Escaping scaling relationships for water dissociation at interfacial sites of zirconia-supported Rh and Pt clusters
<p>Water dissociation is an important reaction involved in many industrial processes and a good model reaction for probing the activity of catalytic sites. In this computational study, the dissociation of water at interfacial sites of globally optimized ZrO2 sup- ported Pt and Rh clusters is investigated under the framework of density functional theory. Our findings demonstrate that the perimeter sites of these small clusters can activate water, but the dissociation behavior varies considerably between sites. It is shown that the studied clusters break scaling relationships for water dissociation, suggesting these catalysts may achieve activities beyond the maximum imposed by such rel…
Computational Screening of Doped Graphene Electrodes for Alkaline CO2 Reduction
The electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) is considered as one of the most promising approaches to synthesizing carbonaceous fuels and chemicals without utilizing fossil resources. However, current technologies are still in the early phase focusing primarily on identifying optimal electrode materials and reaction conditions. Doped graphene-based materials are among the best CO<sub>2</sub>RR electrocatalysts and in the present work we have performed a computational screening study to identify suitable graphene catalysts for CO<sub>2</sub>RR to CO under alkaline conditions. Several types of modified-graphene frame…
Mechanistic Origins of the pH Dependency in Au-Catalyzed Glycerol Electro-oxidation: Insight from First-Principles Calculations
Electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol (EOG) is an attractive approach to convert surplus glycerol to value-added products. Experiments have shown that EOG activity and selectivity depend not only on the electrocatalyst but also on the electrode potential, the pH, and the electrolyte. For broadly employed gold (Au) electrocatalysts, experiments have demonstrated high EOG activity under alkaline conditions with glyceric acid as a primary product, whereas under acidic and neutral conditions Au is almost inactive producing only small amounts of dihydroxyacetone. In the present computational work, we have performed an extensive mechanistic study to understand the pH and potential dependency of …
On the Mechanistic Origins of the pH-Dependency in Au-Catalyzed Glycerol Electro-Oxidation: Insight from First Principles Calculations
Electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol (EOG) is an attractive approach to convert surplus glycerol to value-added products. Experiments have shown that EOG activity and selectivity depend on the electrocatalyst, but also on the electrode potential, the pH, and the electrolyte. For broadly employed gold (Au) electrocatalysts, experiments have demonstrated high EOG activity under alkaline conditions with glyceric acid as a primary product, whereas under acidic and neutral conditions Au is almost inactive producing only small amounts of dihydroxyacetone. In the present computational work, we have performed an extensive mechanistic study to understand the pH- and potential- dependency of Au-cat…
On the Mechanistic Origins of the pH-Dependency in Au-Catalyzed Glycerol Electro-Oxidation: Insight from First Principles Calculations
Electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol (EOG) is an attractive approach to convert surplus glycerol to value-added products. Experiments have shown that EOG activity and selectivity depend on the electrocatalyst, but also on the electrode potential, the pH, and the electrolyte. For broadly employed gold (Au) electrocatalysts, experiments have demonstrated high EOG activity under alkaline conditions with glyceric acid as a primary product, whereas under acidic and neutral conditions Au is rather inactive producing only small amounts of dihydroxyacetone. In the present computational work, we have performed an extensive mechanistic study to understand the pH- and potential-dependency of Au-cata…