Computational Study of Molecular Hydrogen Adsorption over Small (MO 2 ) n Nanoclusters (M = Ti, Zr, Hf; n = 1 to 4).

Hydrogen adsorption on small group 4 metal oxide clusters for both the singlet and the first excited triplet states have been investigated by density functional theory and correlated molecular orbital theory at the coupled cluster CCSD(T) level. The reaction starts with hydrogen physisorption on a metal center followed by formation of metal hydride/hydroxides due to splitting H ₂ into H ^- and H ⁺ . The hydrogen physisorption energies are predicted to be -1 to -8 kcal/mol for the singlet and -1 to -26 kcal/mol for the triplet, respectively. The formation of metal hydride/hydroxides does not involve redox processes. Chemisorption leading to formation of metal hydride/hydroxides is exothermic by -10 to -50 kcal/mol for the singlet, and exothermic by up to -60 kcal/mol for the triplet. The predicted energy barriers are less than 20 kcal/mol. Formation of metal dihydroxides from the metal hydride/hydroxides is generally endothermic for the monomer and dimer and is exothermic for the trimer and tetramer. Formation of the dihydroxide is a proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) process. The singlet energy barriers for the H ^- → H ⁺ transfer process are predicted to be 35-60 kcal/mol, in comparison to triplet energy barriers of less than 15 kcal/mol for the H ^• → H ⁺ transfer process. For trimers and tetramers, there exist two different pathways: the first is a direct pathway with PCET to a terminal oxygen and the second is a two-step pathway with initial formation of a bridge OH group followed by a proton transfer to generate a terminal OH group. For the singlet, the two-step pathway is preferred for M = Ti and the direct pathway is more favorable for M = Zr and Hf. The two-step pathway is always preferred for the triplet as one-electron transfer is always more likely than two-electron transfer in the direct pathway.