A first-principles study on the interaction of CO molecules with VIII transition metals-embedded graphitic carbon nitride as an excellent candidate for CO sensor

We studied the adsorption behavior of CO molecules over graphitic carbon nitride (gCN) and VIII transition metals (TM)-embedded gCN systems (TM=Ni, Pd, and Pt atoms) using density functional theory. The results indicated that the Pt-embedded gCN is excellent candidate for adsorption of CO molecules with adsorption energy of −2.77 eV, which is much better than those of the other adsorbents. Furthermore, it was observed that the band gap energies of TM-embedded systems were less than that of pristine gCN and decoration of transition metal atoms leads to the formation of mid gap impurity states, resulting in increase of electrical conductivity. Additionally, the Lowdin charges displayed that upon adsorption of CO molecules, this molecule acts as an electron acceptor and gCN systems behave as an electron donor with electron transfer from d-orbitals of transition metal atoms to the states of CO molecule. The results of spin polarized band structure indicated that the pristine gCN, Ni and Pd-embedded systems are non-magnetic, whereas Pt-embedded gCN induces non-zero magnetic moment equal to 1.35 μB. Therefore, our results revealed that among the TM-embedded systems, Pt-embedded gCN is more effective than those of the other adsorbents in sensing and removing of this gas from the atmosphere.