3.1 Geometry and energy
The stability of the TM/Gs is firstly evaluated by calculating the doping energies of Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu- and Zn-doped graphene, which are − 8.421eV, -9.632 eV, -8.073eV, -7.332 eV, -6.722 eV, -8.216eV, -8.329eV, -7.463eV, -4.112eV and − 2.441 eV, respectively. The results mean that these transition metal atoms can replace a carbon atom and be stably doped into graphene. All TM/G systems have similar optimized structures, and the Fe/G is showed as an example in Fig. 1. The optimized structural parameters(listed in Table 1) agree with the data reported by Zhang et al.[50].The pristine graphene is planar, with sp2 hybridization for each carbon atom. However, the planar symmetry is broken when transition metal atoms are introduced and doped into graphene. As we know, the radius of the carbon atom is much smaller than that of transition metal atom, and therefore the transition metal atom and the neighboring carbon atoms swell out and the graphene activity is increased due to the conjugation destruction.
In order to find out the most stable structure of L@TM/G, different initial adsorption geometries are considered as shown in Fig. 2. The detailed results of optimized structures of L@TM/G are shown in Figure S1.Table 1 and Table S1 show the optimized structure (A-D) of L@TM/G and the corresponding binding energy Eads. From Table 1 and Table S1, the average values of TM-C bond length become longer after the lewisite adsorption on TM/G, which is caused by the interaction between lewisite molecule and TM atom. The high adsorption energy values between lewisite and TM/G sheets demonstrate that TM/G can effectively capture lewisite molecule. Therefore, all the TM/G can be used to remove the abandoned lewisite in the environment. For Co/G, the D adsorption configuration is the most stable, while other TM/Gs tend to form A configuration when adsorbing lewisite molecule. The most stable structures of all L@TM/G systems are chosen in the following discussion, unless otherwise stated. Among all the adsorption systems, L@Cr/G(A), L@Mn/G(A) and L@Fe/G(A) show the largest adsorption energy of -2.179 eV, -2.326 eV and − 2.024 eV, respectively. Considering the excellent stability, the strong adsorption for lewisite and the low price of Fe/G, the adsorption property of L@Fe/G (A is omitted for simplicity) are discussed as a major example in the study.
3.2 Charge transfer analysis
In this section, the Hirshfeld charge is used for the charge transfer analysis. From Table 1, all the TM atoms obtain electrons when bonding with lewisite. Lewisite molecule in L@Sc/G(A), L@Ti/G(A), L@Fe/G(A), L@Cu/G(A) and L@Zn/G(A) shows electron loss state after adsorption on TM/G and acts as electron donator in the adsorption structure. However, lewisite molecule in other L@TM/Gs shows the electron accepting property after interacting with TM/Gs. The analysis exhibits considerable electrons transfer between TM/G and lewisite, indicating a chemical interaction between lewisite molecule and TM/G. Figure 3(a) exhibits that doping Fe atoms changes the electronic properties of graphene especially the carbon atoms surrounding the Fe atoms. It can also found that charge transfers between lewisite and Fe/G in Fig. 3(b). The obvious electron transfer from C = C bond of lewisite to the Fe/G demonstrates a strong interaction between TM atom and the lewisite which can also be explained by the large adsorption energy. The change of electron distribution on Fe/G caused by lewisite adsorption will also lead to the change of electronic properties of Fe/G, and this will be discussed in the following discussion.
Table 1
The adsorption energies (Eads) of all the L@TM/G systems, the average distance between the metal atom and the adjacent carbon atom (TM-C) before and after the adsorption of lewisite molecule on TM/G and atomic charges.
