Next Article in Journal
Hydrothermal Synthesis and Properties of Yb3+/Tm3+ Doped Sr2LaF7 Upconversion Nanoparticles
Next Article in Special Issue
Fabrication of Li-Doped NiO Thin Films by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis and Its Application in Light-Emitting Diodes
Previous Article in Journal
Reduced Graphene Oxide UWB Array Sensor: High Performance for Brain Tumor Imaging and Detection
Previous Article in Special Issue
Fabrication of UV-Stable Perovskite Solar Cells with Compact Fe2O3 Electron Transport Layer by FeCl3 Solution and Fe3O4 Nanoparticles
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Remarkable Single Atom Catalyst of Transition Metal (Fe, Co & Ni) Doped on C2N Surface for Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction

1
Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
2
Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei
3
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Submission received: 28 November 2022 / Revised: 12 December 2022 / Accepted: 16 December 2022 / Published: 21 December 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Materials for Energy Applications)

Abstract

:
Currently, hydrogen is recognized as the best alternative for fossil fuels because of its sustainable nature and environmentally friendly processing. In this study, hydrogen dissociation reaction is studied theoretically on the transition metal doped carbon nitride (C2N) surface through single atom catalysis. Each TMs@C2N complex is evaluated to obtain the most stable spin state for catalytic reaction. In addition, electronic properties (natural bond orbital NBO & frontier molecular orbital FMO) of the most stable spin state complex are further explored. During dissociation, hydrogen is primarily adsorbed on metal doped C2N surface and then dissociated heterolytically between metal and nitrogen atom of C2N surface. Results revealed that theFe@C2N surface is the most suitable catalyst for H2 dissociation reaction with activation barrier of 0.36 eV compared with Ni@C2N (0.40 eV) and Co@C2N (0.45 eV) complexes. The activation barrier for H2 dissociation reaction is quite low in case of Fe@C2N surface, which is comparatively better than already reported noble metal catalysts.

Graphical Abstract

1. Introduction

Catalysts are the backbone of many commercially available energy conversion and industrial processes [1]. Currently, catalytic technology is managing the production of approximately more than ten trillion dollars of goods annually in power, petroleum, food, and chemicals industries [2]. Noble metals have displayed exceptionally outstanding catalytic properties for energy conversion and production and have surpassed all other catalysts. Despite their wide-range use, there are some challenges associated with noble metals catalysts, such as their limited availability and high prices [3]. From economical perspective, the cost and scarcity of many promising catalytic metals such as palladium and platinum reduces their extensive use [4,5]. To deal with this problem effectively, many other catalysts are being considered with the motive of obtaining commercially viable economical catalyst with uncompromised catalytic efficiency.
The key goal of alternative approaches being considered is to reduce the quantity of these expensive noble metals while possibly improving or at least maintaining performance. Thus, in recent times, single atom catalysis (SAC) approach has been proposed, so that catalysis can be accomplished via single metal atom on a support surface [6,7,8]. Single atom catalysts usually include uniformly distributed catalyst on supports which act to stabilize these catalysts. With the passage of time, many synthetic procedures have been developed to prepare these catalysts. Novel techniques that are used to synthesize and characterize single atom catalyst are wet chemistry [9], atomic layer deposition [10] and mass selected soft landing [11]. The catalytic efficiency of these catalysts is taking hold, but the understanding of these type of catalysts is still limited. Therefore, the study of supported single metal atom catalysis is of great interest [12].
Over the years, hydrogen has been recognized as the best alternative for fuels because of its sustainable nature and environment friendly processing [13]. Among chemical reactions being catalyzed in industries, hydrogen dissociation reaction is the most carried out process. It is a part of many important chemical reactions including production of ethylene from hydrogen-based energy fuel cells [14], and in Fischer-Tropsch process [15]. It is also part of famous Haber Bosch process for ammonia synthesis [16].
Previous studies have revealed that numerous noble metals such as Pt [17], Ru [18], Pd [19], Rh [20], and Au [21] have the potential to efficiently catalyze hydrogen dissociation reactions. However, these noble metals are very expensive and generally work at high temperature, which make them economically non-feasible [22]. Transition metals such as Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Zn, and Cu etc. have gained much interest due to their relatively high abundance and low cost [23,24]. Replacing noble metals with a low-cost material is necessary for large-scale and practical application. On the contrary side, the carbon-based materials, organic frameworks [25], graphyne [26], graphene [27], graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) [28], porous and other nanostructured materials have received considerable attention as adsorbent (support materials for catalyst) due to their promising H2 storage capacities, large surface areas at low temperature and potential thermal and electronic properties [29,30]. Yan et al. investigated the Pd doped graphene surface for hydrogen dissociation reaction during the hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene. They observed that dissociation of H2 occurred over the Pd atom (for subsequent hydrogenation) with moderate energy barrier of 0.84 eV [31]. However, scientists are still trying to search and design more efficient catalysts that could offer more selectivity and economical way for hydrogen dissociation reaction.
Recently, a novel 2-D C2N monolayer was synthesized experimentally by Mahmood et al. [32]. The special nitrogenated cavities in the C2N monolayer are evenly distributed which serve as optimal site for capturing and holding single metal atom. The surface used is quite stable and employed in many research areas including sensors [33], storage materials [34], as support [35] and in drug delivery [36]. Furthermore, metal coordinated C2N-based materials are also employed as catalyst in lithium sulfur batteries as well as in oxygen reduction [37,38]. Therefore, the C2N sheet can be employed as a support for single metal atom similar to g-C3N4 and graphene [35]. 2D C2N surface has been previously reported in literature to effectively catalyze several important reactions, for example H2 evolution reaction, N2 reduction, CO [39] and O2 reduction reactions [40] due to rich nitrogen content and periodic porous structure [41,42,43,44].
Herein, we have investigated the hydrogen dissociation reaction through late transition metal (TM) atoms based single atom catalysis using density functional theory. In the current study, we mainly focus on the dissociation of H2 on low-cost transition metals (TMs), for example Fe, Co and Ni supported on C2N surface [45,46,47]. Being quite stable, C2N surface stabilizes the single atom catalyst quite amazingly. In comparison to carbon-based surface, this surface also bears nitrogen which can play a good role in hydrogen dissociation reaction due to electronegativity difference with hydrogen and can tune the electronic properties of TMs [48,49].

