Binding modes of phosphonic acid derivatives adsorbed on TiO2 surfaces: Assignments of experimental IR and NMR spectra based on DFT/PBC calculations

Abstract

A DFT study on the adsorption of a series of phosphonic acids (PAs) on the TiO2 anatase (101) and (001) surfaces was performed. The adsorption energies and geometries of the most stable binding modes were compared to literature data and the effect of the inclusion of dispersion forces in the energy calculations was gauged. As the (101) surface is the most exposed surface of TiO2 anatase, the calculated chemical shifts and vibrational frequencies of PAs adsorbed on this surface were compared to experimental 31P and 17O NMR and IR data in order to assign the two possible binding modes (mono- and bidentate) to peaks and bands in these spectra; due to the corrugated nature of anatase (101) tridentate binding is not possible on this surface. Analysis of the calculated and experimental 31P chemical shifts indicates that both monodentate and bidentate binding modes are present. For the reactive (001) surface, the results of the calculations indicate that both bi- and tridentate binding modes result in stable systems. Due to the particular sensitivity of 17O chemical shifts to hydrogen bonding and solvent effects, the model used is insufficient to assign these spectra at present. Comparison of calculated and experimental IR spectra leads to the conclusion that IR spectroscopy is not suitable for the characterization of the different binding modes of the adsorption complexes.