First-Principles Modelling of N-Doped Co3O4

The project Nr. AP05131211 “First Principles Investigation on Catalytic Properties of N-doped Co3O4” is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of the grant funding for scientific and (or) scientific and technical research for 2018-2020. The authors thank T. Inerbaev and A. Popov for fruitful discussions and valuable suggestions. Yu.M. thanks M.Putnina for the technical assistance in preparation of the manuscript.N-doped Co3O4 is a promising electrocatalyst. By means of first-principles calculations, various concentrations and spatial arrangements of NO atoms were modelled. Mutual interaction of the dopant atoms was analysed with respect to single NO atom. Charge redistribution, caused by doping, was calculated.Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. AP05131211; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

First principles calculations of oxygen reduction reaction at fuel cell cathodes

This study was partly supported by M-ERA-NET project SunToChem (EK, YM). The computer resources were provided by Stuttgart Super-computing Center (Project DEFTD 12939). Authors thank E. Heifets, M. M. Kuklja, M. Arrigoni, D. Morgan, R. Evarestov, and D. Gryaznov for fruitful discussions.The efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) depends critically on materials, in particular for the cathode where the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) occurs. Typically, mixed conducting perovskite ABO3-type materials are used for this purpose. The dominating surface terminations are (001) AO and BO2, with the relative fractions depending on materials composition and ambient conditions. Here, results of recent large-scale first principles (ab initio) calculations for the two alternative polar (La,Sr)O and MnO2 (001) terminations of (La,Sr)MnO3 cathode materials are discussed. The surface oxygen vacancy concentration for the (La,Sr)O termination is more than 5 orders of magnitude smaller compared to MnO2, which leads to drastically decreased estimated ORR rates. Thus, it is predicted for prototypical SOFC cathode materials that the BO2 termination largely determines the ORR kinetics, although with Sr surface segregation (long-term degradation) its fraction of the total surface area decreases, which slows down cathode kinetics.Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245191031930169

Thermodynamics of ABO3-Type Perovskite Surfaces

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Quantum-chemical simulation of N-doped Co3O4

Calculations were performed using the DFT method as implemented in the computer code VASP 5.4[1]. Core electrons were substituted with the US potentials with the PAW method [2]. Exchange-correlation described by the PBE functional [3]. The Hubbard correction U-J=3eV [4] was applied to d-electrons of Cotet as well as Cooct atoms [5]. For defects modeling cubic 56-atom supercell model has been used. For Brillouine zone [6] was sampled with the 2x2x2 Monkhorst- Pack scheme

Water Splitting on Multifaceted SrTiO3 Nanocrystals: Computational Study

The financial support of M-ERA.NET2 Sun2Chem project is greatly acknowledged by E.K. Authors thank Dr. Marjeta Ma?ek Kr?manc and prof. Chi-Sheng Wu, for the fruitful discussions. The financial support of FLAG-ERA JTC project To2Dox is acknowledged by Y.A.M. This paper is based upon the work from COST Action 18234, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The support is greatly acknowledged by Y.A.M. and V.K. The grant No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/l/16/147 (1.1.1.2/16/I/001) under the activity of Post-doctoral research aid is greatly acknowledged by M.S. and D.B. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (Latvia) as the Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2 . The computer resources were provided by the Stuttgart Supercomputing Center (project DEFTD 12939) and Latvian Super Cluster (LASC).Recent experimental findings suggest that strontium titanate SrTiO3 (STO) photocatalytic activity for water splitting could be improved by creating multifaceted nanoparticles. To understand the underlying mechanisms and energetics, the model for faceted nanoparticles was created. The multifaceted nanoparticles’ surface is considered by us as a combination of flat and “stepped” facets. Ab initio calculations of the adsorption of water and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediates were performed. Our findings suggest that the “slope” part of the step showed a natural similarity to the flat surface, whereas the “ridge” part exhibited significantly different adsorption configurations. On the “slope” region, both molecular and dissociative adsorption modes were possible, whereas on the “ridge”, only dissociative adsorption was observed. Water adsorption energies on the “ridge” (−1.50 eV) were significantly higher than on the “slope” (−0.76 eV molecular; −0.83 eV dissociative) or flat surface (−0.79 eV molecular; −1.09 eV dissociative). © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Published under the CC BY 4.0 license.M-ERA.NET2 Sun2Chem; FLAG-ERA JTC project To2Dox; COST Action 18234; Post-doctoral research grant No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/l/16/147 (1.1.1.2/16/I/001); Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

