Issue 43, 2012

Unique reactivity of Fe nanoparticles–defective graphene composites toward NHx (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) adsorption: a first-principles study

Abstract

We investigated the electronic structure of Fe nanoparticlegraphene composites and the impact of the interfacial interaction on NHx (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) adsorption by first-principles based calculations. We found that Fe13 nanoparticles can be stabilized by the sp2 dangling bonds on single vacancy graphene substrate with a binding energy up to −7.07 eV. This interaction not only deformed the carbon atoms around the defect and gave rise to the stability of the Fe nanoparticle against sintering, but also had significant impact on the adsorption of NHx that is related to the catalytic performance of these composites in NH3 decomposition. Doping of the single vacancy graphene with N or B can finely tune the adsorption of NHx. Further analysis revealed that the calculated adsorption energies of NHx on these composites correlated well with the shift of the average d-band center of the Fe nanoparticles and they were around the peak of the activity-adsorption energy curve for NH3 decomposition catalysts, especially when doped with B. The optimal adsorption of NHx on Fe nanoparticles deposited on boron-doped defective graphene suggests the possible high stability and superior catalytic performance of these composites in the low-temperature catalytic decomposition of NH3.

Graphical abstract: Unique reactivity of Fe nanoparticles–defective graphene composites toward NHx (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) adsorption: a first-principles study

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Jun 2012
Accepted
11 Sep 2012
First published
12 Sep 2012

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012,14, 15036-15045

Unique reactivity of Fe nanoparticles–defective graphene composites toward NHx (x = 0, 1, 2, 3) adsorption: a first-principles study

X. Liu, C. Meng and Y. Han, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 15036 DOI: 10.1039/C2CP42141K

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