Adsorption properties of boroxol ring doped zigzag boron nitride nanotube toward NO molecule using DFT

Abstract

In previous researches it is demonstrated that reactivity and sensitivity of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) toward gas molecules can be modified by impurity. In this work, oxygen defect for three nitrogen sites was used to study the adsorption of NO molecule through the surface of boroxol ring of oxygen doped BNNT (7,0) with different adsorption patterns, including side-on and end-on. All calculations are performed using the DFT-B3LYP/6-31G[Formula: see text] level of theory, and their electronic energies are corrected by gCP and D3 correction terms. High binding energies indicate that NO molecule undergoes chemical adsorption with large charge transfer from the tube which can significantly change electronic properties of the tube. Density of state (DOS) and partial DOS (PDOS) analyses revealed that adsorption of NO molecule on the boroxol ring position is covalent in nature with significant effect on the electronic properties of tube. The Laplacian of electron density, Lagrangian kinetic energy density, Hamiltonian kinetic energy density and potential energy density at bond critical points between the tube and NO indicate that the interaction between the tube and NO molecule is covalent in nature. Topological analysis of the electron localization function shows that electrons in the new formed bonds are approximately localized, meaning that the nature of adsorption process is chemical covalent. The studied nanotube is a suitable candidate to filter and eliminate NO gas molecule.