurities in flue gas, SO₂ still played a major role to suppress the adsorption of CO₂ by reducing the adsorption amount significantly. This was mainly because SO₂ had a stronger interaction with carbon walls in comparison with CO₂. The presence of three impurities in flue gas enhanced the adsorption complexity due to the interactions between different species. Modified by hydrophilic carboxyl groups, a large amount of H₂O occupied the adsorption space outside the tube in the carbon nanotube arrays, and SO₂ produced competitive adsorption for CO₂ in the tube. Both of the two effects inhibited the adsorption of CO₂, but improved the selectivity of CO₂/N₂, and the competition between the two determined the adsorption distribution of CO₂ inside and outside the tube. In addition, it was found that (7, 7) CNT always maintained the best CO₂/N₂ adsorption and separation performance in the presence of impurity gas, for both the cases of single CNT and CNT array.     

DFT studies of the characteristics of Pd−Pt core-shell clusters

It is reported that Pd?Pt core-shell type nanoclusters in which the inner atoms of the Pd cluster are substituted by Pt significantly enhance the catalytic activity for cycloocatdiene hydrogenation. In order to discuss the electronic states of core-shell clusters, DFT calculations were carried out for Pd₁₃, Pt₁₃, Pt/Pd₁₂, Pd/Pt₁₂ Pd₃₈ and Pd₆/Pt₃₂ clusters. From these calculations, it was found that the charge transfer between the core atoms and the shell atoms played an important role for the modification of the electronic state of the surface atoms in them.     

Theoretical Study of Interaction between Hydrogen and Small Pt–Sn Intermetallic Clusters

Small clusters, which simulate the active sites of Pt–Sn intermetallics exhibiting a high level of activity and selectivity in the deoxygenation reaction of esters without the loss of carbon mass to form C₁, C₂, and carbon oxides, are constructed and studied with the density functional theory. Molecular adsorption of hydrogen, dissociation of hydrogen molecules at Pt sites, and transition of adsorbed hydrogen atoms from Pt to Sn are considered. The introduction of Sn significantly decreases the affinity of platinum to hydrogen, so that the transition of H atoms to Sn atoms is facilitated with the increase in the amount of Sn. A comparison of the activation energies for such a transition with those of the possible association of hydrogen atoms on tin and the molecular desorption of H₂ showed that the hydrogen spillover in the Pt–Sn intermetallics should not lead to a significant accumulation of hydrogen on tin. In other words, in contrast to Pt atoms, Sn atoms probably cannot serve as active sites of hydrogen adsorption in the deoxygenation reaction.     

Thermal behaviour of carbon clusters and small fullerenes

The structural and thermal properties of small carbon clusters (C _N , N = 13, 20, and 32) are investigated by constant energy Molecular Dynamics simulations over a wide range of temperatures, i.e., from T = 0K to above the melting point of graphitic carbon. The Tersoff interatomic potential [6] is used to mimic the covalent bond between the carbon atoms in the cluster. We find that small carbon clusters start to fragment or to evaporate atoms or C₂ or C₃ units before fully developing a liquidlike phase. As a consequence, some relevant isomers (such as rings, bowls, hollow cages) are thermally isolated from each other i.e., there are no thermally activated isomerization transitions between them. Possible implications of our results on the growth mechanism of fullerenes are discussed.     

Non-Dissociative Activation of Chemisorbed Dinitrogen on One or Two Vanadium Atoms Supported by a Mo6S8 Cluster

Adsorption of N₂ on Mo₆S₈^q_V_x clusters (x=0, 1, 2; q=0, ±1) were systematically studied by density functional theory calculations with dispersion corrections. It was found that the N₂ can be chemisorbed and undergo non-dissociative activation on single or double metal atoms. The adsorption and activation are influenced by metal types (V or Mo), N₂ coordination modes and charge states of the clusters. Particularly, anionic Mo₆S₈⁻_V₂ clusters have remarkable ability to fix and activate N₂. In Mo₆S₈⁻_V₂, two V atoms prefer to adsorb on two adjacent S−Mo−S hollow sites, leading to the formation of a supported V…V unit. The N₂ is bridged side-on coordinated with these two V atoms with high adsorption energy and significant charge transfer. The bond order, bond length and vibration frequency of the adsorbed N₂ are close to those of a N−N single bond.     

