Quantum Chemical Study of CO and NO Bonding to Pd2, Cu2, and PdCu

High-Performance Nanostructured Palladium-Based Hydrogen Sensors-Current Limitations and Strategies for Their Mitigation

Hydrogen gas is rapidly approaching a global breakthrough as a carbon-free energy vector. In such a hydrogen economy, safety sensors for hydrogen leak detection will be an indispensable element along the entire value chain, from the site of hydrogen production to the point of consumption, due to the high flammability of hydrogen-air mixtures. To stimulate and guide the development of such sensors, industrial and governmental stakeholders have defined sets of strict performance targets, which are yet to be entirely fulfilled. In this Perspective, we summarize recent efforts and discuss research strategies for the development of hydrogen sensors that aim at meeting the set performance goals. In the first part, we describe the state-of-the-art for fast and selective hydrogen sensors at the research level, and we identify nanostructured Pd transducer materials as the common denominator in the best performing solutions. As a consequence, in the second part, we introduce the fundamentals of the Pd-hydrogen interaction to lay the foundation for a detailed discussion of key strategies and Pd-based material design rules necessary for the development of next generation high-performance nanostructured Pd-based hydrogen sensors that are on par with even the most stringent and challenging performance targets.

Rationally Designed PdAuCu Ternary Alloy Nanoparticles for Intrinsically Deactivation-Resistant Ultrafast Plasmonic Hydrogen Sensing

Hydrogen sensors are a prerequisite for the implementation of a hydrogen economy due to the high flammability of hydrogen-air mixtures. They are to comply with the increasingly stringent requirements set by stakeholders, such as the automotive industry and manufacturers of hydrogen safety systems, where sensor deactivation is a severe but widely unaddressed problem. In response, we report intrinsically deactivation-resistant nanoplasmonic hydrogen sensors enabled by a rationally designed ternary PdAuCu alloy nanomaterial, which combines the identified best intrinsic attributes of the constituent binary Pd alloys. This way, we achieve extraordinary hydrogen sensing metrics in synthetic air and poisoning gas background, simulating real application conditions. Specifically, we find a detection limit in the low ppm range, hysteresis-free response over 5 orders of magnitude hydrogen pressure, subsecond response time at room temperature, long-term stability, and, as the key, excellent resistance to deactivating species like carbon monoxide, notably without application of any protective coatings. This constitutes an important step forward for optical hydrogen sensor technology, as it enables application under demanding conditions and provides a blueprint for further material and performance optimization by combining and concerting intrinsic material assets in multicomponent nanoparticles. In a wider context, our findings highlight the potential of rational materials design through alloying of multiple elements for gas sensor development, as well as the potential of engineered metal alloy nanoparticles in nanoplasmonics and catalysis.

Infrared Spectroscopic and Theoretical Studies on the Reactions of Copper Atoms with Carbon Monoxide and Nitric Oxide Molecules in Rare-Gas Matrices

Reactions of laser-ablated Cu atoms with CO and NO mixtures in solid argon and neon have been investigated using matrix-isolation infrared spectroscopy. Copper carbonyls and copper nitrosyls have been observed, whereas copper carbonyl nitrosyl complexes are absent from the present experiments. New products, (CuCO)2, [NO]Cu[NO], Cu2(mu2-NO), and Cu(NO)2Cu, have been formed in the copper experiments and characterized using infrared spectroscopy on the basis of the results of the isotopic shifts, mixed isotopic splitting patterns, stepwise annealing, the change of reagent concentration and laser energy, and comparison with theoretical predictions. Density functional theory calculations have been performed on these copper carbonyls and copper nitrosyls, which support the identification of these products from the matrix infrared spectrum. A plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed to account for the formation of copper carbonyls and copper nitrosyls. Similar matrix experiments with Ag and Au produce no new species.

PdnCO (n = 1,2): Accurate Ab Initio Bond Energies, Geometries, and Dipole Moments and the Applicability of Density Functional Theory for Fuel Cell Modeling

Electrode poisoning by CO is a major concern in fuel cells. As interest in applying computational methods to electrochemistry is increasing, it is important to understand the levels of theory required for reliable treatments of metal-CO interactions. In this paper we justify the use of relativistic effective core potentials for the treatment of PdCO and hence, by inference, for metal-CO interactions where the predominant bonding mechanism is charge transfer. We also sort out key issues involving basis sets and we recommend that bond energies of 17.2, 43.3, and 69.4 kcal/mol be used as the benchmark bond energy for dissociation of Pd2 into Pd atoms, PdCO into Pd and CO, and Pd2CO into Pd2 and CO, respectively. We calculated the dipole moments of PdCO and Pd2CO, and we recommend benchmark values of 2.49 and 2.81 D, respectively. Furthermore, we tested 27 density functionals for this system and found that only hybrid density functionals can qualitatively and quantitatively predict the nature of the sigma-donation/pi-back-donation mechanism that is associated with the Pd-CO and Pd2-CO bonds. The most accurate density functionals for the systems tested in this paper are O3LYP, OLYP, PW6B95, and PBEh.