2. Computational Methodology

In this study, M06-2X/6-31G(d,p) is used for the optimization of all the structures using Gaussian09 software. M06-2X is a long-range functional which is well reported to estimate non-covalent interaction energies and barrier heights [50]. Benchmark studies show that M06-2X functional perform better for interactions of stacked system. M06-2X also shows better performance when interactions of TMs are studied with other systems [51].
TMs show various spin states, therefore, each of these metal complexes were optimized at various spin states to obtain the most stable spins state. The electronic configurations of Fe, Co and Ni are [Ar] 3d64s2, [Ar] 3d67s2 and [Ar] 3d68s2, respectively. In case of Fe and Ni doped C2N, singlet, triplet, quintet, and septet spin states were considered, and the most stable spin states are septet and triplet for Fe and Ni, respectively (see Table S1 of Supplementary Material). For Co doped C2N, doublet, quartet, sextet, and octet spin states were optimized in search of the most thermodynamically stable spin state of metal doped C2N. Among the optimized spin states, doublet is the most stable in case of Co@C2N complex. The interactions energies of these complexes were based on the stable spin states. Hydrogen dissociation reaction was also performed on the most stable spin state metals.
Interaction energies are calculated for the most stable geometries of studied complexes by using the following expression:
Eint = ET.M@C2N − (EC2N + ET.M)
Here, ET.M@C2N, EC2N and ET.M are interaction energies of TMs@C2N complexes, bare C2N surface and TMs, respectively.
For hydrogen dissociation, primary step is adsorption of hydrogen on metal doped C2N surface. The adsorption energy of hydrogen doped catalyst is calculated through following equation:
Eads. = EH2@C2N-M − (EM@C2N + EH2)
Here, EH2@C2N-M, EM@C2N and EH2 represent the energies of the hybrid structures of hydrogen adsorbed complexes, metal@C2N, and H2, respectively.
For calculation of activation barrier and energy of reaction, Equations (3) and (4) were used, respectively.
Ea = ETS − EReactant
ΔER = EProduct − EReactant
In Equation (3), the Ea represents activation barrier and ETS represents the energy of transition states. Whereas in Equation (4), the ER shows energy of reaction.

3. Results and Discussion

Geometries and Electronic Properties

The optimized structure of C2N consists of hexagonal unit cell (see Figure 1). The C-N bond length is 1.32 Å whereas for C-C bond length is 1.46 Å in the benzene ring and 1.42 Å in the pyrazine ring. The observed C-N-C bond angle is 116.73°. All of these bonding parameters are comparable with already reported in the literature [52].
For each TM being considered, we have studied various spin states in order to obtain thermodynamically the stable spin state. The most stable spin state geometries are reported in the main manuscript (see Figure 2), while least stable M@C2N complexes are given in Supplementary Information (Figure S1). While the interaction energy values for studied TM@C2N clusters are reported in Table 1.
Optimized structure of Fe@C2N cluster is presented in Figure 2a. Fe atom binds with neighboring nitrogen atoms. The stabilization or adsorption energy in case of Fe@C2N cluster is −3.19 eV. The geometry of Co@C2N surface is given in Figure 2b, Co shows interaction with neighboring nitrogen atoms and the calculated stabilization energy is −1.42 eV, whereas adsorption of Ni atom over C2N surface resulted in the interaction energy of −2.51 eV (Figure 2c). The highest interaction energy value is observed in case of Fe@C2N among all studied M@C2N clusters, which is attributed to least interaction distance between Fe and N atoms of C2N surface. The bonding distance between Fe and nitrogen atoms of C2N is 2.53 Å, as compared to 2.64 Å and 2.66 Å for Ni@C2N and Co@C2N, respectively. Furthermore, it is observed in studied complexes that as the number of unpaired electrons (d-orbital of TMs) decreases, decrease in their interaction energy is observed. Moreover, no distortion is observed in M@C2N clusters upon adsorption of TMs (Fe, Ni & Co) due to fused rings of benzene and pyrazine. In addition, no change in bond lengths of C-N and C-C are observed upon adsorption of TMs on C2N surface.

