Concerted, Facile CO2 Hydrogenation in Ni-MOF-74 Revealed by Machine Learning Interatomic Potential-Based Enhanced Sampling Simulations
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with open metal sites are promising heterogeneous catalysts, but the atomistic and dynamic details that govern their reactivity are difficult to access experimentally due to spatiotemporal resolution limits. Computational studies, predominantly gas-phase density functional theory (DFT) calculations, have been used to study MOF-catalysed reactions, but typically rely on reduced cluster models of the metal center that neglect confinement effects or treat the framework as rigid during the reaction, limiting realistic modeling of catalysis at finite temperature and pressure. Here, we investigate, as a prototypical reaction, CO2 hydrogenation inside Ni-MOF-74 using machine learning interatomic potentials-based molecular dynamics and on-the-fly probability-based enhanced sampling (OPES) simulations, which delineate dynamic adsorption of CO2 and H2 in a flexible MOF and provide the underlying free energy for the CO2 reduction reaction. OPES simulations further reveal that H2 first adsorbs and undergoes heterolytic dissociation at the Ni-O site with a free energy barrier of ∼16 kcal mol−1, forming a proton and hydride species. Subsequent reduction of CO2 to HCOOH proceeds via a concerted mechanism, involving simultaneous hydride and proton transfer through a single transition state with a relatively low activation barrier of ∼6 kcal mol−1. These results demonstrate that explicit treatment of framework flexibility and thermodynamic conditions is essential to accurately capture reaction mechanisms and energetics in porous catalysts. Our integrated MLIP-OPES approach provides a generalizable computational framework for studying complex chemical transformations under confinement in MOFs and related framework materials.
Source: ChemRxiv
Authors: Dhananjay, Nishtha Sharma, Tarak Karmakar
Language: English
Subfield: Inorganic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213347186