Unlocking Switchable Reactivity of MBene via Asymmetric Surface Adsorption
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Sabatier principle and activity volcano have guided and constrained catalyst design. Surpassing these limitations requires going beyond the static view of catalysis. Here, we propose 2D metal boride (MBene) as a promising model system for dynamic catalysis, exemplifying by nitrogen reduction reaction (\ce{N2}RR). The surface reactivity of B-rich MBene can be altered by binding organic ligands to the opposite side of the \ce{N2}RR. The change in reactivity originates in structural distortions of the metal and boron layers, leading to an energy span of up to 0.8 eV. By cycling the ligands or running a coupled reaction on the opposite side, we could switch between under- and over-binding energetics to surpass the Sabatier limit and access the inverse activity volcano. The reactivity space considering various metals and ligands can be efficiently explored by interpretable machine learning based on geometric descriptors, and promising ligand-bound MBenes for various catalytic scenarios are proposed.
Authors: Zisheng Zhang, Frank Abild-Pedersen
Institutions: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Catalysis
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4416905962