4. HOMO-LUMO and DOS Analysis

HOMO-LUMO analysis and DOS spectra have been investigated to fully understand the corresponding changes in electronic properties. The charge transfer results and the HOMO-LUMO energy gap of metal doped C2N complexes are reported in Table 1. Density of states graphs are presented in Figure 3, which show the formation of new states causes the change in H-L gap. In the DOS graph of Ni doped on C2N, the formation of new HOMO states also confirms the change in H-L energy gap.
Upon adsorption of metal atoms, the energy gap (EH-L) is significantly reduced. Least reduction in energy gap is observed in case of Co@C2N complex which is from 5.61 eV to 5.11 eV. However, a significant decrease in energy gap is observed for Fe@C2N and Ni@C2N complexes as compared to bare C2N surface i.e., EH-L values are 2.56 eV and 1.50 eV, respectively. The change in electronic parameters is confirmed through DOS analysis which clearly shows the formation of new states. Thus, it also explains the significant lowering of HOMO-LUMO energy gap in Fe@C2N and Ni@C2N complexes.
In case of Ni@C2N complex, potential decrease in H-L gap is observed due to increase in HOMO and decrease in LUMO energies as compared to bare C2N surface. Same type of observations is observed from TDOS spectra of Ni@C2N due to increase in HOMO energy and decrease in LUMO energy.

5. Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) Analysis

NBO analysis was performed on studied TM doped C2N clusters to investigate the transfer of charge between C2N surface and TM atoms. The values of NBO charges are reported in Table 1. The adsorption of Fe on C2N surface resulted in a net charge of 1.43e on Fe atom. The appearance of positive charge (1.43e) on the Fe atom upon adsorption over C2N represents the electron recipient character of C2N and electropositive nature of Fe in the most stable geometry of Fe@C2N complex. Similarly, in case of Co and Ni dopants, the NBO charges observed are 0.92e and 0.74e, respectively. In both Co@C2N and Ni@C2N complexes, the positive sign of charge transfer indicates that charge is shifting towards C2N surface from TMs, revealing the electropositive character of studied TMs. Highest charge transfer is observed in case of Fe@C2N complex, which reveals the strong interaction among Fe atom and C2N support through a charge transfer from Fe atom to C2N surface [53].
NBO analysis reveals that TMs adsorbed on C2N surface showed electropositive character due to their metallic behavior and electron rich C2N surface. Highest charge transfer is observed in case of Fe, which verify its high interaction energy with C2N surface. However, in case of Co@C2N and Ni@C2N complexes NBO charges observed are 0.92e and 0.74e, respectively.

6. Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction on Iron Doped C2N Surface

The reaction started with adsorption of H2 molecule on C2N surface (Figure 4). The hydrogen molecule is adsorbed at iron with adsorption energy of −1.35 eV. The metal atom (Fe1) shows interaction with both hydrogen atoms marked as H2 and H3 with interaction distances of 2.06 Å and 2.07 Å, respectively. Initially H-H bond length of isolated H2 is 0.75Å. After adsorption, the hydrogen dissociation proceeds. In the transition state, H-H bond length increases from 0.75Å to 0.93Å and the Metal-Hydrogen bond length decreases to 1.78Å in transition state. Single imaginary frequency confirms that the transition state is located on Fe@C2N (see Table S2 for more details). In the product, the Fe-H bond length is 1.67Å and N-H bond length is 1.03Å. The activation barrier for this hydrogen dissociation reaction occurring on Fe@C2N is 0.36 eV, while the enthalpy of reaction is −0.05 eV, as mentioned in Table 2.
In case of Fe doped C2N catalyst, the activation barrier reduced significantly, which show higher catalytic activity of Fe doped C2N catalyst. Iron possesses greater number of unpaired electrons (d-orbital), which are responsible for higher catalytic efficiency of Fe@C2N complex.

7. Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction on Cobalt Doped C2N Surface

In the first step, H2 molecule is adsorbed over the C2N surface (Figure 5). The stabilization energy observed for the adsorption of hydrogen molecule at cobalt site is −1.93 eV, which is higher than the value observed for adsorption at Fe site (−1.35 eV). Optimized geometry of H2 molecules over Co@C2N surface reveals that H2 is bit tilted. Initially, the interaction distances of Co atom with H2 and H3 atoms of reactant molecule are 1.83 Å and 1.92 Å, respectively (see Figure 5). Then, hydrogen dissociation proceeds through a transition state, where H-H bond length increases from 0.76 Å to 0.85 Å and the Co—H bond length is decreased to 1.76 Å. At final step, the Co—H and N—H bond lengths observed are 1.60 Å and 1.03 Å, respectively. The activation barrier for hydrogen dissociation reaction occurring on Co@C2N surface is 0.45 eV, and the enthalpy of reaction is −0.08 eV (see Table 2).
In case of Co@C2N complex, the activation barrier of 0.45 eV is observed for hydrogen dissociation, which is comparatively higher as compared to Fe@C2N complex (0.36 eV). The higher potential barrier for Co@C2N catalyst is due to less unpaired electrons (d-orbital) in TM (Co).

8. Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction on Nickel Doped C2N Surface

H2 molecule is also adsorbed on Nickel of Ni@C2N surface with the adsorption energy of −2.02 eV (see Figure 6). In optimized geometry, reactant hydrogen molecule is oriented almost parallel over the C2N surface. The bond distances between nickel atom of Ni@C2N and, H2 and H3 atoms of molecule are 1.90 Å and 1.89 Å, respectively, whereas the H—H bond length is 0.76 Å. At transition state, H—H bond length increases from 0.76 Å to 0.84 Å and the Ni—H bond length is decreased from 1.89 Å to 1.75 Å. Finally at product side, the Ni—H bond length gets further reduced to 1.56 Å, whereas N—H bond length is 1.03 Å. In case of Ni@C2N cluster, the activation barrier for hydrogen dissociation reaction is 0.40 eV (Table 2), while the enthalpy of reaction is 0.23 eV.
The hydrogen dissociation barrier in Ni@C2N complex is 0.40 eV. The observed value of activation barrier in this case is lower than Co@C2N catalyst and greater than the Fe@C2N catalyst.
Overall, the order activation barrier observed for studied catalysts is Fe@C2N < Ni@C2N < Co@C2N. The observed trend is quite similar with the trend of TMs doped Al2O3 reported by Yang et al. [54] for the oxidation of CO by single atom catalysis.
For comparison, the activation barrier of hydrogen dissociation in our work and some other surfaces are reported in Table 3. Our results show good agreement with already reported values of dissociation barrier using noble TMs. In our case, the lowest hydrogen dissociation barrier is observed for Fe@C2N catalyst (0.36 eV), and the value is much better than the reported value of Au/TiO2 complex (0.54 eV). Our results are in accordance with the already reported values of dissociation barriers obtained on different surfaces doped with noble TMs. In our case, Fe-incorporated C2N surface displays the smallest activated barrier (0.36 eV), which is due to the presence of strong interaction between the metal d orbitals and molecular orbital of H2.

9. Conclusions

Herein, we have theoretically investigated the hydrogen dissociation reaction on TMs doped C2N surface through single atom catalysis. Single atom catalysis provides better efficiency and stability in heterogeneous catalysis. Stable spin states of TMs@C2N complexes evaluated for catalytic hydrogen dissociation reaction. Electronic properties (NBO, FMO) of the most stable spin state of TMs@C2N complexes are further explored. NBO analysis reveals the electropositive character of TMs, thus, significant charge transfer is observed between TMs and C2N surface. Hydrogen molecule, primarily adsorbed on metal doped C2N surface during dissociation and then heterolytically dissociated between metal and nitrogen atom of C2N surface. The mechanistic pathway of hydrogen dissociation reaction shows that Fe@C2N complex is the most suitable catalyst for hydrogen dissociation reaction with activation barrier of 0.36 eV compared to Ni@C2N (0.40 eV) and Co@C2N (0.45 eV) complexes. Our results indicate that the studied TMs@C2N complexes significantly decrease in the activation barrier, which speaks volumes about their success. However, the highest reduction in activation barrier is observed in the case of Fe@C2N complex, thus can act as a promising catalyst for hydrogen dissociation reaction in single atom catalysis.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/article/10.3390/nano13010029/s1, Figure S1: Optimized geometries of studied M@C2N complexes at various possible spin states at M06-2X/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. Where grey color is for carbon, light grey for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen, orange for nickel, purple for iron and cobalt blue for cobalt atom; Table S1: Relative stabilities of studied M@C2N complexes at various possible spin states (all values are in eV). Table S2: Energies and lowest vibrational frequencies of reactants, products, and transition states over designed M@C2N catalysts.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, K.A. and M.Y; methodology, A.B.S. and S.S.; software, M.Y.; validation, M.Y.; investigation, A.B.S., S.S. and M.Y.; resources, K.A., H.H.H. and N.S.S.; writing—original draft preparation, A.B.S. and S.S.; writing—review and editing, K.A., M.Y. and N.S.S.; supervision, K.A. and M.Y.; project administration, K.A., H.H.H. and N.S.S.; funding acquisition, K.A., H.H.H. and N.S.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research, vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University Saudi Arabia [Grant No. 2180].