Adsorption of carbon monoxide on Pd low‐index surfaces and (110) reconstructed surface

Adsorption and diffusion of carbon monoxide on Pd low‐index surfaces and missing‐row Pd (110) reconstructed surface have been investigated by the extended London–Eyring–Polyani–Sato (LEPS) method constructed by means of a five‐parameter Morse potential. All critical characteristics, such as adsorption site, adsorption geometry, binding energy, CO vibrational frequency have been obtained and compared with the experimental and theoretical data. On these surfaces, the stable adsorption sites of CO are changed with increasing CO coverage. On the missing‐row Pd (110) reconstructed surface, there are five stable adsorption sites: H₁, H₂ (H₁ and H₂ are threefold hollow sites on (111) subsurface), B (bridge site on the second layer), SB (short‐bridge site), and T (top site). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adsorption of chlorobenzenes on ultrafine diamond modified with palladium and nickel nanoparticles

Dynamic sorption is used to study the adsorption properties of palladium and nickel nanoparticles immobilized on a surface of ultrafine diamond (UFD). The test adsorbates are n-alkanes (C₆-C₈), benzene, chloroform, diethyl ether, chlorobenzene, and o-dichlorobenzene. For each adsorbate, the adsorption isotherms are measured, the isosteric heats of adsorption and contributions to them from the energies of dispersion Q _disp and specific (donor-acceptor) Q _spec interactions are calculated, and the electron-donor and electron-acceptor characteristics of the surface of the original UFD and the UFDs with immobilized metal nanoparticles are estimated. It is shown that chlorobenzene is sorbed by the physical adsorption mechanisms on the original support and on a sample modified with nickel nanoparticles, and is chemisorbed on a support modified with palladium nanoparticles. The highest heats of chemisorption are obtained on UFD modified with Pd nanoclusters; a surface of UFD modified with Ni nanoclusters is less active with respect to these chlorobenzenes than a surface of unmodified UFD. Benzene, chloroform, and diethyl ether are sorbed on unmodified and modified UFDs by a physical adsorption mechanism; the highest and lowest values of Q _spec for these materials are obtained on UFDs modified with Pd and Ni nanoclusters, respectively.     

H2 adsorption on Ag‐nanocluster/single‐walled carbon nanotube composites: A molecular dynamics study on the effects of nanocluster size,diameter, and chirality of nanotube

The H₂ physisorption on Ag_N (with N = 32, 108, 256, 500, and 864)/carbon nanotube (CNT; in armchair and zigzag structures with diameters between 0.54 and 2.98 nm) composites were studied by molecular dynamic simulation to investigate the effect of nanocluster size, diameter, and chirality of nanotube on the adsorption phenomena. The calculations indicate that the effects of nanocluster properties are more important than those of the nanotube, in such a way that increase of nanocluster size, decreases the H₂ adsorption. Also, the diameter and chirality of CNTs have considerable influence on the adsorption phenomena. As the diameter of nanotube is increased, the amount of adsorption is decreased. Moreover, H₂ molecules have more tendencies to those nanoclusters located on the armchair nanotubes than the zigzag ones. Another important result is the reversibility of H₂ adsorption on these materials in which the structure of composite in vacuum and after reduction of H₂ pressure to zero, is not changed, considerably. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theoretical Investigation of the Interaction between Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Nanotubes with Single‐Vacancy Defects

Density functional theory calculations are used to study the healing process of a defective CNT (i.e. (8,0) CNT) by CO molecules. The healing undergoes three evolutionary steps: 1) the chemisorption of the first CO molecule, 2) the incorporation of the C atom of CO into the CNT, accompanied by the adsorption of the leaving O atom on the CNT surface, 3) the removal of the adsorbed O atom from the CNT surface by a second CO molecule to form CO₂ and the perfect CNT. Overall, adsorption of the first CO reveals a barrier of 2.99 kcal mol^?1 and is strongly exothermal by 109.11 kcal mol^?1, while adsorption of a second CO has an intrinsic barrier of 32.37 kcal mol^?1and is exothermal by 62.34 kcal mol^?1. In light of the unique conditions of CNT synthesis, that is, high temperatures in a closed container, the healing of the defective CNT could be effective in the presence of CO molecules. Therefore, we propose that among the available CNT synthesis procedures, the good performance of chemical vapor decomposition of CO on metal nanoparticles might be ascribed to the dual role of CO, that is, CO acts both as a carbon source and a defect healer. The present results are expected to help a deeper understanding of CNT growth.     

