Simulations of the Electrochemical Oxidation of Pt Nanoparticles of Various Shapes

Abstract

The activity and stability of a platinum nanoparticle (NP) are not only affected by its size but additionally depend on its shape. To this end, simulations can identify structure–property relationships to make a priori decisions on the most promising structures. While the activity is routinely probed by electronic structure calculations on simplified surface models, modeling the stability of NP model systems in electrochemical reactions is challenging due to the long time scale of relevant processes such as oxidation beyond the point of reversibility. In this work, a routine for simulating electrocatalyst stability is presented. The procedure is referred to as GREG after its main ingredients─a grand-canonical simulation approach using reactive force fields to model electrochemical reactions as a function of the galvanic cell potential. The GREG routine is applied to study the oxidation of 3 nm octahedral, cubic, dodecahedral, cuboctahedral, spherical, and tetrahexahedral platinum NPs. The oxidation process is analyzed using adsorption isobars as well as interaction energy heat maps that provide the basis for constructing electrochemical phase diagrams. Onset potentials for surface oxidation increase in the sequence cube ≈ dodecahedron ≤ octahedron ≤ tetrahexahedron < sphere < cuboctahedron, establishing a relationship between the oxidation behavior and the surface facet structure. The electrochemical results are rationalized using structural and electronic analyses.