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We present an ab initio density functional theory study of the binding behavior of CO and O(2) molecules to two- and three-dimensional isomers of Au(13) in order to investigate the potential catalytic activity of this cluster towards low-temperature CO oxidation. First, we scanned the potential energy surface of Au(13) and studied the effect of spin-orbit coupling on the relative stabilities of the 21 isomers we identified. While spin-orbit coupling increases the stability of the three-dimensional more than the two-dimensional isomers, the ground state structure at 0 K remains planar. Second, we systematically studied the binding of CO and O(2) molecules onto the planar and three-dimensional structures lowest in energy. We find that the isomer dimensionality has little effect on the binding of CO to Au(13). O(2), on the other hand, binds significantly to the three-dimensional isomer only. The simultaneous binding of multiple CO molecules decreases the binding energy per molecule. Still, the CO binding remains stronger than the O(2) binding. We did not find a synergetic effect due to the co-adsorption of both molecular species. On the three-dimensional isomer, we find O(2) dissociation to be exothermic with an dissociation barrier of 1.44 eV.

Understanding the catalytic performance of different materials is of crucial importance for achieving further technological advancements. This especially relates to the behaviors of different classes of catalysts under operating conditions. Here, we analyzed the effects of local coordination of metal centers (Mn, Fe, Co) in graphene-embedded single-atom catalysts (SACs). We started with well-known M@N4-graphene catalysts and systematically replaced nitrogen atoms with oxygen or sulfur atoms to obtain M@OxNy-graphene and M@SxNy-graphene SACs (x + y = 4). We show that local coordination strongly affects the electronic structure and reactivity towards hydrogen and oxygen species. However, stability is even more affected. Using the concept of Pourbaix plots, we show that the replacement of nitrogen atoms in metal coordinating centers with O or S destabilized the SACs towards dissolution, while the metal centers were easily covered by O and OH, acting as additional ligands at high anodic potentials and high pH values. Thus, not only should local coordination be considered in terms of the activity of SACs, but it is also necessary to consider its effects on the speciation of SAC active centers under different potentials and pH conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We study the behaviour of the lattice parameter and elastic moduli of Ce 1- x Gd x O 2- x /2 for the random (fluorite-like) and C-type ordered oxygen-vacancy configurations [Žguns et al., PCCP 20 (2018) 11805-11818]. For the fluorite phase, elastic moduli decrease linearly with Gd concentration. For the C-type phase, the bulk, shear and Young moduli are found to be systematically larger and the lattice parameter smaller than those for disordered fluorite phase. Essentially the linear behaviour of the bulk modulus and lattice parameter depending on the degree of the C-type order is found. Our findings explain the experimentally observed elastic moduli of Ce 1- x Gd x O 2- x /2. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Modelling of oxygen reduction in Li-O 2 and Na-O 2 cells is analysed. • Graphene-based materials are considered as cathode catalysts. • Modelling approach is revisited by combining different levels of theory. • General guidelines for identification of new catalysts are provided. Understanding the reactions in M-O 2 cells (M = Li or Na) is of great importance for further advancement of this promising technology. Computational modelling can be helpful along this way, but an adequate approach is needed to model such complex systems. We propose a new scheme for modelling processes in M-O 2 cells, where reference energies are obtained from high-level theory, CCSD(T), while the interactions of reaction intermediates with catalyst surfaces are extracted from computationally less expensive DFT. The approach is demonstrated for the case of graphene-based surfaces as model catalysts in Li-O 2 and Na-O 2 cells using the minimum viable mechanism. B-doped graphene was identified as the best catalyst amongst considered surfaces, while pristine graphene performs poorly. Moreover, we show that the inclusion of dispersion corrections for DFT has a significant impact on calculated discharge and charge potentials and suggests that long-range dispersion interactions should always be considered when graphene-based materials are modelled as electrocatalysts. Finally, we offer general guidelines for designing new ORR catalysts for M-O 2 cells in terms of the optimization of the interactions of catalyst surface with reaction intermediates. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]