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research, vice Presidency for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, King Faisal University Saudi Arabia [Grant No. 2180].

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests.

References

  1. Yang, X.-F.; Wang, A.; Qiao, B.; Li, J.; Liu, J.; Zhang, T. Single-atom catalysts: A new frontier in heterogeneous catalysis. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1740–1748. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  2. Hagen, J. Industrial Catalysis: A Practical Approach; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2015. [Google Scholar]
  3. Li, X.; Yang, X.; Huang, Y.; Zhang, T.; Liu, B. Supported Noble-Metal Single Atoms for Heterogeneous Catalysis. Adv. Mater. 2019, 31, 1902031. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  4. Bigall, N.C.; Reitzig, M.; Naumann, W.; Simon, P.; van Pée, K.H.; Eychmüller, A. Fungal templates for noble-metal nanoparticles and their application in catalysis. Angew. Chem. 2008, 120, 7994–7997. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  5. De Beer, M.; Kunene, A.; Nabaho, D.; Claeys, M.; Van Steen, E. Technical and economic aspects of promotion of cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch catalysts by noble metals—A review. J. South. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. 2014, 114, 157–165. [Google Scholar]
  6. Liu, D.; Barbar, A.; Najam, T.; Javed, M.S.; Shen, J.; Tsiakaras, P.; Cai, X. Single noble metal atoms doped 2D materials for catalysis applications. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2021, 297, 120389. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Liang, S.; Hao, C.; Shi, Y. The power of single-atom catalysis. ChemCatChem 2015, 7, 2559–2567. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  8. Chen, F.; Jiang, X.; Zhang, L.; Lang, R.; Qiao, B. Single-atom catalysis: Bridging the homo-and heterogeneous catalysis. Chin. J. Catal. 2018, 39, 893–898. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  9. Chen, Y.; Ji, S.; Chen, C.; Peng, Q.; Wang, D.; Li, Y. Single-atom catalysts: Synthetic strategies and electrochemical applications. Joule 2018, 2, 1242–1264. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  10. Cheng, N.; Sun, X. Single atom catalyst by atomic layer deposition technique. Chin. J. Catal. 2017, 38, 1508–1514. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  11. Righi, G.; Magri, R.; Selloni, A. H2 dissociation on noble metal single atom catalysts adsorbed on and doped into CeO2 (111). J. Phys. Chem. C 2019, 123, 9875–9883. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  12. Thiel, W. Computational catalysis—Past, present, and future. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 8605–8613. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  13. Wang, Y.-F.; Huang, J.; Wang, Z.-J.; Liu, X.-X.; Li, J.; Li, Z.-R. Superalkali-alkalide ion pairs δ+(M-HMHC)-M’ δ−(M, M’ = Li, Na and K) serving as high-performance NLO molecular materials. J. Mol. Liq. 2021, 349, 118101. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  14. Eftekhari, A.; Fang, B. Electrochemical hydrogen storage: Opportunities for fuel storage, batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2017, 42, 25143–25165. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  15. Zang, G.; Sun, P.; Elgowainy, A.A.; Bafana, A.; Wang, M. Performance and cost analysis of liquid fuel production from H2 and CO2 based on the Fischer-Tropsch process. J. CO2 Util. 2021, 46, 101459. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  16. Kyriakou, V.; Garagounis, I.; Vourros, A.; Vasileiou, E.; Stoukides, M. An electrochemical haber-bosch process. Joule 2020, 4, 142–158. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  17. Qiao, B.; Wang, A.; Yang, X.; Allard, L.F.; Jiang, Z.; Cui, Y.; Liu, J.; Li, J.; Zhang, T. Single-atom catalysis of CO oxidation using Pt1/FeOx. Nat. Chem. 2011, 3, 634–641. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  18. Xiao, M.; Gao, L.; Wang, Y.; Wang, X.; Zhu, J.; Jin, Z.; Liu, C.; Chen, H.; Li, G.; Ge, J.; et al. Engineering energy level of metal center: Ru single-atom site for efficient and durable oxygen reduction catalysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 19800–19806. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  19. Guo, Y.; Lang, R.; Qiao, B. Highlights of major progress on single-atom catalysis in 2017. Catalysts 2019, 9, 135. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  20. Ghosh, T.K.; Nair, N.N. Rh1/γ-Al2O3 Single-Atom Catalysis of O2 Activation and CO Oxidation: Mechanism, Effects of Hydration, Oxidation State, and Cluster Size. ChemCatChem 2013, 5, 1811–1821. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  21. Liu, X.; Yang, Y.; Chu, M.; Duan, T.; Meng, C.; Han, Y. Defect stabilized gold atoms on graphene as potential catalysts for ethylene epoxidation: A first-principles investigation. