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Jens K Nørskov

Publications and source records attributed to Jens K Nørskov.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Calculated phase diagrams for the electrochemical oxidation and reduction of water over Pt(111).

Ab initio density functional theory is used to calculate the electrochemical phase diagram for the oxidation and reduction of water over the Pt(111) surface. Three different schemes proposed in the literature are used to calculate the potential-dependent free energy of hydrogen, water, hydroxyl, and oxygen species adsorbed to the surface. Despite the different foundations for the models and their different complexity, they can be directly related to one another through a systematic Taylor series expansion of the Nernst equation. The simplest model, which includes the potential only as a shift in the chemical potential of the electrons, accounts very well for the thermochemical features determining the phase-diagram.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Computational high-throughput screening of electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen evolution.

The pace of materials discovery for heterogeneous catalysts and electrocatalysts could, in principle, be accelerated by the development of efficient computational screening methods. This would require an integrated approach, where the catalytic activity and stability of new materials are evaluated and where predictions are benchmarked by careful synthesis and experimental tests. In this contribution, we present a density functional theory-based, high-throughput screening scheme that successfully uses these strategies to identify a new electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The activity of over 700 binary surface alloys is evaluated theoretically; the stability of each alloy in electrochemical environments is also estimated. BiPt is found to have a predicted activity comparable to, or even better than, pure Pt, the archetypical HER catalyst. This alloy is synthesized and tested experimentally and shows improved HER performance compared with pure Pt, in agreement with the computational screening results.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Generation of nanopores during desorption of NH3 from Mg(NH3)6Cl2.

It is shown that nanopores are formed during desorption of NH3 from Mg(NH3)6Cl2, which has been proposed as a hydrogen storage material. The system of nanopores facilitates the transport of desorbed ammonia away from the interior of large volumes of compacted storage material. DFT calculations show that there exists a continuous path from the initial Mg(NH3)6Cl2 material to MgCl2 that does not involve large-scale material transport. Accordingly, ammonia desorption from this system is facile.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Biomimetic hydrogen evolution: MoS2 nanoparticles as catalyst for hydrogen evolution.

The electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction is catalyzed most effectively by the Pt group metals. As H2 is considered as a future energy carrier, the need for these catalysts will increase and alternatives to the scarce and expensive Pt group catalysts will be needed. We analyze the ability of different metal surfaces and of the enzymes nitrogenase and hydrogenase to catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction and find a necessary criterion for high catalytic activity. The necessary criterion is that the binding free energy of atomic hydrogen to the catalyst is close to zero. The criterion enables us to search for new catalysts, and inspired by the nitrogenase active site, we find that MoS2 nanoparticles supported on graphite are a promising catalyst. They catalyze electrochemical hydrogen evolution at a moderate overpotential of 0.1-0.2 V.

Catalysis↗
PubMed2005

A density functional study of the chemical differences between Type I and Type II MoS2-based structures in hydrotreating catalysts.

Density functional theory is used to investigate the origin of the activity differences between Type I and Type II MoS2-based structures in hydrotreating catalysts. It is well known that the Type II structures, where only weak interactions with the support exist, have a higher catalytic activity than Type I structures, where Mo-O linkages to the alumina are present. The present results show that the differences in activities for MoS2 and Co-Mo-S structures can be attributed to the electronic and bonding differences introduced by the bridging O bonds. We find that the Mo-O linkages are most probably located on the (1010) S edge. The presence of oxygen linkages increases the energy required to form sulfur vacancies significantly so that almost no vacancies can be formed at these and neighboring sites. In this way, the reactivity of the S edge is reduced. In addition, the studies also show that the linkages introduce changes in the one-dimensional metallic-like brim states. Furthermore, the presence of oxygen linkages also changes the energetics of hydrogen adsorption, which becomes less exothermic on sulfur sites directly above linkages and more exothermic on sulfur sites adjacent to linkages. The present results explain previously observed differences in Type I-Type II transition temperatures for Co-Mo-S structures with different Co contents.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Controlling the catalytic bond-breaking selectivity of Ni surfaces by step blocking.

The reactivity of catalytic surfaces is often dominated by very reactive low-coordinated atoms such as step-edge sites. However, very little knowledge exists concerning the influence of step edges on the selectivity in reactions involving multiple reaction pathways. Such detailed information could be very valuable in rational design of new catalysts with improved selectivity. Here we show, from an interplay between scanning tunnelling microscopy experiments and density functional theory calculations, that the activation of ethylene on Ni(111) follows the trend of higher reactivity for decomposition at step edges as compared with the higher-coordinated terrace sites. The step-edge effect is considerably more pronounced for the C-C bond breaking than for the C-H bond breaking, and thus steps play an important role in the bond-breaking selectivity. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the number of reactive step sites can be controlled by blocking the steps with Ag. This approach to nanoscale design of catalysts is exploited in the synthesis of a new high-surface-area AgNi alloy catalyst, which is tested in hydrogenolysis experiments.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Elastic effects behind cooperative bonding in beta-sheets.

We present extensive density functional theory calculations of the bonding between strands in beta-sheets. We identify a significant cooperative effect whereby the interaction increases in strength with the number of strands. We show that the effect is related to a coupling between interstrand bonding and intrastrand elastic properties. It is found that a direct consequence of this coupling is that the pitch of beta-sheets should contract with increasing number of strands, and we show that the effect can be observed directly in experimental data from the Protein Data Bank.

