C20 fullerene and its boron- and nitrogen-doped counterparts as an efficient catalyst for CO oxidation

Abstract

DFT calculations are utilised to investigate the CO oxidation on the C20, BC19, and NC19 clusters. For CO oxidation over considered clusters, two continuous steps are proposed that in each step one CO2 molecule is released from clusters surface. The calculations demonstrate that in the case of the C20 cluster, the first step of CO oxidation takes place through the ER mechanism on two routes with a barrier height of 1.06 eV and 2.57 eV for the rate-limiting step. Also, in the cases of BC19 and NC19 clusters, both reaction paths occur via the ER mechanism. The activation energy of the first reaction step is about 0.53 and 0.46 eV, while it is negligible for the second step that is 0.04 and 0.18 eV for BC19 and NC19 clusters, respectively. Based on the present theoretical results, the catalytic activity of BC19 and NC19 clusters toward the CO oxidation is more than that of the C20 cluster. These results show that the BC19 and NC19 clusters can be recommended as an efficient and metal-free catalyst for CO oxidation at near ambient temperatures. Research Highlights CO oxidation over C20 fullerene has been investigated. The effect of N/B-doing on the CO oxidation reaction is also studied. The N/B-doping increases the catalytic activity of C20 fullerene. Boron/Nitrogen-doped C20 fullerene can be applied as an efficient catalyst for CO oxidation.