Theoretical investigation of CO adsorption on TM-doped (MgO)12 (TM = Ni, Pd, Pt) nanotubes

CO adsorption on TM-doped magnesia nanotubes (TM = Ni, Pd and Pt) have been studied by using density functional theory. Our calculation results show that CO favors adsorption on TM-doped magnesia nanotubes in the form of C atom bonding with TM atom. Fukui indices analysis clearly exhibits that doping of impurity TM atom allows for a noticeably enhancement of nucleophilic reactivity ability of magnesia nanotube. The adsorption energies demonstrate that CO molecule is more strongly bound on the 3-fold TM atoms than the 4-fold TM atoms. This finding is well confirmed by TM-C bond length, charge transfer and C-O vibrational frequency. The high adsorption energy of 2.55 eV is found when CO adsorbs on 3-fold Pt in Pt-doped magnesia nanotubes, implying the kind of the doping TM atom has a significant influence on the chemical reactivity.     

Electrocatalytic reduction of alkyl iodides in tetrahydrofuran at silver electrodes

Recent interest in the electrocatalytic activity of silver towards the reduction of alkyl iodides has led us to investigate whether the effect is observed in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at room temperature. Using platinum electrodes in THF for the reduction of alkyl halides at 298 K has been hampered by the solvent window, which ‘obscures’ the voltammetric signals of interest. In order to overcome these problems, voltammetry has been performed at low temperature and was shown to extend the voltammetric window, leading to accurate electrochemical analyses and even novel changes in mechanism(s) of the reactive species following electron‐transfer (ET). Herein, it is shown that for a primary and tertiary alkyl iodide in THF, electroreduction at silver leads to a significant shift in the reduction potential to more positive values compared to platinum. In addition, following reduction, a characteristic series of oxidation peaks are observed and are shown to be due to the specific activity of iodide ions towards silver following reductive cleavage of the parent alkyl iodide. This characteristic feature is not observed with other halide ions: bromide and chloride. Preparative electrolyses at controlled‐potential have suggested that the reduction of the above alkyl iodides is a one‐electron concerted process. The ‘free’ iodide ions act as a monitor of reaction progression, and the carbon‐centred radical either dimerises and/or abstracts a hydrogen atom from the electrolyte/solvent; 1‐iodoadamantane giving percentage yields of 58% adamantane and 39% 1,1'‐biadamantane, the primary alkyl iodide, prepared in‐house, giving 67% R‐H and 25% R‐R. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heat of adsorption and density distribution in slit pores with defective walls: GCMC simulation studies and comparison with experimental data

The adsorption behavior (capacity, density distribution and packing density) and the isosteric heat versus loading in a slit pore whose walls contain defective graphene layers are investigated in this paper. The defective wall is characterized by the extent and size of the defect. Simulation results obtained with the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo method reveal complex patterns of isosteric heat, and this complex behavior is a result of the interplay between three factors: (i) the surface heterogeneity (solid-fluid interaction, sites with varying degree of affinity), (ii) fluid-fluid interaction and (iii) the overlapping of potentials exerted by the two defective walls. We illustrate this with argon adsorption in pores of various sizes, and results obtained from the simulation agree qualitatively with the experimental data at 77 K on Saran microporous S600H and micro-mesoporous S84 charcoals of Beebe et al. [R.A. Beebe, B. Millard, J. Cynarski, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 75 (1953) 839]. The S600H was found to contain pores predominantly in the neighborhood of 7 Å with 30% of defect and a defective size of 2.84 Å. This is consistent with the argument made by Beebe et al. that this sample is a microporous solid and most pores can accommodate only one layer. The other sample, S84, has larger pores than S600H, and it is found that it has a wider pore size distribution and the pore width is centered at about 12 Å.     

接枝聚合物对小分子的选择性吸附研究

文章应用密度泛函理论研究接枝于壁面的方阱链对二元小分子混合物的选择性吸附特性. 系统的Helmholtz剩余自由能泛函被表示为硬球排斥和方阱吸引两部分贡献之和,分别由硬球链流体状态方程和变阱宽方阱链流体状态方程的简单加权密度近似来进行计算. 用此理论方法,分别考察了接枝聚合物的结构性质,以及不同温度下接枝分子层对二元方阱流体的选择性吸附性能. 结果表明:分子刷厚度随接枝密度线性增长而随温度非线性增加,并且在高温下趋于饱和;在较低温度下,接枝聚合物刷能表现出很好的选择性吸附能力,当聚合物刷被加热到高于饱和温度时,该能力将大幅度地减弱. 关键词： 密度泛函理论 接枝聚合物 选择性吸附 方阱链     

