2 research outputs found
Electronic structure of porphyrin-based metalâ organic frameworks and their suitability for solar fuel production photocatalysis
Metalâorganic frameworks (MOFs) can be exceptionally good catalytic materials thanks to the presence of
active metal centres and a porous structure that is advantageous for molecular adsorption and
confinement. We present here a first-principles investigation of the electronic structure of a family of
MOFs based on porphyrins connected through phenyl-carboxyl ligands and AlOH species, in order to
assess their suitability for the photocatalysis of fuel production reactions using sunlight. We consider
structures with protonated porphyrins and those with the protons exchanged with late 3d metal cations
(Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+), a process that we find to be thermodynamically favorable from aqueous
solution for all these metals. Our band structure calculations, based on an accurate screened hybrid
functional, reveal that the bandgaps are in a favorable range (2.0 to 2.6 eV) for efficient adsorption of
solar light. Furthermore, by approximating the vacuum level to the pore centre potential, we provide the
alignment of the MOFs' band edges with the redox potentials for water splitting and carbon dioxide
reduction, and show that the structures studied here have band edges positions suitable for these
reactions at neutral pH.Royal Society for an International Exchange Scheme grantVia our membership of the UK's HPC Materials Chemistry Consortium, which is funded by EPSRC (EP/L000202), this work made use of the facilities of ARCHER, the UK's national high-performance computing services, which are funded by the Office of Science and Technology through EPSRC's High End Computing ProgrammeEuropean Research Council through an ERC Starting Grant (ERC2011-StG-279520-RASPA)MINECO (CTQ2013-48396-P)AndalucĂa Region (FQM-1851)University of Granad
The Si-Ge substitutional series in the chiral STW Zeolite Structure Type
The whole compositional range (Ge = Ge/(Ge+Si)= 0 to 1) of zeolite STW
has been synthesized and studied by a comprehensive combined
experimental--theoretical approach. The yield of zeolite goes through a maximum
and then drops at the GeO side of the series, following the inverse of the
calculated free energy curve. The unit cell generally expands, roughly
linearly, as the Ge increases, but a notable resilience to expansion is
observed at the high silica side. This can be attributed to the more rigid
character of SiO and the ability of Ge units to deform. Density functional
theory calculations provide a new assignment of the previously controversial
F MAS NMR resonances for occluded fluoride, which is based not only in
the number of Ge atoms in the double-4-ring units but also on the way they are
associated (namely, no Ge, isolated Ge, Ge pairs or closed Ge clusters). While
we found an overall good agreement between the experimental and theoretical
trends in preferential occupation by Ge of different crystallographic sites,
the theoretical models show more sharp and abrupt tendencies, likely due both
to limitations of the approach and to kinetic factors that allow metastable
configurations to actually exist.Comment: 26 page