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2016, 6, 1632–1641. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  22. Parkinson, G.S. Single-atom catalysis: How structure influences catalytic performance. Catal. Lett. 2019, 149, 1137–1146. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  23. Cheng, N.; Zhang, L.; Doyle-Davis, K.; Sun, X. Single-atom catalysts: From design to application. Electrochem. Energy Rev. 2019, 2, 539–573. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  24. Liang, J.-X.; Yang, X.-F.; Wang, A.; Zhang, T.; Li, J. Theoretical investigations of non-noble metal single-atom catalysis: Ni1/FeOx for CO oxidation. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2016, 6, 6886–6892. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  25. Sun, T.; Xu, L.; Wang, D.; Li, Y. Metal organic frameworks derived single atom catalysts for electrocatalytic energy conversion. Nano Res. 2019, 12, 2067–2080. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  26. Ma, D.; Li, T.; Wang, Q.; Yang, G.; He, C.; Ma, B.; Lu, Z. Graphyne as a promising substrate for the noble-metal single-atom catalysts. Carbon 2015, 95, 756–765. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  27. Ren, S.; Yu, Q.; Yu, X.; Rong, P.; Jiang, L.; Jiang, J. Graphene-supported metal single-atom catalysts: A concise review. Sci. China Mater. 2020, 63, 903–920. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
  28. Fu, J.; Wang, S.; Wang, Z.; Liu, K.; Li, H.; Liu, H.; Hu, J.; Xu, X.; Li, H.; Liu, M. Graphitic carbon nitride based single-atom photocatalysts. Front. Phys. 2020, 15, 33201. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  29. Papa, V.; Cao, Y.; Spannenberg, A.; Junge, K.; Beller, M. Development of a practical non-noble metal catalyst for hydrogenation of N-heteroarenes. Nat. Catal. 2020, 3, 135–142. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  30. Franco, F.; Rettenmaier, C.; Jeon, H.S.; Cuenya, B.R. Transition metal-based catalysts for the electrochemical CO2 reduction: From atoms and molecules to nanostructured materials. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2020, 49, 6884–6946. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  31. Yan, H.; Lv, H.; Yi, H.; Liu, W.; Xia, Y.; Huang, X.; Huang, W.; Wei, S.; Wu, X.; Lu, J. Understanding the underlying mechanism of improved selectivity in pd1 single-atom catalyzed hydrogenation reaction. J. Catal. 2018, 366, 70–79. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  32. Mahmood, J.; Lee, E.K.; Jung, M.; Shin, D.; Jeon, I.-Y.; Jung, S.-M.; Choi, H.-J.; Seo, J.-M.; Bae, S.-Y.; Sohn, S.-D.; et al. Nitrogenated holey two-dimensional structures. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 6486. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  33. Yar, M.; Shah, A.B.; Hashmi, M.A.; Ayub, K. Selective detection and removal of picric acid by C2N surface from a mixture of nitro-explosives. New J. Chem. 2020, 44, 18646–18655. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  34. Panigrahi, P.; Desai, M.; Talari, M.K.; Bae, H.; Lee, H.; Ahuja, R.; Hussain, T. Selective decoration of nitrogenated holey graphene (C2N) with titanium clusters for enhanced hydrogen storage application. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2021, 46, 7371–7380. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  35. Li, X.; Zhong, W.; Cui, P.; Li, J.; Jiang, J. Design of efficient catalysts with double transition metal atoms on C2N layer. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2016, 7, 1750–1755. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  36. Gu, Z.; Zhao, L.; Liu, S.; Duan, G.; Perez-Aguilar, J.M.; Luo, J.; Li, W.; Zhou, R. Orientational binding of DNA guided by the C2N template. ACS Nano 2017, 11, 3198–3206. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  37. Liang, Z.; Yang, D.; Tang, P.; Zhang, C.; Jacas Biendicho, J.; Zhang, Y.; Llorca, J.; Wang, X.; Li, J.; Heggen, M. Atomically dispersed Fe in a C2N based catalyst as a sulfur host for efficient lithium–sulfur batteries. Adv. Energy Mater. 2021, 11, 2003507. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  38. Barrio, J.; Pedersen, A.; Feng, J.; Sarma, S.C.; Wang, M.; Li, A.Y.; Yadegari, H.; Luo, H.; Ryan, M.P.; Titirici, M.-M.; et al. Metal coordination in C2N-like materials towards dual atom catalysts for oxygen reduction. J. Mater. Chem. A 2022, 10, 6023–6030. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  39. He, B.; Shen, J.; Tian, Z. Iron-embedded C2N monolayer: A promising low-cost and high-activity single-atom catalyst for CO oxidation. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2016, 18, 24261–24269. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  40. Mahmood, J.; Li, F.; Kim, C.; Choi, H.-J.; Gwon, O.; Jung, S.-M.; Seo, J.