The adsorption of nitrogen oxides on noble metal-doped graphene: The first-principles study

Abstract

The first-principles method based on density functional theory has been used to investigate the adsorption performance of NO/NO2 molecules on intrinsic, Ag-doped, Pt-doped and Au-doped graphene. Results show that graphene doped with Ag/Pt/Au has shorter final adsorption distance, larger adsorption energy and charge transfer amount with NO/NO2 molecules than intrinsic graphene, and the charge densities of doped graphene and NO/NO2 molecules overlap effectively. Therefore, doping graphene with noble metals can greatly enhance the adsorption between graphene and NO/NO2 molecules. Analysis also reveals that Au-doped graphene has the strongest adsorption effect on NO/NO2 molecules, followed by Ag-doped graphene, while Pt-doped graphene has the weakest role on the adsorption of NO/NO2 molecules. The work conducted in this research provides a theoretical guidance for the application of NO/NO2 gas sensors based on graphene.