TY - JOUR
T1 - Size-selective electrocatalytic activity of (Pt)n/MoS2for oxygen reduction reaction
AU - Bothra, Pallavi
AU - Pandey, Mohnish
AU - Pati, Swapan K.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - In the present work, we have investigated the electrocatalytic activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), O2 + 4H+ + 4e− → 2H2O, for (Pt)n clusters (n = 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12) adsorbed on semiconducting (2H) and metallic (1T) MoS2 monolayers using first principles density functional theory. We have considered four elementary reactions involved in ORR within a unified electrochemical thermodynamic framework and the corresponding Gibbs adsorption free energies of the key intermediates (*OOH, *O, *OH) associated with each step have been calculated. The results indicate that the reduction of adsorbed hydroxyl (*OH) to water (*OH + H+ + e− → H2O) is the bottleneck step in the ORR process. The adsorption free energy of *OH (ΔG*OH) is found to be the thermodynamic descriptor for the present systems. Eventually, the ORR activity has been described as a function of ΔG*OH and a volcano plot predicting (Pt)7/2H-MoS2 as the best ORR catalyst amongst the (Pt)n/MoS2 heterosystems with an overpotential value of 0.33 V has been established. Our finding proposes a new promising electrocatalyst towards better activity for ORR with very small amount of Pt loading.
AB - In the present work, we have investigated the electrocatalytic activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), O2 + 4H+ + 4e− → 2H2O, for (Pt)n clusters (n = 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12) adsorbed on semiconducting (2H) and metallic (1T) MoS2 monolayers using first principles density functional theory. We have considered four elementary reactions involved in ORR within a unified electrochemical thermodynamic framework and the corresponding Gibbs adsorption free energies of the key intermediates (*OOH, *O, *OH) associated with each step have been calculated. The results indicate that the reduction of adsorbed hydroxyl (*OH) to water (*OH + H+ + e− → H2O) is the bottleneck step in the ORR process. The adsorption free energy of *OH (ΔG*OH) is found to be the thermodynamic descriptor for the present systems. Eventually, the ORR activity has been described as a function of ΔG*OH and a volcano plot predicting (Pt)7/2H-MoS2 as the best ORR catalyst amongst the (Pt)n/MoS2 heterosystems with an overpotential value of 0.33 V has been established. Our finding proposes a new promising electrocatalyst towards better activity for ORR with very small amount of Pt loading.
U2 - 10.1039/C6CY01050D
DO - 10.1039/C6CY01050D
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2044-4753
VL - 6
SP - 6389
EP - 6395
JO - Catalysis Science & Technology
JF - Catalysis Science & Technology
IS - 16
ER -