DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Di- and Tetrameric Molybdenum Sulfide Clusters Activate and Stabilize Dihydrogen as Hydrides

Journal Article · · JACS Au

NaY zeolite-encapsulated dimeric (Mo2S4) and tetrameric (Mo4S4) molybdenum sulfide clusters stabilize hydrogen as hydride binding to Mo atoms. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and adsorption measurements suggest that stabilization of hydrogen as sulfhydryl (SH) groups, as typical for layered MoS2, is thermodynamically disfavored. Competitive adsorption of H2 and ethene on Mo was probed by quantifying adsorbed CO on partly hydrogen and/or ethene covered samples with IR spectroscopy. During hydrogenation, experiment and theory suggest that Mo is covered predominately with ethene and sparsely with hydride. DFT calculations further predict that under reaction conditions, each MoxSy cluster can activate only one H2, suggesting that the entire cluster (irrespective of its nuclearity) acts as one active site for hydrogenation. The nearly identical turnover frequencies (24.7 ± 3.3 molethane·h-1·molcluster -1), apparent activation energies (31-32 kJ·mol-1), and reaction orders (~0.5 in ethene and ~1.0 in H2) show that the active sites in both clusters are catalytically indistinguishable.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Chevron Energy Technology Company; Leibniz Supercomputing Center; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1893320
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-169788
Journal Information:
JACS Au, Journal Name: JACS Au Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 2; ISSN 2691-3704
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (74)