Models, Molecular↗
PubMed2004

A negative surface energy for alumina.

The surface energy of a solid measures the energy cost of increasing the surface area. All normal solids therefore have a positive surface energy-if it had been negative, the solid would disintegrate. For this reason it is also generally believed that when certain ceramics can be found in a highly porous form, this is a metastable state, which will eventually sinter into the bulk solid at high temperatures. We present theoretical evidence suggesting that for theta-alumina, the surface energy is strongly dependent on the size of the crystallites, and that for some facets it is negative for thicknesses larger than approximately 1 nm. This suggests a completely new picture of porous alumina in which the high-surface-area, nanocrystalline form is the thermodynamic ground state. The negative surface energy is found to be related to a particularly strongly adsorbed state of dissociated water on some alumina surfaces. We also present new experimental evidence based on infrared spectroscopy, in conjunction with X-ray diffraction and surface-area measurements, that theta-alumina has indeed very stable surface OH groups at high temperatures, and that this form of alumina does not sinter even at temperatures up to 1,300 K.

Aluminum Oxide↗
PubMed2004

Chemical activity of the nitrogenase FeMo cofactor with a central nitrogen ligand: density functional study.

We investigate the chemical consequences of a central ligand in the nitrogenase FeMo cofactor using density functional calculations. Several studies have shown that the central ligand most probably is a nitrogen atom, but the consequences for the chemical reactivity of the cofactor are unknown. We investigate several possible routes for insertion of the central nitrogen ligand and conclude that all routes involve barriers and intermediate states, which are inaccessible at ambient conditions. On this basis we suggest that the central nitrogen ligand is present at all times during the reaction. Furthermore, we investigate how the FeMoco with the central ligand can interact with N(2) and reduce it.

Ammonia↗
PubMed2004

Atomic-scale imaging of carbon nanofibre growth.

The synthesis of carbon nanotubes with predefined structure and functionality plays a central role in the field of nanotechnology, whereas the inhibition of carbon growth is needed to prevent a breakdown of industrial catalysts for hydrogen and synthesis gas production. The growth of carbon nanotubes and nanofibres has therefore been widely studied. Recent advances in in situ techniques now open up the possibility of studying gas-solid interactions at the atomic level. Here we present time-resolved, high-resolution in situ transmission electron microscope observations of the formation of carbon nanofibres from methane decomposition over supported nickel nanocrystals. Carbon nanofibres are observed to develop through a reaction-induced reshaping of the nickel nanocrystals. Specifically, the nucleation and growth of graphene layers are found to be assisted by a dynamic formation and restructuring of mono-atomic step edges at the nickel surface. Density-functional theory calculations indicate that the observations are consistent with a growth mechanism involving surface diffusion of carbon and nickel atoms. The finding that metallic step edges act as spatiotemporal dynamic growth sites may be important for understanding other types of catalytic reactions and nanomaterial syntheses.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Beta-sheet preferences from first principles.

The natural amino acids have different preferences of occurring in specific types of secondary protein structure. Simulations are performed on periodic model beta-sheets of 14 different amino acids, at the level of density functional theory, employing the generalized gradient approximation. We find that the statistically observed beta-sheet propensities correlate very well with the calculated binding energies. Analysis of the calculations shows that the beta-sheet propensities are determined by the local flexibility of the individual polypeptide strands.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2003

Modeling a central ligand in the nitrogenase FeMo cofactor.

In very recent work by Einsle et al. (Science 2002, 297, 1696), a new X-ray crystallographic structure of the FeMo cofactor of nitrogenase with a central ligand was presented. The central ligand is a light atom (N, O, or C), and Einsle et al. suggest that it is nitrogen. We present density functional calculations on the FeMo cofactor, and we investigate N, O, and C as central ligands. We show that both N and O lead to energetically stable FeMo cofactor structures, whereas C is energetically unfavorable. By comparison of bond geometries with the crystallographically determined values, we show that the central ligand is most likely nitrogen.

Ligands↗
PubMed2002

Catalytic CO oxidation by a gold nanoparticle: a density functional study.

Gold is usually considered very noble. It does not oxidize, and the surface of gold cannot adsorb most molecules from the gas phase. Yet it has been found that nanometer size gold particles on different oxide supports can act as catalysts even at or below room temperature. We present self-consistent density functional calculations showing that even an isolated Au10 cluster should be able to catalyze the CO oxidation reaction even below room temperature. We use the calculations to analyze the origin of this effect and suggest that the extraordinary reactivity can be traced back to special reaction geometries available at small particles in combination with an enhanced ability of low coordinated gold atoms to interact with molecules from the surroundings.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Electronic structure and catalysis on metal surfaces.

The powerful computational resources available to scientists today, together with recent improvements in electronic structure calculation algorithms, are providing important new tools for researchers in the fields of surface science and catalysis. In this review, we discuss first principles calculations that are now capable of providing qualitative and, in many cases, quantitative insights into surface chemistry. The calculations can aid in the establishment of chemisorption trends across the transition metals, in the characterization of reaction pathways on individual metals, and in the design of novel catalysts. First principles studies provide an excellent fundamental complement to experimental investigations of the above phenomena and can often allow the elucidation of important mechanistic details that would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine from experiments alone.

Journal Article↗