-M.; Cho, S.-J.; Ju, Y.-W.; Jeong, H.Y.; et al. Fe@C2N: A highly-efficient indirect-contact oxygen reduction catalyst. Nano Energy 2018, 44, 304–310. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  41. Ma, J.; Gong, H.; Zhang, T.; Yu, H.; Zhang, R.; Liu, Z.; Yang, G.; Sun, H.; Tang, S.; Qiu, Y. Hydrogenation of CO2 to formic acid on the single atom catalysis Cu/C2N: A first principles study. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2019, 488, 1–9. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  42. Zhong, W.; Zhang, G.; Zhang, Y.; Jia, C.; Yang, T.; Ji, S.; Prezhdo, O.V.; Yuan, J.; Luo, Y.; Jiang, J. Enhanced activity of C2N-supported single Co atom catalyst by single atom promoter. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2019, 10, 7009–7014. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  43. Ma, D.; Wang, Q.; Yan, X.; Zhang, X.; He, C.; Zhou, D.; Tang, Y.; Lu, Z.; Yang, Z. 3d transition metal embedded C2N monolayers as promising single-atom catalysts: A first-principles study. Carbon 2016, 105, 463–473. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  44. Chakrabarty, S.; Das, T.; Banerjee, P.; Thapa, R.; Das, G. Electron doped C2N monolayer as efficient noble metal-free catalysts for CO oxidation. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2017, 418, 92–98. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  45. Egorova, K.S.; Ananikov, V.P. Which metals are green for catalysis? Comparison of the toxicities of Ni, Cu, Fe, Pd, Pt, Rh, and Au salts. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 12150–12162. [Google Scholar]
  46. Du, Z.; Chen, X.; Hu, W.; Chuang, C.; Xie, S.; Hu, A.; Yan, W.; Kong, X.; Wu, X.; Ji, H.; et al. Cobalt in nitrogen-doped graphene as single-atom catalyst for high-sulfur content lithium–sulfur batteries. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 3977–3985. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  47. Bing, Q.; Liu, W.; Yi, W.; Liu, J.-Y. Ni anchored C2N monolayers as low-cost and efficient catalysts for hydrogen production from formic acid. J. Power Sources 2019, 413, 399–407. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  48. Qin, G.; Cui, Q.; Yun, B.; Sun, L.; Du, A.; Sun, Q. High capacity and reversible hydrogen storage on two dimensional C2N monolayer membrane. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2018, 43, 9895–9901. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  49. Li, X.; Cui, P.; Zhong, W.; Li, J.; Wang, X.; Wang, Z.; Jiang, J. Graphitic carbon nitride supported single-atom catalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction. Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 13233–13236. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  50. Zhao, Y.; Truhlar, D.G. The M06 suite of density functionals for main group thermochemistry, thermochemical kinetics, noncovalent interactions, excited states, and transition elements: Two new functionals and systematic testing of four M06-class functionals and 12 other functionals. Theor. Chem. Acc. 2008, 120, 215–241. [Google Scholar]
  51. Hohenstein, E.G.; Chill, S.T.; Sherrill, C.D. Assessment of the Performance of the M05−2X and M06−2X Exchange-Correlation Functionals for Noncovalent Interactions in Biomolecules. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2008, 4, 1996–2000. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  52. Tian, Z.; López-Salas, N.; Liu, C.; Liu, T.; Antonietti, M. C2N: A Class of Covalent Frameworks with Unique Properties. Adv. Sci. 2020, 7, 2001767. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  53. Badran, H.; Eid, K.M.; Ammar, H. DFT and TD-DFT studies of halogens adsorption on cobalt-doped porphyrin: Effect of the external electric field. Results Phys. 2021, 23, 103964. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  54. Yang, T.; Fukuda, R.; Hosokawa, S.; Tanaka, T.; Sakaki, S.; Ehara, M. A theoretical investigation on CO oxidation by single-atom catalysts M1/γ-Al2O3 (M= Pd, Fe, Co, and Ni). ChemCatChem 2017, 9, 1222. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  55. Zhang, Z.; Zhou, X.; Liu, C.; Guo, J.; Ning, H. Hydrogen adsorption and dissociation on nickel-adsorbed and-substituted Mg17Al12 (100) surface: A density functional theory study. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2018, 43, 793–800. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  56. Du, A.; Smith, S.C.; Yao, X.; Lu, G. The role of Ti as a catalyst for the dissociation of hydrogen on a Mg (0001) surface. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 18037–18041. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  57. Sun, K.; Kohyama, M.; Tanaka, S.; Takeda, S. A study on the mechanism for H2 dissociation on Au/TiO2 catalysts. J. Phys. Chem. C 2014, 118, 1611–1617. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  58. Trivedi, R.; Bandyopadhyay, D. Study of adsorption and dissociation pathway of H2 molecule on MgnRh (n = 1–10) clusters: A first principle investigation. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 2016, 41, 20113–20121. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Figure 1. Optimized structure of C2N surface.
