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Puru Jena

Publications and source records attributed to Puru Jena.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

First-principles study of hydrogen storage on Li12C60.

Solid state materials capable of storing hydrogen with high gravimetric (9 wt %) and volumetric density (70 g/L) are critical for the success of a new hydrogen economy. In addition, an ideal storage system should be able to operate under ambient thermodynamic conditions and exhibit fast hydrogen sorption kinetics. No materials are known that meet all these requirements. While recent theoretical efforts showed some promise for transition-metal-coated carbon fullerenes, later studies demonstrated that these metal atoms prefer to cluster on the fullerene surface, thus reducing greatly the weight percentage of stored hydrogen. Using density functional theory we show that Li-coated fullerenes do not suffer from this constraint. In particular, we find that an isolated Li(12)C(60) cluster where Li atoms are capped onto the pentagonal faces of the fullerene not only is very stable but also can store up to 120 hydrogen atoms in molecular form with a binding energy of 0.075 eV/H(2). In addition, the structural integrity of Li(12)C(60) clusters is maintained when they are allowed to interact with each other. The lowest energy structure of the dimer is one where the Li atom capped on the five-member ring of one fullerene binds to the six-member ring of the other. The binding of hydrogen to the linking Li atom and the potential of materials composed of Li(12)C(60) building blocks for hydrogen storage are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Hydrogen storage and the 18-electron rule.

We show that the 18-electron rule can be used to design new organometallic systems that can store hydrogen with large gravimetric density. In particular, Ti containing organic molecules such as C(4)H(4), C(5)H(5), and C(8)H(8) can store up to 9 wt % hydrogen, which meets the Department of Energy target for the year 2015. More importantly, hydrogen in these materials is stored in molecular form with an average binding energy of about 0.55 eV /H(2) molecule, which is ideal for fast kinetics. Using molecular orbitals we have analyzed the maximum number of H(2) molecules that can be adsorbed as well as the nature of their bonding and orientation. The charge transfer from the H(2) bonding orbital to the empty d(xy) and d(x(2)-y(2) ) orbitals of Ti has been found to be singularly responsible for the observed binding of the hydrogen molecule. It is argued that early transition metals are better suited for optimal adsorption/desorption of hydrogen.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Clustering of Ti on a C60 surface and its effect on hydrogen storage.

Recent efforts in finding materials suitable for storing hydrogen with large gravimetric density have focused attention on carbon-based nanostructures. Unfortunately, pure carbon nanotubes and fullerenes are unsuitable as hydrogen storage materials because of the weak bonding of the hydrogen molecules to the carbon frame. It has been shown very recently that coating of carbon nanostructures with isolated transition metal atoms such as Sc and Ti can increase the binding energy of hydrogen and lead to high storage capacity (up to 8 wt % hydrogen, which is 1.6 times the U.S. Department of Energy target set for 2005). This prediction has led to a great deal of excitement in the fuel cell community [see The Fuel Cell Review, http://fcr.iop.org/articles/features/2/7/4]. However, this prediction depends on the assumption that the metal atoms coated on the fullerene surface will remain isolated. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we show that Ti atoms would prefer to cluster on the C60 surface, which can significantly alter the nature of hydrogen bonding, thus affecting not only the amount of stored hydrogen but also their thermodynamics and kinetics.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗
PubMed2005

Storage of molecular hydrogen in B-N cage: energetics and thermal stability.

Using first principles theory based on density functional formulation we have studied the energetics and thermal stability of storing hydrogen in B-N-based nanostructures. We show that hydrogen molecule enters through the hexagonal face of the B36N36 cage and prefers to remain inside the cage in molecular form. The energy barriers for the hydrogen molecule to enter into or escape from the cage are respectively 1.406 eV and 1.516 eV. As the concentration of hydrogen inside the cage increases, the cage expands and the bond length of the hydrogen molecule contracts, resulting in significant energy cost. At zero temperature, up to 18 hydrogen molecules can be stored inside a B36N36 cage corresponding to a gravimetric density of 4 wt %. However, molecular dynamics simulation by using Nose algorithm at room temperature (T = 300 K) indicates that high weight percentage hydrogen storage cannot be achieved in B-N cage structures and thus these materials may not be good for practical applications.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2004

Interactions of Au cluster anions with oxygen.

Experimental and theoretical evidence is presented for the nondissociative chemisorption of O2 on free Au cluster anions (Aun-, n=number of atoms) with n=2, 4, 6 at room temperature, indicating that the stabilization of the activated di-oxygen species is the key for the unusual catalytic activities of Au-based catalysts. In contrast to Aun- with n=2, 4, 6, O2 adsorbs atomically on Au monomer anions. For the Au monomer neutral, calculations based on density functional theory reveal that oxygen should be molecularly bound. On Au dimer and tetramer neutrals, oxygen is molecularly bound with the O-O bond being less activated with respect to their anionic counterparts, suggesting that the excess electron in the anionic state plays a crucial role for the O-O activation. We demonstrate that interplay between experiments on gas phase clusters and theoretical approach can be a promising strategy to unveil mechanisms of elementary steps in nanocatalysis.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Anomalous behavior of atomic hydrogen interacting with gold clusters.

The change in the electronic structure of Au(n)- clusters induced by the exchange of an Au atom by hydrogen is studied using photoelectron spectroscopy. Au anion clusters react with one hydrogen atom but not with molecular hydrogen. The spectra of Au(n)- and Au(n-1)H- clusters show almost identical features for n > 2 suggesting that hydrogen behaves as a protonated species by contributing one electron to the valence pool of the Au(n)- cluster. This behavior is in sharp contrast to that of the commonly understood electronic structure of hydrogen in metals; namely, it attracts an electron from the conduction band of the metal and remains in an "anionic" form or forms covalent bonding. We discuss the influence of the unique electronic structure of H on the unusual catalytic behavior of Au clusters.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Direct observation of key reaction intermediates on gold clusters.

Using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, we provide direct experimental evidence that di-oxygen species are stable on anionic gold dimer and tetramer clusters at room temperature. The stabilization of molecular oxygen is crucial for the high activities of the low-temperature reactions on gold catalysts.

Journal Article↗