skip to main content


Title: Theoretical Investigation of the Oxygen Reduction Reaction over Platinum Catalysts Supported by Multi‐Edged Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofiber for Electrocatalyst Preparation
Abstract

Vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) are promising supports for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts in fuel cells. Although experimentally these catalytic systems have shown great potential, there is lack of molecular understanding of the catalytic sites and reaction mechanisms. This work investigated the origin of the ORR reactivities of the platinum catalysts on multi‐edged VACNFs (Pt/VACNF) using a multiscale modeling approach combining Density Functional Theory (DFT) and classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Based on the ReaxFF potential, all nanoscale Pt particles (Pt55, P100, and Pt147) are stabilized by the open edges located axially along the VACNF walls. The calculated first‐shell coordination numbers,, of surface Pt atoms are 6.63, 7.27, and 7.85, respectively, suggesting that the percentage of low coordination sites increases as the particle size decreases. The adsorption energies of OOH, O, and OH on Pt55were systematically probed using DFT calculations. These adsorption energies retain a linear correlation against the generalized coordination numbers (). For Pt nanoparticles supported on VACNF, we found that the OOH and OH bind stronger than on Pt (111) by 0.14 and 0.17 eV, respectively, which can hinder the ORR activity with lower limiting potential than Pt (111). Our theoretical prediction is in good agreement with the linear sweeping voltammetry that revealed a left shift of the half‐wave potential.

 
more » « less
Award ID(s):
1703263
PAR ID:
10377174
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ChemElectroChem
Volume:
9
Issue:
20
ISSN:
2196-0216
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    We report the pulsed‐laser deposition of epitaxial double‐perovskite Bi2FeCrO6(BFCO) films on the (001)‐, (110), and (111)‐oriented single‐crystal SrTiO3substrates. All of the BFCO films with various orientations show theandsuperlattice‐diffraction peaks. The intensity ratios between the‐superlattice and the main 111‐diffraction peak can be tailored by simply adjusting the laser repetition rate and substrate temperature, reaching up to 4.4%. However, both optical absorption spectra and magnetic measurements evidence that the strong superlattice peaks are not correlated with theB‐site Fe3+/Cr3+cation ordering. Instead, the epitaxial (111)‐oriented Bi2FeCrO6films show an enhanced remanent polarization of 92 μC/cm2at 10 K, much larger than the predicted values by density‐functional theory calculations. Positive‐up‐negative‐down (PUND) measurements with a time interval of 10 μs further support these observations. Therefore, our experimental results reveal that the strong superlattice peaks may come fromA‐ orB‐site cation shifts along the pseudo‐cubic [111] direction, which further enhance the ferroelectric polarization of the BFCO thin films.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    In this paper, we are interested in the following question: given an arbitrary Steiner triple systemonvertices and any 3‐uniform hypertreeonvertices, is it necessary thatcontainsas a subgraph provided? We show the answer is positive for a class of hypertrees and conjecture that the answer is always positive.

     
    more » « less
  3. Abstract

    We prove that a WLD subspace of the spaceconsisting of all bounded, countably supported functions on a set Γ embeds isomorphically intoif and only if it does not contain isometric copies of. Moreover, a subspace ofis constructed that has an unconditional basis, does not embed into, and whose every weakly compact subset is separable (in particular, it cannot contain any isomorphic copies of).

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    A graphGis said to be 2‐divisible if for all (nonempty) induced subgraphsHofG,can be partitioned into two setssuch thatand. (Heredenotes the clique number ofG, the number of vertices in a largest clique ofG). A graphGis said to be perfectly divisible if for all induced subgraphsHofG,can be partitioned into two setssuch thatis perfect and. We prove that if a graph is‐free, then it is 2‐divisible. We also prove that if a graph is bull‐free and either odd‐hole‐free orP5‐free, then it is perfectly divisible.

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    We present the average distribution of energetic electrons in Jupiter's plasma sheet and outer radiation belt near the magnetic equator during Juno's first 29 orbits. Juno observed a clear decrease of magnetic field amplitude and enhancement of energetic electron fluxes over 0.1–1,000 keV energies when traveling through the plasma sheet. In the radiation belts, Juno observed pancake‐shaped electron distributions with high fluxes at ∼90° pitch angle and whistler‐mode waves. Our survey indicates that the statistical electron flux at each energy tends to increase fromto. The equatorial pitch angle distributions are isotropic or field‐aligned in the plasma sheet and gradually become pancake‐shaped at. The electron phase space density gradients atMeV/G are relatively small atand become positive over, suggesting the dominant role of adiabatic radial transport at highershells, and the possible loss processes at lowershells.

     
    more » « less