Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12569

Title: Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn ₄N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods

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Abstract

Cyclic step-catalysis enables intermittent, atmospheric ammonia production, and can be integrated with sustainable and renewable energy sources. By employing metal (e.g., Mn) nitride, a nitrogen carrier, the rate-limiting N ₂ activation step is bypassed. In this work, molecular-level pathways, describing the reduction of Mn ₄N by dissociatively adsorbed hydrogen, were investigated using periodic density functional theory (DFT). The established mechanism confirmed that Fe and Ni doped in the nitride sublayer and top layer can disturb local electronic structures and be exploited to tune the ammonia production activity. The strength of N–M (M = Mn, Fe, Ni) and H–M bonds both determine the overall reduction thermochemistry. DFT-based modeling further showed that the low concentration of Fe or Ni in the Mn ₄N sublayer facilitates N diffusion by lowering the diffusion energy barrier. Also, these heteroatom dopant species, particularly Ni, decrease the reduction endergonicity, thanks to the strong hydrogen binding with the surface Ni dopant. The Brønsted–Evans–Polanyi relationship and linear scaling relationships have been developed to reveal ammonia evolution kinetic and energetic trends for a series of idealized Fe- and Ni-doped Mn ₄N. Finally, deviations from the linear scaling relationship have been observed for certain doped systems, indicating potentially more complex behaviorsmore »« less

Authors:

^[1]; Chikan, Viktor ^[2];

^[3];

^[1]

Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Publication Date:: 2018-02-26

Research Org.:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:: 1483687

Grant/Contract Number:: FOA-0001572; AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-7447

Publisher:: American Chemical Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Formats


                    Shan, Nannan, Chikan, Viktor, Pfromm, Peter, and Liu, Bin. Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
        Web.  doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12569.

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                    Shan, Nannan, Chikan, Viktor, Pfromm, Peter, & Liu, Bin. Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods.  United States.  doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12569.

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                    Shan, Nannan, Chikan, Viktor, Pfromm, Peter, and Liu, Bin. Mon .  
        "Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods".  United States.  doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12569.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1483687.

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@article{osti_1483687,

  title        = {Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods},

  author       = {Shan, Nannan and Chikan, Viktor and Pfromm, Peter and Liu, Bin},

  abstractNote = {Cyclic step-catalysis enables intermittent, atmospheric ammonia production, and can be integrated with sustainable and renewable energy sources. By employing metal (e.g., Mn) nitride, a nitrogen carrier, the rate-limiting N2 activation step is bypassed. In this work, molecular-level pathways, describing the reduction of Mn4N by dissociatively adsorbed hydrogen, were investigated using periodic density functional theory (DFT). The established mechanism confirmed that Fe and Ni doped in the nitride sublayer and top layer can disturb local electronic structures and be exploited to tune the ammonia production activity. The strength of N–M (M = Mn, Fe, Ni) and H–M bonds both determine the overall reduction thermochemistry. DFT-based modeling further showed that the low concentration of Fe or Ni in the Mn4N sublayer facilitates N diffusion by lowering the diffusion energy barrier. Also, these heteroatom dopant species, particularly Ni, decrease the reduction endergonicity, thanks to the strong hydrogen binding with the surface Ni dopant. The Brønsted–Evans–Polanyi relationship and linear scaling relationships have been developed to reveal ammonia evolution kinetic and energetic trends for a series of idealized Fe- and Ni-doped Mn4N. Finally, deviations from the linear scaling relationship have been observed for certain doped systems, indicating potentially more complex behaviors of metal nitrides and intriguing promises for greater ammonia synthesis materials design opportunities.},

  doi          = {10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12569},

  journal      = {Journal of Physical Chemistry. C},

  number       = 11,

  volume       = 122,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {2}

}

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Title: Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn 4N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods

Abstract

Citation Formats

Title: Fe and Ni Dopants Facilitating Ammonia Synthesis on Mn ₄N and Mechanistic Insights from First-Principles Methods