GaAs光电阴极激活时Cs的吸附效率研究

从NEA GaAs光电阴极的激活光电流曲线发现,当系统真空度不很高时,在首次Cs激活阶段,表面掺杂浓度较低的阴极材料,其光电流产生需要的时间也较长.同时,随着系统真空度的提高,这种时间上的差异又变得不再明显.该现象表明,Cs原子在阴极表面的吸附效率同表面层掺杂浓度以及系统真空度之间有直接的联系.为定量分析这种关系,本文根据实验数据建立了Cs在阴极表面吸附效率的数学模型,利用该模型仿真的结果同实验现象非常符合.该研究对进一步开展变掺杂阴极结构设计和制备工艺研究具有重要的价值和意义. 关键词： GaAs光电阴极 吸附效率 真空度 表面掺杂浓度     

MgO-decorated carbon nanotubes for CO2 adsorption: first principles calculations

The global greenhouse effect makes it urgent to deal with the increasing greenhouse gases.In this paper the performance of MgO-decorated carbon nanotubes for CO 2 adsorption is investigated through first principles calculations.The results show that the MgO-decorated carbon nanotubes can adsorb CO 2 well and are relatively insensitive to O 2 and N 2 at the same time.The binding energy arrives at 1.18 eV for the single-MgO-decorated carbon nanotube adsorbing one CO 2 molecule,while the corresponding values for O 2 and N 2 are 0.55 eV and 0.06 eV,respectively.In addition,multi-molecule adsorption is also proved to be very satisfactory.These results indicate that MgO-decorated carbon nanotubes have great potential applications in industrial and environmental processes.     

Adsorption-controlled transition of the electrical properties realized in Hematite（alpha-Fe2O3） nanorods ethanol sensing

Alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods are synthesized through a hydrothermal method with no surfactant introduced and ethanol sensors are fabricated from these nanorods.The device can respond to ethanol vapour in a concentration range from 1 to 1500 parts per million and shows both p-type and n-type responding characteristics during the investigation of the ethanol sensing.The sensor displays a p-type characteristic when the ethanol concentration is low and converted into an n-type characteristic as the concentration exceeds a certain value.Such a phenomenon is attributed to the chemisorbed oxygen,which leads to different modifications of the energy band at the surface,namely,depletion layer or inversion layer.     

O2在Mo(001)表面吸附的第一原理研究

采用第一原理方法计算了O2分子在 Mo(001) 表面的吸附,得到了吸附构型的各种参数,并且计算了O2分子在 Mo(001) 表面4个位置（顶位,桥位,穴位垂直,穴位平行）吸附后的能量,结果表明在顶位吸附能最高。通过对O2分子在 Mo(001) 表面吸附的原子轨道电荷分布与态密度图的分析可以看出在吸附过程中主要是O原子的2p轨道电子与钼的4s和4d轨道电子的相互作用。     

Photoemission study of the modification of the electronic structure of transition-metal overlayers on TiO2 surfaces II. Cr on TiO2(0 0 1)

The electronic states of the Cr overlayers on TiO₂(0 0 1) surfaces have been investigated using angle-resolved and resonant photoemission spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation. At lower coverages, Cr deposition on TiO₂(0 0 1) creates two well separated in-gap emissions due to the formation of surface Ti³⁺ (3d¹) ions and Cr³⁺ (3d³) ions. At higher coverages, the in-gap emission is developed into the 2-peak-structure emission of Cr 3d character. The corresponding state is considered to be of metallic nature from the viewpoint of the high ability of oxygen adsorption, but has no Fermi edge, indicating a possibility of forming small Cr clusters on TiO₂(0 0 1) at this stage.     

Complex formation between a nanoparticle and a weak polyelectrolyte chain: Monte Carlo simulations

Understanding the complexation processes between nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes is an essential aspect in many branches of nanotechnology, nanoscience, chemistry, and biology to describe processes such as nanoparticle stabilization/destabilization and dispersion, water treatment, microencapsulation, complexation with biomolecules for example, and evolution of the interface of many natural and synthetic systems. In view of the complexity of such processes, applications are often based on empirical or semiempirical observations rather than on predictions based on theoretical or analytical models. In this study, the complex formation between an isolated weak polyelectrolyte and an oppositely charged nanoparticle is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations with screened Coulomb potentials in the grand canonical ensemble. The roles of the nanoparticle surface charge density , solution pH and ionic concentration C_i are systematically investigated. The phase diagrams of complex conformations are also presented. It is shown that the polyelectrolyte conformation at the surface of the nanoparticle is controlled by the attractive interactions with the nanoparticle but also by the repulsive interactions between the monomers. To bridge the gap with experiments titration curves are calculated. We clearly demonstrate that an oppositely charged nanoparticle can significantly modify the acid/base properties of a weak polyelectrolyte.