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Glezakou, Vassiliki Alexandra

Publications and source records attributed to Glezakou, Vassiliki Alexandra.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Deprotonated Water Dimers: The Building Blocks of Segmented Water Chains on Rutile RuO2(110)

Despite the importance of RuO2 in photocatalytic water splitting and catalysis in general, the interactions of water with even its most stable (110) surface are not well-understood. In this study we employ a combination of high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy imaging with density functional theory based ab initio molecular dynamics, and we follow the formation and binding of linear water clusters on coordinatively unsaturated ruthenium rows. We find that clusters of all sizes (dimers, trimers, tetramers, extended chains) are stabilized by donating one proton per every two water molecules to the surface bridge bonded oxygen sites, in contrast with water monomers that do not show a significant propensity for dissociation. The clusters with odd number of water molecules are less stable than the clusters with even number, and are generally not observed under thermal equilibrium. For all clusters with even numbers, the dissociated dimers represent the fundamental building blocks with strong intra-dimer hydrogen bonds and only very weak inter-dimer interactions resulting in segmented water chains.

ab initio molecular dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2015

Use of Solvatochromism to Assay Preferential Solvation of a Prototypic Catalytic Site

The composition of the reaction medium near photoactive catalytic sites can be inferred from the solvatochromism of the absorption and emission spectra of the wetted sites, which depend on the polarizability of the fluid. In brief, solvatochromism measures the interaction of the dipole moments of the ground and excited states with the electric field imposed by the solvent shell: a field, which does not relax on the time scale of the absorption or emission events. As a first step in establishing the utility of the technique for inorganic catalysts that operate in complex reaction media, such as encountered in the upgrading of biogenic fuels, we have measured the solvatochromism of a common, structural feature of metal oxide catalysts. In toluene, cyclohexene, chloroform and tetrahydrofuran, POSS-ligated oxometalates exhibit strong ligand-to-metal charge-transfer bands in their UV-visible absorption and emission spectra. The magnitudes of the solvatochromic effects agreed well with the calculated changes in dipole moments that accompany the electronic transitions. From the solvatochromism of the chromophores dissolved in toluene-chloroform mixtures we inferred an unexpectedly strong, preferential solvation of the chromophore even when all three components (oxometalate and the two solvents) were highly miscible. This research was supported in part by the Laboratory Directed Research & Development program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. PNNL is operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. A portion of the research was performed at EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at PNNL.

chromium↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact of nonadiabatic charge transfer on the rate of redox chemistry of carbon oxides on rutile TiO2 (110) surface

We present the results of a density functional theory (DFT) within the LDA+U approximation on large models of partially reduced TiO2 (110) rutile surface to investigate the nature of charge transfer and the role of non-adiabatic effects on three prototypical redox reactions: (i) O2 adsorption (ii) CO oxidation and (iii) CO2 reduction. Charge-constrained DFT (cDFT) is used to estimate kinetic parameters for a Marcus theory rate law that accounts for adiabatic coupling effects on reaction rates. We find that for O2 adsorption, the coupling between adiabatic states is strong, leading to fast charge transfer rates. The lowest energy structures at high coverage consist of two chemisorbed O2-, one adsorbed at a VO site and the other adsorbed at an adjacent Ti5C site. For CO oxidation, however, all reactions are kinetically hindered on the ground state due to the weak adiabatic coupling at the state crossing, such that one has to overcome two kinetically unfavorable charge transfer events to drive the process (non-adiabatically) on the thermal ground state. The process can be driven by photochemical means but would result in an adsorbed radical [OCOO-] intermediate species. Similarly, CO2 reduction also proceeds via a non-adiabatic charge transfer to form an adsorbed CO2- species followed by a second non-adiabatic charge transfer to produce CO. Our analysis provides important computational guidelines for modeling these types of processes. We thank Z. Dohnalek, M. Hendersen, G. Kimmel, H. Metieu, and N. Petrik for invaluable discussions. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences and performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle. Computational resources were provided at W. R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL), a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research located at PNNL and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

charge transfer↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamic formation of single-atom catalytic active sites on ceria-supported gold nanoparticles