Structural Characterization of Two CO Molecules Bound to the Nitrogenase Active Site journal January 2021
Imaging MoS2 Nanocatalysts with Single-Atom Sensitivity journal March 2010
Zeolite‐Stabilized Di‐ and Tetranuclear Molybdenum Sulfide Clusters Form Stable Catalytic Hydrogenation Sites journal March 2021
Understanding Ni Promotion of MoS 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 and its Implications for the Hydrogenation of Phenanthrene journal September 2015
Effect of the damping function in dispersion corrected density functional theory journal March 2011
All‐electron scalar relativistic basis sets for the elements Rb–Xe journal June 2020
Software update: the ORCA program system, version 4.0: Software update journal July 2017
The ORCA program system: The ORCA program system journal June 2011
Hydrogen–Deuterium Equilibration over Transition Metal Sulfide Catalysts: On the Synergetic Effect in CoMo Catalysts journal October 1999
Hydrodesulfurization of Benzothiophene over Zeolite-Supported Catalysts Prepared from Mo and Mo–Ni Sulfide Clusters journal October 1999
DFT Calculations of Unpromoted and Promoted MoS2-Based Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts journal October 1999
All-electron scalar relativistic basis sets for the 6p elements journal October 2012
The rise of two-dimensional MoS2 for catalysis journal July 2018
Transition-metal doped edge sites in vertically aligned MoS2 catalysts for enhanced hydrogen evolution journal January 2015
Kinetic studies with a sulfur-tolerant water gas shift catalyst journal April 1983
FTIR study of the low-temperature adsorption and co-adsorption of CO and N2 on NaY zeolite: evidence of simultaneous coordination of two molecules to one Na+ site journal April 1999
Parallel between infrared characterisation and ab initio calculations of CO adsorption on sulphided Mo catalysts journal October 2001
Molecular aspects of the H2 activation on MoS2 based catalysts — the role of dynamic surface arrangements journal December 2000
Unsupported transition metal sulfide catalysts: From fundamentals to industrial application journal April 2007
Towards the characterization of active phase of (Co)Mo sulfide catalysts under reaction conditions—Parallel between IR spectroscopy, HDS and HDN tests journal April 2007
Characterization of aged hydrotreating catalysts. Part II: The evolution of the mixed phase. Effects of deactivation, activation and/or regeneration journal October 2009
A review of catalytic upgrading of bio-oil to engine fuels journal November 2011
Hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol with CoMo catalysts. Part I: Promoting effect of cobalt on HDO selectivity and activity journal January 2011
Mechanisms of hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation journal January 2006
Unsupported transition metal sulfide catalysts: 100 years of science and application journal October 2009
Efficient, approximate and parallel Hartree–Fock and hybrid DFT calculations. A ‘chain-of-spheres’ algorithm for the Hartree–Fock exchange journal February 2009
Deactivation study of unsupported nano MoS2 catalyst journal January 2020
Palladium-catalyzed selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes: Influence of platinum and iron on activity, particle morphology and formation of β-palladium hydride journal March 2014
Modeling the adsorption of sulfur containing molecules and their hydrodesulfurization intermediates on the Co-promoted MoS2 catalyst by DFT journal February 2018
Catalysis by sulfides: Advanced IR/CO spectroscopy for the identification of the most active sites in hydrodesulfurization reactions journal November 2021
Toward quantification of active sites and site-specific activity for polyaromatics hydrogenation on transition metal sulfides journal November 2021
Hydride Conformers of the Nitrogenase FeMo-cofactor Two-Electron Reduced State E 2 (2H), Assigned Using Cryogenic Intra Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Cavity Photolysis journal March 2018
Spectroscopic Description of the E 1 State of Mo Nitrogenase Based on Mo and Fe X-ray Absorption and Mössbauer Studies journal August 2019
Pathways for H 2 Activation on (Ni)-MoS 2 Catalysts journal July 2015
Subnanometer Molybdenum Sulfide on Carbon Nanotubes as a Highly Active and Stable Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal January 2016
Control of Charge Carriers and Band Structure in 2D Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide via Covalent Functionalization journal January 2020
Probing the Active Sites of MoS 2 Based Hydrotreating Catalysts Using Modulation Excitation Spectroscopy journal January 2019
Structural Basis of Biological Nitrogen Fixation journal January 1996
Recent Advances in Hydrotreating of Pyrolysis Bio-Oil and Its Oxygen-Containing Model Compounds journal April 2013
Mechanistic Insight into the Synthesis of Higher Alcohols from Syngas: The Role of K Promotion on MoS 2 Catalysts journal June 2013
All-Electron Scalar Relativistic Basis Sets for the Actinides journal February 2011
All-Electron Scalar Relativistic Basis Sets for Third-Row Transition Metal Atoms journal May 2008
All-Electron Scalar Relativistic Basis Sets for the Lanthanides journal August 2009
Effect of Adding Co to MoS2/Al2O3 upon the Kinetics of the Water−Gas Shift journal January 1996
EXAFS determination of the structure of cobalt in carbon-supported cobalt and cobalt-molybdenum sulfide hydrodesulfurization catalysts journal January 1991
Characterization of reactions of hydrogen with coordinated sulfido ligands journal December 1980
Trapping H - Bound to the Nitrogenase FeMo-Cofactor Active Site during H 2 Evolution:  Characterization by ENDOR Spectroscopy journal May 2005
Biomimetic Hydrogen Evolution:  MoS 2 Nanoparticles as Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution journal April 2005
57 Fe ENDOR Spectroscopy and ‘Electron Inventory’ Analysis of the Nitrogenase E 4 Intermediate Suggest the Metal-Ion Core of FeMo-Cofactor Cycles Through Only One Redox Couple journal November 2011
High-Resolution ENDOR Spectroscopy Combined with Quantum Chemical Calculations Reveals the Structure of Nitrogenase Janus Intermediate E 4 (4H) journal June 2019
Novel Cage Clusters of MoS2 in the Gas Phase journal July 2005
Operando Characterization of an Amorphous Molybdenum Sulfide Nanoparticle Catalyst during the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal November 2014
Sulfur as a selective ‘soft’ oxidant for catalytic methane conversion probed by experiment and theory journal December 2012
Coordination polymer structure and revisited hydrogen evolution catalytic mechanism for amorphous molybdenum sulfide journal March 2016
Sulfur vacancy-rich MoS2 as a catalyst for the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol journal March 2021
2,6-Dimethylpyridine as a probe of the strength of Brønsted acid sites: study on zeolites. Application to alumina journal January 2005
Preparation of zeolites incorporating molybdenum sulfide clusters with high C2hydrocarbon selectivity in Co–H2reactions journal January 1995
Balanced basis sets of split valence, triple zeta valence and quadruple zeta valence quality for H to Rn: Design and assessment of accuracy journal January 2005
Accurate Coulomb-fitting basis sets for H to Rn journal January 2006
Dispersion and location of molybdenum sulfides supported on zeolite for hydrodesulfurization journal January 1996
A consistent and accurate ab initio parametrization of density functional dispersion correction (DFT-D) for the 94 elements H-Pu journal April 2010
Efficient time-dependent density functional theory approximations for hybrid density functionals: Analytical gradients and parallelization journal February 2011
An overlap fitted chain of spheres exchange method journal October 2011
Molecular density functional calculations in the regular relativistic approximation: Method, application to coinage metal diatomics, hydrides, fluorides and chlorides, and comparison with first-order relativistic calculations journal July 1998
The ORCA quantum chemistry program package journal June 2020
Importance of Co-Mo-S Type Structures in Hydrodesulfurization journal August 1984
Hydrogen Activation by Transition Metal Sulfides journal December 2002
Atomic-Scale Structure of Single-Layer MoS 2 Nanoclusters journal January 2000
Enhancing hydrogenation activity of Ni-Mo sulfide hydrodesulfurization catalysts journal May 2020
Nitrogenase MoFe-Protein at 1.16 A Resolution: A Central Ligand in the FeMo-Cofactor journal September 2002
Identification of Active Edge Sites for Electrochemical H2 Evolution from MoS2 Nanocatalysts journal July 2007
Ligand binding to the FeMo-cofactor: Structures of CO-bound and reactivated nitrogenase journal September 2014
Reactivity of Platinum Hydrides in the Selective Hydrogenation of Acetic Acid on Pt–ReOx/TiO2 Catalysts journal October 2020
Novel Molecular Approaches to the Structure–Activity Relationships and Unique Characterizations of Co–Mo Sulfide Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts for the Production of Ultraclean Fuels journal January 2014