A Multiscale Framework Applied to the Investigation of CO2 Reduction on Metallic Nanoparticles: The Role of Size and Adsorbate Coverage Effects

• Grant number: 19/05561-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: May 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Juarez Lopes Ferreira da Silva
• Grantee: Lucas Garcia Verga
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC)
• Associated research grant: 17/11631-2 - CINE: computational materials design based on atomistic simulations, meso-scale, multi-physics, and artificial intelligence for energy applications, AP.PCPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/07129-5 - CO2 reduction on Cu-Au intermetallic surfaces: atomic ordering and adsorbate coverage effects, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Chemically reducing CO2 to value-added products can help facing urgent challenges related to the depletion of fossil sources, the growing energy consumption in the world and the rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. It allows storing the excess energy from renewable sources into fuels or other chemicals commonly obtained from fossil sources while capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and using it as a reactant. Developing efficient catalysts is a crucial step to increase the economic feasibility of the CO2 reduction technologies. However, optimising catalysts is a challenging task due to the multi-variable character of the problem. For example, on state-of-the-art catalysts such as metallic nanoparticles dispersed over supports, variables such as nanoparticle size, shape, composition, exposed facets, and support composition can all be concomitantly tuned to optimise the catalyst activity, selectivity or durability. Thus, in-depth knowledge of how these variables control catalysts properties is indispensable to the area. Computational simulations can be of great help for this task, but detailed studies in this area require electronic structure methods such as density functional theory (DFT) that are computationally expensive, imposing a trade-off between the accuracy of the theoretical method, the accuracy of the model used to describe the phenomenon and the computational cost. In this project, we aim to assess how the nanoparticle size and the adsorbate coverage affects the catalytic activity of nanoparticles. Usually, these effects are studied separately, and there is a lack of knowledge about the interplay between them because the computational cost of investigating both effects with DFT is forbiddingly high. Here, we will search for innovative frameworks to treat this problem by parametrising cluster expansion (CE) Hamiltonians with DFT calculations and rapidly assessing different configurations of adsorbates dispersed over nanoparticle's surfaces. We will also attempt to reduce the computational effort of our framework by exploring machine learning techniques and physically motivated approximations to reduce the number of DFT calculations in the Hamiltonians parametrisations. We intend to significantly contribute to the scientific community, providing a new methodological framework to include these effects in investigations about catalysts and by applying it in the search for more active and selective catalysts for CO2 reduction.

Scientific publications

(12)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BRASIL, HENRIQUE; BITTENCOURT, ALBERT F. B.; YOKOO, KATHLEN C. E. S.; MENDES, PAULO C. D.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; ANDRIANI, KARLA F.; LANDERS, RICHARD; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.; VALENCA, GUSTAVO P.. ynthesis modification of hydroxyapatite surface for ethanol conversion: The role of the acidic/basic sites rati. JOURNAL OF CATALYSIS, v. 404, p. 802-813, DEC 2021. (17/11631-2, 18/11152-0, 19/05561-7, 18/21401-7)

OCAMPO-RESTREPO, VIVIANNE K.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. b Initio Study of the C-O Bond Dissociation in CO2 Reduction by Redox and Carboxyl Routes on 3d Transition Metal System. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, v. 125, n. 48, p. 26296-26306, DEC 9 2021. (17/11631-2, 19/05561-7, 18/21401-7)

ZIBORDI-BESSE, LARISSA; VERGA, LUCAS G.; OCAMPO-RESTREPO, VIVIANNE K.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Ab initio investigation of the formation mechanism of nano-interfaces between 3d-late transition-metals and ZrO2 nanoclusters. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, v. 22, n. 15, p. 8067-8076, APR 21 2020. (19/05561-7, 17/11631-2, 18/21401-7)

BATISTA, KRYS E. A.; SOARES, MARINALVA D.; QUILES, MARCOS G.; PIOTROWSKI, MAURICIO J.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Energy Decomposition to Access the Stability Changes Induced by CO Adsorption on Transition-Metal 13-Atom Clusters. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING, v. 61, n. 5, p. 2294-2301, MAY 24 2021. (18/21401-7, 17/11631-2, 19/05561-7)

MENDES, PAULO C. D.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Ab initio screening of Pt-based transition-metal nanoalloys using descriptors derived from the adsorption and activation of CO2. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, v. 23, n. 10, p. 6029-6041, MAR 14 2021. (18/21401-7, 17/11631-2, 19/05561-7)

KHALID, MOHMMAD; FONSECA, HENRIQUE A. B.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; HATSHAN, MOHAMMAD RAFE; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.; VARELA, HAMILTON; SHAHGALDI, SAMANEH. Facile synthesis of Ru nanoclusters embedded in carbonaceous shells for hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline and acidic media. JOURNAL OF ELECTROANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, v. 929, p. 10-pg., 2023-01-04. (18/21401-7, 17/11631-2, 19/05561-7, 21/07129-5, 21/05728-9)

PERAC, CARINA S. T.; ANDRIANI, KARLA F.; PIOTROWSKI, MAURICIO J.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Ab Initio Investigation of CH4 Dehydrogenation on a (CeO2)(10) Cluster. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, v. N/A, p. 12-pg., 2022-07-15. (19/05561-7, 17/11631-2, 21/03357-3, 18/21401-7, 18/11152-0)

VERGA, LUCAS G.; MENDES, PAULO C. D.; OCAMPO-RESTREPO, VIVIANNE K.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. xploring the adsorption site coordination as a strategy to tune copper catalysts for CO2 electro-reductio. CATALYSIS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, v. 12, n. 3, p. 869-879, FEB 7 2022. (17/11631-2, 18/21401-7, 19/05561-7, 21/07129-5)

RASTEIRO, LETICIA F.; DE SOUSA, RAFAEL A.; VIEIRA, LUIZ H.; OCAMPO-RESTREPO, VIVIANNE K.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; ASSAF, JOSE M.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.; ASSAF, ELISABETE M.. Insights into the alloy-support synergistic effects for the CO2 hydrogenation towards methanol on oxide-supported Ni5Ga3 catalysts: An experimental and DFT study. APPLIED CATALYSIS B-ENVIRONMENTAL, v. 302, MAR 2022. (17/11631-2, 15/06246-7, 19/05561-7, 18/21401-7, 18/12021-6, 14/50279-4, 17/22671-5, 19/22260-0)

DE SOUSA, RAFAEL A.; OCAMPO-RESTREPO, VIVIANNE K.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Ab initio study of the adsorption properties of CO2 reduction intermediates: The effect of Ni5Ga3 alloy and the Ni5Ga3/ZrO2 interface. Journal of Chemical Physics, v. 156, n. 21, p. 14-pg., 2022-06-07. (21/07129-5, 19/05561-7, 18/21401-7, 17/11631-2)

NETO, MARIONIR M. C. B.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.; GALVAO, BRENO R. L.. The role of single-atom Rh-dopants in the adsorption properties of OH and CO on stepped Ag(211) surfaces. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, v. 25, n. 6, p. 11-pg., 2023-01-10. (19/05561-7, 18/21401-7, 17/11631-2, 21/07129-5)

FONSECA, HENRIQUE A. B.; VERGA, LUCAS G.; DA SILVA, JUAREZ L. F.. Ab Initio Study of CO2 Activation on Pristine and Fe-Decorated WS2 Nanoflakes. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, v. 125, n. 36, p. 7769-7777, SEP 16 2021. (19/05561-7, 18/17462-0, 18/21401-7, 17/11631-2)