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Kumar N, Premadasa UI, Dong D, Roy S, Ma YZ, Doughty B, Bryantsev VS. Adsorption, Orientation, and Speciation of Amino Acids at Air-Aqueous Interfaces for the Direct Air Capture of CO 2. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2024; 40:14311-14320. [PMID: 38958522 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c00907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
Amino acids make up a promising family of molecules capable of direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 from the atmosphere. Under alkaline conditions, CO2 reacts with the anionic form of an amino acid to produce carbamates and deactivated zwitterionic amino acids. The presence of the various species of amino acids and reactive intermediates can have a significant effect on DAC chemistry, the role of which is poorly understood. In this study, all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) based computational simulations and vibrational sum frequency generation (vSFG) spectroscopy studies were conducted to understand the role of competitive interactions at the air-aqueous interface in the context of DAC. We find that the presence of potassium bicarbonate ions, in combination with the anionic and zwitterionic forms of amino acids, induces concentration and charge gradients at the interface, generating a layered molecular arrangement that changes under pre- and post-DAC conditions. In parallel, an enhancement in the surface activity of both anionic and zwitterionic forms of amino acids is observed, which is attributed to enhanced interfacial stability and favorable intermolecular interactions between the adsorbed amino acids in their anionic and zwitterionic forms. The collective influence of these competitive interactions, along with the resulting interfacial heterogeneity, may in turn affect subsequent capture reactions and associated rates. These effects underscore the need to consider dynamic changes in interfacial chemical makeup to enhance DAC efficiency and to develop successful negative emission and storage technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nitesh Kumar
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Uvinduni I Premadasa
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Dengpan Dong
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Santanu Roy
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Ying-Zhong Ma
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Benjamin Doughty
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Vyacheslav S Bryantsev
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
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2
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Liu Z, Sinopoli A, Francisco JS, Gladich I. Water-Catalyzed Formation of Reactive Oxygen Species from NO 2 on a Weakly Hydrated Calcite Surface. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:17898-17907. [PMID: 38912929 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c03650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/25/2024]
Abstract
The interfaces of weakly hydrated mineral substrates have been shown to serve as catalytic sites for chemical reactions that may not be accessible in the gas phase or under bulk conditions. Currently known mechanisms for the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) involve NO2 dimerization. Here, we report the formation of the ROS HONO via a mechanism involving simple adsorption of a single NO2 molecule on a weakly hydrated calcite substrate. First-principles molecular dynamics simulations coupled with enhanced sampling techniques show how an adsorbed water sublayer can enhance NO2 adsorption on calcite compared to adsorption on a bare dry substrate. On the weakly hydrated calcite surface, an interfacial electric field facilitates proton extraction from water, thus allowing HONO formation from a single adsorbed NO2, i.e., without the need for the formation of a NO2 dimer precomplex. HONO formation on calcite is kinetically more favorable than that in the gas phase, with a reaction barrier of 14 kcal/mol on the weakly hydrated calcite surface compared to 27 kcal/mol in the gas phase. Further photocatalysed HONO production by visible light and HONO dissociation are hampered on calcite, unlike the process on silica. NO2 is a significant anthropogenic pollutant, and understanding its chemistry is crucial for explaining the high ROS levels and haze formation in polluted areas or prebiotic ROS generation. These findings emphasize how mineral substrates under water-restricted hydration conditions can trigger chemical pathways that are unexpected in the gas phase or under bulk conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziao Liu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - Alessandro Sinopoli
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
| | - Joseph S Francisco
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - Ivan Gladich
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
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Martins-Costa MTC, Ruiz-López MF. Reactivity of Monoethanolamine at the Air-Water Interface and Implications for CO 2 Capture. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:1289-1297. [PMID: 38279927 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2024]
Abstract
