Propiedades catalíticas de grafeno dopado con metales de transición

Abstract

In this work a study based on the Density Functional Theory of graphene sheets doped with atoms of Fe, Co and Ni is carried out. The functional PBE1PBE and the pseudopotentials LANL2DZ for the metal atoms, and the 6-31G ++ (d) bases for the carbon atoms were adopted. Three systems formed by the substitution of a carbon atom by one of Fe, Co and Ni, respectively, are analyzed. The energetic, electronic and chemical reac-tivity properties were studied, making a systematic comparison with a pure graphene sheet. In order to simulate the presence of the solvent in the systems under study, the SCRF = PCM (Self Consistent Reaction Field = Polarizable Continuum Model) was used. In addition, for each system the catalytic proper-ties for O2 adsorption were determined. Our results indicate that the presence of metal heteroatoms and water as solvent modifies the chemical reactivity and the adsorption of dioxygen, which could be determinant on the catalytic properties of doped graphene. The nickel-doped graphene sheet results to be the most reactive and it is the one with the most favorable energy for the adsorption of oxygen.