A first-principles study on the effect of phosphorus-doped palladium catalyst for formic acid dissociation

Abstract

The effect of phosphorus-doped Pd(111) catalyst for the formic acid (HCOOH) dissociation has been investigated by using the density functional theory. The adsorption configurations and active sites of the intermediates involved in the HCOOH dissociation on the Pd/P(111) surface are studied. Our results showed that the doping of P on Pd catalyst could strengthen the adsorption of the intermediates. The Pd/P(111) catalyst exhibits higher catalytic activity by the easy formation of CO2 and H2 compared with the Pd(111) catalyst. The dominant HCOOH dissociation product on Pd/P(111) surface is CO2 rather than CO. Based on the computational hydrogen electrode (CHE) model, we found that CO formation is unfavorable on Pd/P(111) under the anode potential condition compared with the Pd(111) catalyst. Furthermore, the microkinetic analysis based on the DFT calculations showed that at high temperatures, the HCOOH dissociation is disfavored on the Pd/P(111) surface.