Ab initio Molecular Dynamics simulations and static Density Functional Theory calculations have been performed to investigate the reaction mechanism of CO oxidation on Au/CeO 2 catalyst. It is found that under reaction condition CO adsorption significantly labializes the surface atoms of the Au cluster and leads to the formation of isolated Au+-CO species that resides on the support in the vicinity of the Au particle. In this context, we identified a dynamic single-atom catalytic mechanism at the interfacial area for CO oxidation on Au/CeO 2 catalyst, which is a lower energy pathway than that of CO oxidation at the interface with the metal particle. This results from the ability of the single atom site to strongly couple with the redox properties of the support in a synergistic manner thereby lowering the barrier for redox reactions. We find that the single Au+ ion, which only exists under reaction conditions, breaks away from the Au cluster to catalyze CO oxidation and returns to the Au cluster after the catalytic cycle is completed. Generally, our study highlights the importance of the dynamic creation of active sites under reaction conditions and their essential role in a catalytic process.

Wang, Yanggang↗
DOE OSTI2015

Synthesis and characterization of low viscosity carbon dioxide binding organic liquids for flue gas clean up

Climate change is partly attributed to global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emission to the atmosphere. These environmental effects can be mitigated by CO2 capture, utilization and storage. Alkanolamine solvents, such as monoethanolamine (MEA), which bind CO2 as carbamates or bicarbonate salts are used for CO2 capture in niche applications. These solvents consist of approximately 30 wt% of MEA in water, exhibiting a low, CO2-rich viscosity, fast kinetics and favorable thermodynamics. However, these solvents have low CO2 capacity and high heat capacity of water, resulting in prohibitively high costs of thermal solvent regeneration. Effective capture of the enormous amounts of CO2 produced by coal-fired plants requires a material with high CO2 capacity and low regeneration energy requirements. To this end, several water-lean transformational solvents systems have been developed in order to reduce these energy penalties. These technologies include nano-material organic hybrids (NOHMs), task-specific, protic and conventional ionic liquids, phase change solvents. As part of an ongoing program in our group, we have developed new water lean transformational solvents known as CO2 binding organic liquids (CO2BOLs) which have the potential to be energy efficient CO2 capture solvents. These solvents, also known as switchable ionic liquids meaning, are organic solvents that can reversibly transform from non- ionic to ionic form and back. The zwitterionic state in these liquids is formed when low polarity non-ionic alkanolguanidines or alkanolamidines react with CO2 or SO2 to form ionic liquids with high polarity. These polar ionic liquids can be thermally converted to the less polar non-ionic solvent by releasing CO2.

Koech, Phillip K.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dimerization Induced Deprotonation of Water on RuO2(110)

RuO2 has proven to be indispensable as a co-catalyst in numerous systems designed for photocatalytic water splitting. In this study we have carried out a detailed mechanistic study of water behavior on the most stable RuO2 face, RuO2(110), by employing variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations. We show that water monomers adsorb molecularly on Ru sites, become mobile above 238 K, diffuse along the Ru rows and form water dimers. The onset for dimer diffusion is observed at ~277 K indicating significantly higher diffusion barrier than that for monomers. More importantly, we find that water dimers deprotonate readily to form Ru-bound H3O2 and bridging OH species. The observed behavior is compared and contrasted with that observed for water on isostructural rutile TiO2(110).

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2014

Formation mechanism of the secondary building unit in a chromium terephthalate metal-organic framework

Based on density functional theory calculations and simulation, a detailed mechanism is presented on the formation of the secondary building unit (SBU) of MIL-101, a chromium terephthalate metal-organic framework (MOF). SBU formation is key to MOF nucleation, the rate-limiting step in the formation process of many MOFs. A series of reactions that lead to the formation of the SBU of MIL-101 is proposed in this work. Initial rate-limiting reactions form the metal cluster with three chromium (III) atoms linked to a central bridging oxygen. Terephthalate linkers play a key role as chromium (III) atoms are joined to linker carboxylate groups prior to the placement of the central bridging oxygen. Multiple linker addition reactions, which follow in different paths due to structural isomers, are limited by the removal of water molecules in the first chromium coordination shell. The least energy path is identified were all linkers on one face of the metal center plane are added first. A simple kinetic model based on transition state theory shows the rate of secondary building unit formation similar to the rate metal-organic framework nucleation. The authors are thankful to Dr. R. Rousseau for a critical reading of the manuscript. This research would not have been possible without the support of the Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. This research was performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and the PNNL Institutional Computing (PIC) program located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Microstructural Response of Variably Hydrated Ca-Rich Montmorillonite to Supercritical CO2