Figure 1. Optimized structure of C2N surface.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g001
Figure 2. Geometries of (a) iron, (b) cobalt and (c) nickel doped C2N complexes.
Figure 2. Geometries of (a) iron, (b) cobalt and (c) nickel doped C2N complexes.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g002aNanomaterials 13 00029 g002b
Figure 3. DOS analysis of bare C2N surface and metal doped C2N surface.
Figure 3. DOS analysis of bare C2N surface and metal doped C2N surface.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g003aNanomaterials 13 00029 g003b
Figure 4. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Fe@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for iron atom.
Figure 4. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Fe@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for iron atom.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g004
Figure 5. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Co@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for cobalt atom.
Figure 5. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Co@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for cobalt atom.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g005
Figure 6. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Ni@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for nickel atom.
Figure 6. Potential energy surface diagram of H2 dissociation on Ni@C2N for reactant, transition state and product. Where, grey color is for carbon, white for hydrogen, blue for nitrogen and cobalt blue for nickel atom.
Nanomaterials 13 00029 g006
Table 1. Interaction energy of metal doped C2N surface (eV), M-N distance (Å) between the metal atom and the neighboring nitrogen (N) atoms, charge transfer between the adsorbed metal atom and surface (e) and the HOMO-LUMO energy gap (eV) of M@C2N complexes.
Table 1. Interaction energy of metal doped C2N surface (eV), M-N distance (Å) between the metal atom and the neighboring nitrogen (N) atoms, charge transfer between the adsorbed metal atom and surface (e) and the HOMO-LUMO energy gap (eV) of M@C2N complexes.
M@C2NEintM-NNBOHOMOLUMOEH-L
Fe@C2N−3.192.53, 2.691.43−4.84−2.292.56
Co@C2N−1.422.66, 2.670.92−7.27−2.155.11
Ni@C2N−2.512.64, 2.710.74−4.08−2.591.50
C2N------−7.59−1.995.61
Table 2. H2 dissociation energies at M@C2N clusters in eV and calculated bond lengths of H—H bond and M—H bonds, here Ea (eV), ΔE (eV) and B.L (Å) represent activation energy barrier, energy of reaction and bond length (Å), respectively.
Table 2. H2 dissociation energies at M@C2N clusters in eV and calculated bond lengths of H—H bond and M—H bonds, here Ea (eV), ΔE (eV) and B.L (Å) represent activation energy barrier, energy of reaction and bond length (Å), respectively.
Reaction EnergiesFe@C2NCo@C2NNi@C2N
Ea0.360.450.40
ΔE−0.05−0.080.23
H—H
Bond length
B.LR0.760.750.76
B.LTS0.930.850.84
B.LP1.681.801.84
Ni—H Bond lengthB.LR2.061.831.89
B.LTS1.781.761.75
B.LP1.671.601.56
Table 3. Comparison of current activation barrier of hydrogen dissociation with already reported values over different Surfaces.
Table 3. Comparison of current activation barrier of hydrogen dissociation with already reported values over different Surfaces.
SurfacesDissociation BarrierReferences
Ni adsorbed Mg17Al12 surfaceMg16NiAl12 0.82 eV
Mg15Ni2Al12 0.53 eV
[55]
Ti doped Mg Surface0.35 eV [56]
Au/TiO20.54 eV[57]
Mg9Rh cluster0.63 eV[58]
Fe@C2N0.36 eVThis work
Co@C2N0.45 eV--
Ni@C2N0.40 eV--
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Shah, A.B.; Sarfaraz, S.; Yar, M.; Sheikh, N.S.; Hammud, H.H.; Ayub, K. Remarkable Single Atom Catalyst of Transition Metal (Fe, Co & Ni) Doped on C2N Surface for Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction. Nanomaterials 2023, 13, 29. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano13010029

AMA Style

Shah AB, Sarfaraz S, Yar M, Sheikh NS, Hammud HH, Ayub K. Remarkable Single Atom Catalyst of Transition Metal (Fe, Co & Ni) Doped on C2N Surface for Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction. Nanomaterials. 2023; 13(1):29. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano13010029

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shah, Ahmed Bilal, Sehrish Sarfaraz, Muhammad Yar, Nadeem S. Sheikh, Hassan H. Hammud, and Khurshid Ayub. 2023. "Remarkable Single Atom Catalyst of Transition Metal (Fe, Co & Ni) Doped on C2N Surface for Hydrogen Dissociation Reaction" Nanomaterials 13, no. 1: 29. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano13010029

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop