Interaction of SO3 with c-ZrO2(111) films on Pt(111)

DFT exploration of adsorptive performances of borophene to small sulfur-containing gases

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to study the ability of B₃₆ to adsorb H₂S, SO₂, SO₃, CH₃SH, (CH₃)₂S, and C₄H₄S gases. Several exchange-correlation including B97D, PBE, B3LYP, M062X, and WB97XD were utilized to evaluate adsorption energies. The initial results showed that boundary boron atoms are the most appropriate interaction sites. The adsorption energies, electron density, electron localized function, and differential charge density plots confirmed the formation of chemical covalent bonds only between SO_x and B₃₆. The results of thermochemistry analysis revealed the exothermic nature of the adsorption of sulfur-containing gases on B₃₆; the highest values of ∆H₂₉₈ were found for SO₃/B₃₆ and SO₂/B₃₆ systems. The electronic absorption spectra and DOS of B₃₆ did not exhibit significant variations after gases adsorption, while the modeled CD spectra showed a remarkable change in the case of the SO_x/B₃₆ system. Accordingly, B₃₆ is not suggested for detecting the studied gases. The effect of imposing mono vacancy defect and external electric field to the adsorption of titled gases on the sorbent showed, while the former did not affect the adsorption energies significantly the later improved the adsorption of gas molecules on the B₃₆ system. The results of the current study could provide deeper molecular insight on the removal of SO_x gases by B₃₆ system.

Surface studies of gas sensing metal oxides

The relation of surface science studies of single crystal metal oxides to gas sensing applications is reviewed. Most metal oxide gas sensors are used to detect oxidizing or reducing gases and therefore this article focuses on surface reduction processes and the interaction of oxygen with these surfaces. The systems that are discussed are: (i) the oxygen vacancy formation on the surface of the ion conductor CeO(2)(111); (ii) interaction of oxygen with TiO(2) (both adsorption processes and the incorporation of oxygen into the TiO(2)(110) lattice are discussed); (iii) the varying surface composition of SnO(2)(101) and its consequence for the adsorption of water; and (iv) Cu modified ZnO(0001)-Zn surfaces and its interaction with oxygen. These examples are chosen to give a comprehensive overview of surface science studies of different kinds of gas sensing materials and to illustrate the potential that surface science studies have to give fundamental insight into gas sensing phenomena.

Activation and isomerization of n-butane on sulfated zirconia model systems—an integrated study across the materials and pressure gaps

Butane activation has been studied using three types of sulfated zirconia materials, single crystalline epitaxial films, nanocrystalline films, and powders. A surface phase diagram of zirconia in interaction with SO(3) and water was established by DFT calculations, which was verified by LEED investigations on single-crystalline films and by IR spectroscopy on powders. At high sulfate surface densities a pyrosulfate species is the prevailing structure in the dehydrated state; if such species are absent, the materials are inactive. Theory and experiment show that the pyrosulfate can react with butane to give butene, H(2)O and SO(2), hence butane can be activated via oxidative dehydrogenation. This reaction occurred on all investigated materials; however, isomerization could only be proven for powders. Transient and equilibrium adsorption measurements in a wide pressure and temperature range (isobars measured via UPS on nanocrystalline films, microcalorimetry and temporal analysis of products measurements on powders) show weak and reversible interaction of butane with a majority of sites but reactive interaction with <5 micromol g(-1) sites. Consistently, the catalysts could be poisoned by adding sodium to the surface in a ratio S/Na = 35. Future research will have to clarify what distinguishes these few sites.