Cooperation of Mn and P atoms in graphene for efficiently catalyzing CO oxidation at low temperature

Abstract

Computational studies show that the co-doping of Mn and P atoms in graphene (MnP4-Gr) can provide high CO oxidation performance at room temperature. Results suggest that the configuration (CO+O2)* can be easily obtained due to the better adsorption of CO on the Mn atom and O2 on the P atom. (CO+O2)* is further found to undergo a fast Langmuir−Hinshelwood (LH) process and then left one atomic oxygen on P which is difficult to remove. Therefore, due to the more favorable adsorption of CO on the Mn atom and O2 on other P atoms, coupled with the speed of the LH process, the configuration (CO+4O)* of one atomic oxygen adsorbed on each P atom and CO on Mn atom is finally obtained. The whole reaction is determined by the atomic oxygen removal in (CO+4O)* with an energy barrier of 0.80 eV. It is predicted that the cooperation of Mn and P atoms is conducive to the fast LH process of MnP4-Gr and also the weaker binding between P and O in MnP4-Gr. Moreover, thermodynamic and kinetics analysis indicates that increasing temperature can accelerate CO oxidation and facilitate reaction in thermodynamics. Therefore, the insights reported in this paper will provide a new catalyst for low-temperature CO oxidation.