Adsorption of carbon on Pd clusters of nanometer size: a first-principles theoretical study

Adsorbed atomic C species can be formed in the course of surface reactions and commonly decorate metal catalysts. We studied computationally C adsorption on Pd nanoclusters using an all-electron scalar relativistic density functional method. The metal particles under investigation, Pd(55), Pd(79), Pd(85), Pd(116), Pd(140), and Pd(146), were chosen as fragments of bulk Pd in the form of three-dimensional octahedral or cuboctahedral crystallites, exposing (111) and (100) facets as well as edge sites. These cluster models are shown to yield size-converged adsorption energies. We examined which surface sites of these clusters are preferentially occupied by adsorbed C. According to calculations, surface C atoms form strongly adsorbed carbide species (with adsorption energies of more than 600 kJ mol(-1)) bearing a significant negative charge. Surface sites allowing high, fourfold coordination of carbon are overall favored. To avoid effects of adsorbate-adsorbate interaction in the cluster models for carbon species in the vicinity of cluster edges, we reduced the local symmetry of selected adsorption complexes on the nanoclusters by lowering the global symmetry of the nanocluster models from point group O(h) to D(4h). On (111) facets, threefold hollow sites in the center are energetically preferred; adsorbed C is calculated to be slightly less stable when displaced to the facet borders.     

Adsorption and migration growth of the Ce,O, and F adatoms on the CeO2 (111) surface: A density functional theory study

In order to investigate the microscopic behavior of the crystal surface growth of the fluorinated cerium dioxide polishing powder, the adsorption and migration of the Ce, O, and F atoms on the CeO₂ (111) surface were studied by using density functional theory with Hubbard correction +U. The adsorption energies of three single atoms at five high-symmetry sites and the migration activation energies along the migration pathway on the CeO₂ (111) surface were calculated. Results show that the most stable adsorption sites of the Ce, O, and F atoms were the O_h, Ce_bri, and Ce_t sites, respectively. The Ce atom migrated from the O_h to the O_t site. The O atom migrated from the Ce_bri to the O_bri site. The F atom migrated from the Ce_t to the O_h site. The migration activation energies of the Ce, O, and F atoms along the migration pathways were 1.526, 0.597, and 0.263 eV, respectively. The F adatom does not change the spatial configuration of the Ce and the O atoms. When the O vacancy occurs on the CeO₂ (111) surface, the F adatom can make up for the O vacancy defect.     

Density-Functional Theory Study on Neutral and Charged M n C2 (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu; n = 1–5) Clusters

The ground-state geometrical and electronic properties of neutral and charged M _n C₂ (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu; n = 1–5) clusters are systematically investigated by density-functional calculations. The growth evolution trends of neutral and charged Fe _n C₂, Co _n C₂, Ni _n C₂ and Cu _n C₂ (n = 1–5) clusters are all from lower to higher dimensionality, while it is special for Cu _n C ₂ ^± (n = 1–5) clusters which favor planer growth model. The space directional distributions of Co and Ni indicate stronger magnetic anisotropy than that in Cu atoms. Compare with experimental data (photoelectron spectroscopy), our results are in good agreement. The interaction strengths between metal and carbon atoms in TM–C (TM = Fe, Co, Ni) clusters are comparable and are obviously larger than that in Cu–C clusters, and this interaction strengths also decrease through the sequence: cation > neutral > anion, which may be crucial in exploring the differences in the growth mechanisms of metal–carbon nano-materials.     

The H and H2 interaction with Pd3Cu,Pd4, and Cu4 fcc (111) clusters: A DFT comparative study

A comparative study of adsorption of H atoms and H₂ molecules on Pd₃Cu, Cu₄, and Pd₄ clusters has been performed through density functional calculations, using the hybrid B3LYP exchange‐correlation functional as implemented in the Gaussian98 program. For Pd atoms the relativistic small‐core effective core potential LANL and LANL2DZ basis set was used and for hydrogen a 6‐31G** basis set was used. The main emphasis is set in the reaction behavior of the different clusters with hydrogen atoms and molecules. We find that full geometry optimization does not appreciably change the metal cluster geometry either for certain reaction modes or the H and H₂ capture parameters, but increases the number of reactive sites of the metal clusters. Also, we found that there is charge transfer competition between H and Cu atoms, which drastically diminishes H₂ adsorption energy, related to the Pd cluster observed value. Edges and threefold sites are the principal hydrogen adsorption sites. Hydrogen has a great mobility over the metal clusters for different minima, especially when Cu is present; many initial pathways end in the same adsorption site. The observed hydrogen adsorption and binding energies are well reproduced by the calculations. Also, the adsorption mechanisms were determined. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005