We report on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of Ca-rich montmorillonite systems, in different hydration states in the presence of supercritical CO2. Analysis of the molecular trajectories provides estimates of the relative H2O:CO2 ratio per interspatial cation. The vibrational density of states in direct comparison with dipole moment derived IR spectra for these systems provide unique signatures that can used to follow molecular transformation. In a co-sequestration scenario, these signatures could be used to identify the chemical state and fate of Sulfur compounds. Interpretation of CO2 asymmetric stretch shift is given based on a detailed analysis of scCO2 structure and intermolecular interactions of the intercalated species. Based on our simulations, smectites with higher charge interlayer cations at sub-single to single hydration states should be more efficient in capturing CO2, while maintaining caprock integrity. This research would not have been possible without the support of the office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy. The computational resources were made available through a user proposal of the EMSL User facility, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

AIMD↗
DOE OSTI2014

Highly Active and Stable MgAl2O4 Supported Rh and Ir Catalysts for Methane Steam Reforming: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

In this work we present a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of stable MgAl2O4 spinel-supported Rh and Ir catalysts for the steam methane reforming (SMR) reaction. Firstly, catalytic performance for a series of noble metal catalysts supported on MgAl2O4 spinel was evaluated for SMR at 600-850°C. Turnover rate at 850°C follows the order: Pd > Pt > Ir > Rh > Ru > Ni. However, Rh and Ir were found to have the best combination of activity and stability for methane steam reforming in the presence of simulated biomass-derived syngas. It was found that highly dispersed ~2 nm Rh and ~1 nm Ir clusters were formed on the MgAl2O4 spinel support. Scanning Transition Electron Microscopy (STEM) images show that excellent dispersion was maintained even under challenging high temperature conditions (e.g. at 850°C in the presence of steam) while Ir and Rh catalysts supported on Al2O3 were observed to sinter at increased rates under the same conditions. These observations were further confirmed by ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations which find that ~1 nm Rh and Ir particles (50-atom cluster) bind strongly to the MgAl2O4 surfaces via a redox process leading to a strong metal-support interaction, thus helping anchor the metal clusters and reduce the tendency to sinter. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that these supported smaller Rh and Ir particles have a lower work function than larger more bulk-like ones, which enables them to activate both water and methane more effectively than larger particles, yet have a minimal influence on the relative stability of coke precursors. In addition, theoretical mechanistic studies were used to probe the relationship between structure and reactivity. Consistent with the experimental observations, our theoretical modeling results also suggest that the small spinel-supported Ir particle catalyst is more active than the counterpart of Rh catalyst for SMR. This work was financially supported by the United States Department of Energy (DOE)’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle Memorial Institute. Computing time was granted by a user proposal at the Molecular Science Computing Facility in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) located at PNNL. Part of the computational time was provided by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).

ab initio molecular dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2014

Multifunctional Catalysts to Synthesize and Utilize Energy Carriers

The central role and critical importance of catalysis in a future based on sustainability, together with the insight that developments have to be knowledge-based have motivated significant efforts to better understand catalyzed processes and to develop new catalytic routes from this knowledge. Overall, three main energy carriers are used worldwide, carbon (and hydrocarbons), hydrogen, and electrons. Conventionally, the stored energy is accessed by oxidizing carbon and hydrogen, forming O-H and C-O bonds and performing work with the produced heat or electricity. Conversely, to synthesize energy carriers sustainably, it is consequently required to reverse the direction, i.e., to break C-O and O-H bonds and form C-C, C-H and H-H bonds. To address these challenges, PNNL’s BES-sponsored program comprises three thrust areas with subtasks, focusing on the fundamentals of biomass conversion processes, direct and indirect CO2 reduction, and on elementary studies aimed at generating and using H2. Multi-functionality, i.e., the simultaneous interaction of more than one catalytically active site with the substrate is the key to achieving the atom and energy efficiency in individual steps. The combination of several types of these sites with carefully selected energetics and rate constants is used to generate complex catalysts able to enhance the rates of multistep processes. This short report summarizes recent results obtained in this BES-funded program.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2014

