In this work,we have performed density functional theory(DFT)calculations to investigate the methanol electro‐oxidation reaction(MOR)catalyzed by the Pt,PtCu alloy and Cu.The complex reaction networks,including the i...In this work,we have performed density functional theory(DFT)calculations to investigate the methanol electro‐oxidation reaction(MOR)catalyzed by the Pt,PtCu alloy and Cu.The complex reaction networks,including the intermediate dehydrogenation,water dissociation and anti‐poison reaction steps,are systematically investigated to explore the mechanisms.At the standard condition of pH=0 and zero potential,for Cu,most dehydrogenation steps along the favorable pathway are endergonic,making it less active in MOR.For the Pt and PtCu alloy,their dehydrogenation steps are mainly exergonic,but the formed CO intermediate binds too tightly on Pt,that can accumulate on active sites to poison the electro‐catalyst.The CO can be consumed by the thermodynamic reaction with OH*,which comes from water dissociation.DFT calculation shows alloying the Pt with Cu could not only reduce the free energy barrier for binding between CO*and OH*,but also assist the water dissociation to produce more OH*for that anti‐poison reaction.That makes the PtCu alloy more active than the pure Pt electrode in experiment.The results reveal the importance of anti‐poison reaction and water dissociation in MOR,which could be applied to the rational design of more active alloy electro‐catalysts in future.展开更多
The commonly used oxide-supported metal catalysts are usually prepared in aqueous phase,which then often need to undergo calcination before usage.Therefore,the surface hydration and dehydration of oxide supports are c...The commonly used oxide-supported metal catalysts are usually prepared in aqueous phase,which then often need to undergo calcination before usage.Therefore,the surface hydration and dehydration of oxide supports are critical for the realistic modeling of supported metal catalysts.In this work,by ab initio molecular dynamics(AIMD)simulations,the initial anhydrous monoclinic ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces are evaluated within explicit solvents in aqueous phase at mild temperatures.During the simulations,all the two-fold-coordinated O sites will soon be protonated to form the acidic hydroxyls(HO_(L)),remaining the basic hydroxyls(HO^(∗))on Zr.The basic hydroxyls(HO^(∗))can easily diffuse on surfaces via the active proton exchange with the undissociated adsorption water(H_(2)O^(∗)).Within the temperatures ranging from 273 K to 373 K,in aqueous phase a certain representative equilibrium hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(¯111)surface is obtained with the coverage(θ)of 0.75 on surface Zr atoms.Later,free energies on the stepwise surface water desorption are calculated by density functional theory to mimic the surface dehydration under the mild calcination temperatures lower than 800 K.By obtaining the phase diagrams of surface dehydration,the representative partially hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces(0.25≤θ<0.75)at various calcination temperatures are illustrated.These hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces can be crucial and readily applied for more realistic modeling of ZrO_(2) catalysts and ZrO_(2)-supported metal catalysts.展开更多
文摘In this work,we have performed density functional theory(DFT)calculations to investigate the methanol electro‐oxidation reaction(MOR)catalyzed by the Pt,PtCu alloy and Cu.The complex reaction networks,including the intermediate dehydrogenation,water dissociation and anti‐poison reaction steps,are systematically investigated to explore the mechanisms.At the standard condition of pH=0 and zero potential,for Cu,most dehydrogenation steps along the favorable pathway are endergonic,making it less active in MOR.For the Pt and PtCu alloy,their dehydrogenation steps are mainly exergonic,but the formed CO intermediate binds too tightly on Pt,that can accumulate on active sites to poison the electro‐catalyst.The CO can be consumed by the thermodynamic reaction with OH*,which comes from water dissociation.DFT calculation shows alloying the Pt with Cu could not only reduce the free energy barrier for binding between CO*and OH*,but also assist the water dissociation to produce more OH*for that anti‐poison reaction.That makes the PtCu alloy more active than the pure Pt electrode in experiment.The results reveal the importance of anti‐poison reaction and water dissociation in MOR,which could be applied to the rational design of more active alloy electro‐catalysts in future.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.22022504,No.22003022)of ChinaNatural Science Foundation of Guangdong,China(No.2021A1515010213,No.2021A1515110406)+2 种基金Guangdong“Pearl River”Talent Plan(No.2019QN01L353)Higher Education Innovation Strong School Project of Guangdong Province of China(No.2020KTSCX122)Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalysis(No.2020B121201002).Most calculations are performed on the CHEM Highperformance Computing Cluster(CHEM-HPC)located at the Department of Chemistry,Southern University of Science and Technology(SUSTech).The computational resources are also supported by the Center for Computational Science and Engineering at SUSTech.
文摘The commonly used oxide-supported metal catalysts are usually prepared in aqueous phase,which then often need to undergo calcination before usage.Therefore,the surface hydration and dehydration of oxide supports are critical for the realistic modeling of supported metal catalysts.In this work,by ab initio molecular dynamics(AIMD)simulations,the initial anhydrous monoclinic ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces are evaluated within explicit solvents in aqueous phase at mild temperatures.During the simulations,all the two-fold-coordinated O sites will soon be protonated to form the acidic hydroxyls(HO_(L)),remaining the basic hydroxyls(HO^(∗))on Zr.The basic hydroxyls(HO^(∗))can easily diffuse on surfaces via the active proton exchange with the undissociated adsorption water(H_(2)O^(∗)).Within the temperatures ranging from 273 K to 373 K,in aqueous phase a certain representative equilibrium hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(¯111)surface is obtained with the coverage(θ)of 0.75 on surface Zr atoms.Later,free energies on the stepwise surface water desorption are calculated by density functional theory to mimic the surface dehydration under the mild calcination temperatures lower than 800 K.By obtaining the phase diagrams of surface dehydration,the representative partially hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces(0.25≤θ<0.75)at various calcination temperatures are illustrated.These hydrated m-ZrO_(2)(111)surfaces can be crucial and readily applied for more realistic modeling of ZrO_(2) catalysts and ZrO_(2)-supported metal catalysts.
