AB Initio Calculations of CUN@Graphene (0001) Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic Applications

• Main Authors: Piskunov S., Zhukovskii Y. F., Sokolov M. N., Kleperis J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2018-12-01
• Series: Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences
• Subjects: cu-decorated graphene; dft; electronic properties; esm
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/lpts-2018-0041

Substitution of fossil-based chemical processes by the combination of electrochemical reactions driven by sources of renewable energy and parallel use of H2O and CO2 to produce carbon and hydrogen, respectively, can serve as direct synthesis of bulk chemicals and fuels. We plan to design and develop a prototype of electrochemical reactor combining cathodic CO2-reduction to ethylene and anodic H2O oxidation to hydrogen peroxide. We perform ab initio calculations on the atomistic 2D graphene-based models with attached Cu atoms foreseen for dissociation of CO2 and H2O containing complexes, electronic properties of which are described taking into account elemental electrocatalytical reaction steps. The applicability of the model nanostructures for computer simulation on electrical conductivity of charged Cun/graphene (0001) surface is also reported.