Sorption of molecular hydrogen on the graphene-like matrix doped by N- and B-atoms

Abstract

The regularities of interaction of hydrogen molecules with graphene-like planes, where two carbon atoms are replaced by nitrogen or boron atoms, have been studied by the methods of quantum chemistry (DFT, B3LYP, 6-31G**). To take into account the dispersion contributions to the energy of formation of intermolecular complexes that occur during the formation of adsorption supramolecular structures, Grimme’ dispersion correction is used - D3. To study the effect of the size of a graphene-like cluster on the energy of molecular hydrogen chemisorption, polyaromatic molecules (PAM) are used of pyrene, coronene and that consisting of 54 carbon atoms, as well as their nitrogen- and boron-containing analogues where N- and B-atoms are placed in a para-position relative to each other, in the so-called piperazine configuration. The insertion of a heteroatom changes the structure of the transition state and the mechanism of chemisorption. An analysis of the results of quantum chemical calculations showed the highest exothermic dissociative adsorption of the H2 molecule on B-containing graphene-like ones. For N-containing PAM, the exothermicity of the mentioned reaction is somewhat lower, for it a possibility of desorption of atomic hydrogen desorption the surface of the latter with subsequent recombination in the gas phase has been also shown. At the same time, for models of pure graphene-like layer, the data obtained indicate the impossibility of chemisorption of molecular hydrogen. Without a complete analysis of the results for all the possible locations of the pair of hydrogen atoms (formed due to dissociation of the H2 molecule) bound by nitrogen-containing polyaromatic molecules, it can be noted that the dissociative chemisorption of the H2 molecule, regardless of the nature of heteroatom in the PAM, is thermodynamically more probable at the periphery of the model molecules than that in their centers.