Oxygen evolution reaction on a N-doped Co0.5-terminated Co3O4 (001) surface

The project AP05131211 “First principles investigation on catalytic properties of N-doped Co3O4.” was funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The work was partly supported by COST (European Cooperation in science and Technology) Action 18234 (YM and EK). The work of T. Inerbaev was performed under the state assignment of Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. YM and EK thank Sun-to-Chem project of ERA Net.Recent experimental findings suggest that the catalytic activity of Co3O4 for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) could be improved by nitrogen doping. We present preliminary OER modelling on a N-doped Co3O4 surface, with varying concentration of the dopant and its spatial distribution around Cooct and Cotet adsorption sites. The overpotential was calculated for two adsorption sites on seven types of N-doped Co3O4 surface. The largest calculated overpotential value for a N-doped surface was ~1V. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, project AP0513121; COST Action 18234; Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Sun-to-Chem project of ERA Net; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²

Sr Doping and Oxygen Vacancy Formation in La1−xSrxScO3−δ Solid Solutions: Computational Modelling

The study was performed with the financial support from the Latvian Council of Science under the grant agreement LZP-2020/2-0009. Calculations were performed at the HLRS, University of Stuttgart, within the project 12939 DEFTD. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (Latvia), as the Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Frame-work Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.Sr-doped lanthanum scandate La1−xSrxScO3−δ (LSS) is a promising perovskite-type material for electrochemical applications such as proton conductors. Oxygen vacancy is a common defect in ABO3-type perovskites. It controls ion transport as well as proton uptake. The energetic, structural, and electronic properties of oxygen vacancy in LSS are studied deploying the DFT method with meta-GGA functional. The vacancy formation energies in LSS were calculated for various Sr concentrations. Unlike other perovskites, in this material, the electrons are trapped at the oxygen vacancy site (the F-type centres, common in ionic oxides like MgO and Al2O3) rather than localised on the nearest to the vacancy B-cations. The process of oxygen vacancy formation is considered relative to Sr concentration x and oxygen nonstoichiometry factor δ. Three primary regimes are discussed: (I) localized at the vacancy electrons, x/δ 2. For x/δ ≥ 2 oxygen vacancy formation energy reaches the saturation level of ~3.5 eV, which is potentially beneficial for the proton uptake. © 2022 by the authors.Latvian Council of Science LZP-2020/2-0009; the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (Latvia), as the Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

Water Splitting on Multifaceted SrTiO3 Nanocrystals: Calculations of Raman Vibrational Spectrum

The financial support of M-ERA.net SunToChem project is greatly acknowledged by L.L.R. and Y.A.M. This paper is partly based upon COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action 18234 Short Term Scientific Mission. The support is greatly acknowledged by E.K. and V.K. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (Latvia) as the Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Frame-work Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2. The computer resources were provided by the Stuttgart Supercomputing Center (HLRS project DEFTD 12939) and Latvian Super Cluster (LASC).Various photocatalysts are being currently studied with the aim of increasing the photocatalytic efficiency of water splitting for production of hydrogen as a fuel and oxygen as a medical gas. A noticeable increase of hydrogen production was found recently experimentally on the anisotropic faces (facets) of strontium titanate (SrTiO3, STO) nanoparticles. In order to identify optimal sites for water splitting, the first principles calculations of the Raman vibrational spectrum of the bulk and stepped (facet) surface of a thin STO film with adsorbed water derivatives were performed. According to our calculations, the Raman spectrum of a stepped STO surface differs from the bulk spectrum, which agrees with the experimental data. The characteristic vibrational frequencies for the chemisorption of water derivatives on the surface were identified. Moreover, it is also possible to distinguish between differently adsorbed hydrogen atoms of a split water molecule. Our approach helps to select the most efficient (size and shape) perovskite nanoparticles for efficient hydrogen/oxygen photocatalytic production. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.M-ERA.net SunToChem project; COST Action 18234 Short Term Scientific Mission; LRS project DEFTD 12939; the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Centre of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Frame-work Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2