Surface Condensation of CO2 onto Kaolinite

The fundamental adsorption behavior of gaseous and supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) onto poorly crystalline kaolinite (KGa-2) at conditions relevant to geologic sequestration has been investigated using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and density functional theory (DFT) methods. The QCM data indicated linear adsorption of CO2 (0-0.3 mmol CO2/g KGa-2) onto the kaolinite surface up through the gaseous state (0.186 g/cm3). However in the supercritical region, CO2 adsorption increases dramatically, reaching a peak (0.9-1.0 mmol CO2/g KGa-2) near 0.43 g/cm3, before declining rapidly to surface adsorption values equivalent or below gaseous CO2. This adsorption profile was not observed with He or N2. Comparative density functional studies of CO2 interactions with kaolinite surface models rule out CO2 intercalation and confirm that surface adsorption is favored up to approximately 0.35 g/cm3 of CO2, showing distorted T-shaped CO2-CO2 clustering, typical of supercritical CO2 aggregation over the surface as the density increases. Beyond this point, the adsorption energy gain for any additional CO2 becomes less than the CO2 interaction energy (~0.2 eV) in the supercritical medium resulting in overall desorption of CO2 from the kaolinite surface.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evaluating transformational solvent systems for post-combustion CO2 separations

Broad research is underway on developing transformational solvents that can capture of CO2 from flue gas with lower energy compared to aqueous amines. Water-lean, or non-aqueous, solvents are being considered as a class of transformational solvents due to the prospect of lower energy duties by not having to heat and condense water. To date, little is known about the real world performance of water-lean solvent systems compared to commercial aqueous amine technologies, and whether or not they can utilize existing or at least similar processing infrastructure. This paper provides the key results from a comprehensive three-year study of the water-lean CO2-Binding Organic Liquids (CO2BOL) solvent platform coupled with Polarity-Swing Assisted Regeneration (PSAR). We present here thermodynamic, kinetic, and bench-scale data, followed by Aspen Plus projections of full-scale process performance for three CO2BOL/PSAR cases. This paper also provides discussions on materials performance and identifies viscosity as a critical property that most greatly limits the viability of water-lean solvent platforms. We provide results from a new effort spanning molecular modeling and synthesis and experimental testing to decipher the critical material properties needed to address this challenge. We conclude with implications for development of other water-lean solvent systems

Heldebrant, David J.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Rh-Based Mixed Alcohol Synthesis Catalysts: Characterization and Computational Report

The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting a program focused on developing a process for the conversion of biomass to bio-based fuels and co-products. Biomass-derived syngas is converted thermochemically within a temperature range of 240 to 330°C and at elevated pressure (e.g., 1200 psig) over a catalyst. Ethanol is the desired reaction product, although other side compounds are produced, including C 3 to C 5 alcohols; higher (i.e., greater than C 1 ) oxygenates such as methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, acetic acid and acetaldehyde; and higher hydrocarbon gases such as methane, ethane/ethene, propane/propene, etc. Saturated hydrocarbon gases (especially methane) are undesirable because they represent a diminished yield of carbon to the desired ethanol product and represent compounds that must be steam reformed at high energy cost to reproduce CO and H 2 . Ethanol produced by the thermochemical reaction of syngas could be separated and blended directly with gasoline to produce a liquid transportation fuel. Additionally, higher oxygenates and unsaturated hydrocarbon side products such as olefins also could be further processed to liquid fuels. The goal of the current project is the development of a Rh-based catalyst with high activity and selectivity to C 2 + oxygenates. This report chronicles an effort to characterize numerous supports and catalysts to identify particular traits that could be correlated with the most active and/or selective catalysts. Carbon and silica supports and catalysts were analyzed. Generally, analyses provided guidance in the selection of acceptable catalyst supports. For example, supports with high surface areas due to a high number of micropores were generally found to be poor at producing oxygenates, possibly because of mass transfer limitations of the products formed out of the micropores. To probe fundamental aspects of the complicated reaction network of CO with H 2 , a computational/ theoretical investigation using quantum mechanical and ab initio molecular dynamics calculations was initiated in 2009. Computational investigations were performed first to elucidate understanding of the nature of the catalytically active site. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that Mn likely exists as a metallic alloy with Rh in Rh-rich environments under reducing conditions at the temperatures of interest. After determining that reduced Rh-Mn alloy metal clusters were in a reduced state, the activation energy barriers of numerous transition state species on the catalytically active metal particles were calculated to compute the activation barriers of several reaction pathways that are possible on the catalyst surface. Comparison of calculations with a Rh nanoparticle versus a Rh-Mn nanoparticle revealed that the presence of Mn enabled the reaction pathway of CH with CO to form an adsorbed CHCO species, which was a precursor to C 2 + oxygenates. The presence of Mn did not have a significant effect on the rate of CH 4 production. Ir was observed during empirical catalyst screening experiments to improve the activity and selectivity of Rh-Mn catalysts. Thus, the addition of Ir to the Rh-Mn nanoparticles also was probed computationally. Simulations of Rh-Mn-Ir nanoparticles revealed that, with sufficient Ir concentrations, the Rh, Mn and Ir presumably would be well mixed within a nanoparticle. Activation barriers were calculated for Rh-Mn-Ir nanoparticles for several C-, H-, and O-containing transitional species on the nanoparticle surface. It was found that the presence of Ir opened yet another reactive pathway whereby HCO is formed and may undergo insertion with CHx surface moieties. The reaction pathway opened by the presence of Ir is in addition to the CO + CH pathway opened by the presence of Mn. Similar to Mn, the presence of Ir was not found to not affect the rate of CH 4 production.

