Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2020, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (10): 1633-1644.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(20)63571-9

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Density functional theory calculations on single atomic catalysis: Ti-decorated Ti3C2O2 monolayer (MXene) for HCHO oxidation

Junhui Zhoua, Guanlan Liua, Quanguo Jiangb, Weina Zhaoa, Zhimin Aoa, Taicheng Ana   

  1. a Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Guangzhou Key Laboratory Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China;
    b The College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu, China
  • Received:2020-02-21 Revised:2020-03-23 Online:2020-10-18 Published:2020-08-15
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (21777033, 21607029, 41425015), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2017B020216003), and The Innovation Team Project of Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (2017KCXTD012).

Abstract: Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a common indoor pollutant, long-term exposure to HCHO may harm human health. Its efficient removal at mild conditions is still challenging. The catalytic oxidation of HCHO molecules on a single atomic catalyst, Ti-decorated Ti3C2O2 (Ti/Ti3C2O2) monolayer, is investigated by performing the first principles calculations in this work. It demonstrates that Ti atoms can be easily well dispersed at the form of single atom on Ti3C2O2 monolayer without aggregation. For HCHO catalytic oxidation, both Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) and Eley-Rideal (ER) mechanisms are considered. The results show that the step of HCHO dissociative adsorption on Ti/Ti3C2O2 with activated O2 can release high energy of 4.05 eV based on the ER mechanism, which can help to overcome the energy barrier (1.04 eV) of the subsequent reaction steps. The charge transfer from *OH group to CO molecule (dissociated from HCHO) not only promotes *OH group activation but also plays an important role in the H2O generation along the ER mechanism. Therefore, HCHO can be oxidized easily on Ti/Ti3C2O2 monolayer, this work could provide significant guidance to develop effective non-noble metal catalysts for HCHO oxidation and broaden the applications of MXene-based materials.

Key words: Formaldehyde oxidation, MXene, Ti/Ti3C2O2 monolayer, Single atomic catalysts, Non-noble metal catalyst