The development of CO2-capture technologies is key to mitigating climate change due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. These cover a number of technologies designed to reduce the level of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere or to eliminate CO2 from ambient air. In this context, amine-based sorbents in aqueous solutions are broadly used in most advanced separation techniques currently implemented in industrial applications. It has been reported that the gas/liquid interface plays an important role in the early stages of the capture process, but how the interface influences the chemistry is still a matter of debate. With the help of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations, we show that monoethanolamine (MEA), a prototypical sorbent molecule, has a weak affinity for the air-water interface, where in addition it exhibits a lower nucleophilicity compared to bulk solution. The change in reactivity is due to the combination of structural and electronic factors, namely, the shift of the conformational equilibrium and the stabilization of the N-atom lone pair. Based on these results, strategies for improving the efficiency of alkanolamine sorbents are proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marilia T C Martins-Costa
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques, UMR CNRS 7019, University of Lorraine, CNRS, BP 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
| | - Manuel F Ruiz-López
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques, UMR CNRS 7019, University of Lorraine, CNRS, BP 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
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Sinopoli A, Liu Z, Abotaleb A, Alkhateeb A, Gladich I. Addressing the Effectiveness and Molecular Mechanism of the Catalytic CO 2 Hydration in Aqueous Solutions by Nickel Nanoparticles. ACS OMEGA 2024; 9:771-780. [PMID: 38222595 PMCID: PMC10785337 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c06676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Hydration of carbon dioxide in water solution is the rate limiting step for the CO2 mineralization process, a process which is at the base of many carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies aiming to convert carbon dioxide to added-value products and mitigate climate change. Here, we present a combined experimental and computational study to clarify the effectiveness and molecular mechanism by which nickel nanoparticles, NiNPs, may enhance CO2 hydration in aqueous solutions. Contrary to previous literature, our kinetic experiments recording changes of pHs, conductivity, and dissolved carbon dioxide in solution reveal a minimal effect of the NiNPs in catalyzing CO2 hydration. Our atomistic simulations indicate that the Ni metal surface can coordinate only a limited number of water molecules, leaving uncoordinated metal sites for the binding of carbon dioxide or other cations in solution. This deactivates the catalyst and limits the continuous re-formation of a hydroxyl-decorated surface, which was a key chemical step in the previously suggested Ni-catalyzed hydration mechanism of carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions. At our experimental conditions, which expand the investigation of NiNP applicability toward a wider range of scenarios for CCU, NiNPs show a limited catalytic effect on the rate of CO2 hydration. Our study also highlights the importance of the solvation regime: while Ni surfaces may accelerate carbon dioxide hydration in water restricted environments, it may not be the case in fully hydrated conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Sinopoli
- Qatar
Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P. O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ziao Liu
- Department
of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
| | - Ahmed Abotaleb
- Qatar
Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P. O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
| | - Alaa Alkhateeb
- Qatar
Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P. O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
| | - Ivan Gladich
- Qatar
Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P. O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
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Liu Z, Sinopoli A, Francisco JS, Gladich I. Uptake and reactivity of NO2 on the hydroxylated silica surface: A source of reactive oxygen species. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:234704. [PMID: 38108483 DOI: 10.1063/5.0178259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
We report state-of-the-art first-principles molecular dynamics results on the heterogeneous chemical uptake of NO2, a major anthropogenic pollutant, on the dry and wet hydroxylated surface of α-quartz, which is a significant component of silica-based catalysts and atmospheric dust aerosols. Our investigation spotlights an unexpected chemical pathway by which NO2 (i) can be adsorbed as HONO by deprotonation of interfacial silanols (i.e., -Si-OH group) on silica, (ii) can be barrierless converted to nitric acid, and (iii) can finally dissociated to surface bounded NO and hydroxyl gas phase radicals. This chemical pathway does not invoke any previously experimentally postulated NO2 dimerization, dimerization that is less likely to occur at low NO2 concentrations. Moreover, water significantly catalyzes the HONO formation and the dissociation of nitric acid into surface-bounded NO and OH radicals, while visible light adsorption can further promote these chemical transformations. This work highlights how water-restricted solvation regimes on common mineral substrates are likely to be a source of reactive oxygen species, and it offers a theoretical framework for further and desirable experimental efforts, aiming to better constrain trace gases/mineral interactions at different relative humidity conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziao Liu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
| | - Alessandro Sinopoli
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
| | - Joseph S Francisco
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
| | - Ivan Gladich
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar
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Premadasa UI, Dong D, Stamberga D, Custelcean R, Roy S, Ma YZ, Bocharova V, Bryantsev VS, Doughty B. Chemical Feedback in the Self-Assembly and Function of Air-Liquid Interfaces: Insight into the Bottlenecks of CO 2 Direct Air Capture. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2023; 15:19634-19645. [PMID: 36944180 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c00719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
As fossil fuels remain a major source of energy throughout the world, developing efficient negative emission technologies, such as direct air capture (DAC), which remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, becomes critical for mitigating climate change. Although all DAC processes involve CO2 transport from air into a sorbent/solvent, through an air-solid or air-liquid interface, the fundamental roles the interfaces play in DAC remain poorly understood. Herein, we study the interfacial behavior of amino acid (AA) solvents used in DAC through a combination of vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. This study revealed that the absorption of atmospheric CO2 has antagonistic effects on subsequent capture events that are driven by changes in bulk pH and specific ion effects that feedback on surface organization and interactions. Among the three AAs (leucine, valine, and phenylalanine) studied, we identify and separate behaviors from CO2 loading, chemical changes, variations in pH, and specific ion effects that tune structural and chemical degrees of freedom at the air-aqueous interface. The fundamental mechanistic findings described here are anticipated to enable new approaches to DAC based on exploiting interfaces as a tool to address climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uvinduni I Premadasa
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Dengpan Dong
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Diana Stamberga
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Radu Custelcean
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Santanu Roy
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Ying-Zhong Ma
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Vera Bocharova
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Vyacheslav S Bryantsev
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - Benjamin Doughty
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
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Maginn EJ. Virtual Issue on Carbon Dioxide: Physical Chemistry That Impacts Its Capture, Sequestration, and Conversion. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:9927-9929. [PMID: 36475713 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c07562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Edward J Maginn
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 United States
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Gladich I, Lin C, Sinopoli A, Francisco JS. Uptake and hydration of sulfur dioxide on dry and wet hydroxylated silica surfaces: a computational study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 24:172-179. [PMID: 34878450 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp04747g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We present a first-principles molecular dynamics study on the uptake and hydration of sulfur dioxide on the dry and wet fully hydroxylated surfaces of (0001) α-quartz, which are a proxy for suspended silica dust in the atmosphere. The average adsorption energy for SO2 is about -10 kcal mol-1 on both dry and wet surfaces. The adsorption is driven by hydrogen bond formation between SO2 and the interfacial hydroxyl groups (on dry silica), or with water molecules (in the wet case). In the dry system, we report an additional electrostatic interaction between the interfacial hydroxyl oxygen and the sulfur atom, which further stabilizes the adsorbate. On dry silica, the interfacial hydroxyl group coordinates to SO2 yielding a surface bound bisulfite (Si-SO3H) complex. On the wet surface, SO2 reacts with water forming bisulfite (HSO3-), and the latter remains solvated inside the adsorbed water layer. The hydration barrier for sulfur dioxide is 1 kcal mol-1 and 3 kcal mol-1 on dry and wet silica, respectively, while for the backward reaction (i.e., bisulfite to SO2) the barrier is 6 kcal mol-1 on both surfaces. The modest backward barrier rationalizes earlier experimental findings showing no SO2 uptake on silica. These results underline the importance of the surface hydroxylation and/or adsorbed water layers for the SO2 uptake and its hydration on silica. Moreover, the hydration to bisulfite may prevent direct SO2 photochemistry and be an additional source of sulfate; this is especially relevant in atmospheres subject to a high level of suspended mineral dust, intense solar radiation and atmospheric oxidizers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Gladich
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar.
| | - Chen Lin
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alessandro Sinopoli
- Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, P.O. Box 34410, Doha, Qatar.
| | - Joseph S Francisco
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franz M Geiger
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60660, United States
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