catalyst↗
DOE OSTI2013

The Role of Reducible Oxide-Metal Cluster Charge Transfer in Catalytic Processes. New Insights on The Catalytic Mechanism of CO Oxidation on Au/TiO 2 from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics

To probe metal particle/reducible oxide interactions Density Functional Theory based Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics studies were performed on a prototypical metal cluster (Au 2 0) supported on reducible oxides (rutile TiO 2 (110)) to implicitly account for finite temperature effects and the role of excess surface charge in the metal oxide. It was found that the charge state of the Au particle is negative in a reducing chemical environment whereas in the presence of oxidizing species co-adsorbed to the oxide surface the cluster obtained a net positive charge. In the context of the well known CO oxidation reaction, charge transfer facilitates the plasticization of Au 2 0 which allows for a strong adsorbate induced surface reconstruction upon addition of CO leading to the formation of mobile Au-CO species on the surface. The charging/discharging of the cluster during the catalytic cycle of CO oxidation enhances and controls the amount of O 2 adsorbed at oxide surface/cluster interface and strongly influences the energetics of all redox steps in catalytic conversions. A detailed comparison of the current findings with previous studies is presented and generalities about the role of surface-adsorbate charge transfer for metal cluster/reducible oxide interactions are discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Density functional simulations as a tool to probe molecular interactions in wet supercritical CO2

Recent advances in mixed Gaussian and plane wave algorithms have made possible the effective use of density functional theory (DFT) in ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations for large and chemically complex models of condensed phase materials. In this chapter, we are reviewing recent progress on the modeling and characterization of co-sequestration processes and reactivity in wet supercritical CO2 (sc-CO2). We examine the molecular transformations of mineral and metal components of a sequestration system in contact with water-bearing scCO2 media and aim to establish a reliable correspondence between experimental observations and theory models with predictive ability and transferability of results in large scale geomechanical simulators. This work is funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy. A portion of the research was performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The Pacific Norhtwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is operated by Battelle for DOE under contract DE-AC06-76RL01830.

Glezakou, Vassiliki Alexandra↗
DOE OSTI2012

Molecular interactions of SO2 with carbonate minerals under co-sequestration conditions: a combined experimental and theoretical study

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study investigating the reactivity between selected and morphologically important surfaces of carbonate minerals with supercritical CO2 with co-existing H2O and SO2. Trace amounts of SO2 cause formation of CaSO3 in the form of hannebachite in the initial stages of SO2 adsorption and transformation. Atomistic simulations of these initial steps indicate a somewhat catalytic activity of water, which is enhanced by the presence of Magnesium atoms in the mineral surface. Under co-sequestration conditions, traces of water are not likely to cause carbonate dissolution, however the presence of SO2 greatly stabilizes the sulfite product.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

The Role of Ir in Ternary Rh-Based Catalysts for Syngas Conversion to C2+ Oxygenates

Transition metal modified Rh-catalysts can be used for converting syngas (CO+H2) into C2+ oxygenates. It has been found that Mn has a favorable effect in the selectivity towards oxygenates, while addition of Ir to the binary Rh-Mn catalysts significantly increases the space-time yield of C2+ oxygenates. In this paper, we use quantum mechanical calculations to investigate the distribution of promoter sites within Rh rich nanoparticles and their role in the conversion of syngas towards ethanol. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Biomass Program. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is operated by Battelle for the DOE under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. A portion of the research was performed in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a national science user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research located at PNNL.

DFT models↗