Species | Bond | Bond length(Å) | QL(e) | QTM(e) | QC2+C3+C4(e) | Eads(eV) |
before | after | before | after | before | after |
L@Sc/G(A) | Sc-C | 2.072 | 1.803 | 0.091 | 0.603 | 0.411 | -0.412 | -0.380 | -1.216 |
L@Ti/G(A) | Ti-C | 1.932 | 1.958 | 0.040 | 0.568 | 0.373 | -0.392 | -0.371 | -1.315 |
L@V/G(A) | V-C | 1.869 | 1.897 | -0.103 | 0.475 | 0.301 | -0.335 | -0.2943 | -1.826 |
L@Cr/G(A) | Cr-C | 1.822 | 1.850 | -0.174 | 0.530 | 0.429 | -0.366 | -0.3155 | -2.179 |
L@Mn/G(A) | Mn-C | 1.806 | 1.814 | -0.039 | 0.317 | 0.159 | -0.219 | -0.180 | -2.326 |
L@Fe/G(A) | Fe-C | 1.800 | 1.802 | 0.038 | 0.118 | 0.014 | -0.167 | -0.020 | -2.024 |
L@Co/G(D) | Co-C | 1.805 | 1.807 | -0.138 | 0.204 | 0.107 | -0.135 | -0.103 | -1.639 |
L@Ni/G(A) | Ni-C | 1.819 | 1.838 | -0.122 | 0.207 | 0.094 | -0.111 | -0.069 | -1.451 |
L@Cu/G(A) | Cu-C | 1.840 | 1.946 | 0.027 | 0.355 | 0.314 | -0.245 | -0.189 | -1.652 |
L@Zn/G(A) | Zn-C | 1.918 | 1.942 | 0.007 | 0.336 | 0.265 | -0.272 | -0.249 | -1.224 |
3.3 Electronic and optical properties analysis
The electronic property of the adsorption system is calculated to further analyze the interaction between lewisite and TM/G sheet. From Fig. 4 (a) and (b), spin-up and spin-down peaks are asymmetric near the Fermi energy levels due to the hybridization between the 3d orbital of Fe atom and the 2p orbital of graphene. As shown in Fig. 4(c), the DOS peaks around the Fermi level change to some extent compared with Fig. 4(a), corresponding to the interaction between lewisite and Fe/G. The spin-up and spin-down peaks are still asymmetry for the L@Fe/G, and the spin polarization can also be found. By comparing Fig. 4(d) with 4(b), it can be seen that the 3d orbital of Fe and the 2p orbital of C in graphene maintain obvious resonance near the Fermi energy level, indicating that the C-Fe chemical bond remains stable. In addition, there is also resonance between Fe 3d and 4s orbitals and C 2p bands, which indicates that there is chemical interaction between the Fe atom and lewisite molecule. The DOS of other adsorption systems are shown in Figure S2. In summary, the interaction between lewisite and Fe/G can be confirmed by adsorption energy, bond length, charge analysis, and DOS as well.
Figure 5 shows the UV absorption spectra of Fe/G before and after adsorbing lewisite. It is found that the UV adsorption spectrum of Fe/G change greatly after interaction with lewisite molecule. Two obvious peaks at 320nm and 447 nm can be found for the Fe/G substrate. When lewisite is captured, they show a blue-shift to 285nm and 378nm, respectively. In addition, the obvious changes at 156 nm in the spectrum can be observed after lewisite adsorption. Figure S3 shows UV absorption spectra of other substrates before and after adsorbing lewisite. The observable UV spectra changes would be useful for TM/G to detect the volatile lewisite gas in the environment.
3.4 Effect of external electric field on lewisite adsorption on TM/G
In this section, the adsorption property of L@TM/G under the external electric field is investigated to reveal if rapid regeneration of substrate can be achieved. Computations show that applying electric field perpendicular to TM/G material substrate can greatly affect the electron transfer between lewisite and TM/G, and thus the adsorption energy also changes significantly. Here, the vertical electric field directing from lewisite to TM/G is defined as negative, and the opposite direction is defined as positive. The geometries of lewisite, TM/G and L@TM/G are optimized under the electric field from zero to -0.008 a.u. with the step size of 0.002 a.u..
Figure 6 shows the adsorption energy curve of L@Fe/G as the function of electric field intensity. The distance between lewisite and Fe/G is 2.055 Å in the absence of electric field, and the bond is lengthened to 2.070 Å under − 0.008 a.u. electric field. This indicates that the interaction between the lewisite and Fe/G may be weakened by applying an external negative electric field. It has been previously reported that when the adsorption energy is stronger than − 0.5 eV, the interaction between the adsorbate and substrate is a kind of chemical adsorption[51]. From Fig. 6, the adsorption energy decreased sharply from the chemisorption state of -2.024 eV to the repulsion state of 0.153 eV. This demonstrates that electric field with proper direction and strength can be used as a convenient measure to achieve the lewisite release and the substrate regeneration.
L@Fe/G is taken as an example to reveal desorption process and the reversible adsorption/desorption mechanism is depicted in Fig. 7. The total energy of free lewisite and Fe/G sheet without electric field is defined as zero (structure a). Structure b is the configuration of the optimized adsorption structure of L@Fe/G and the adsorption energy is -2.024eV. In this case, the adsorption of lewisite on Fe/G is chemisorption. When the − 0.006 a.u. electric field is subsequently added to (b), the structure has no change in a very short time. Therefore, state b and c have same structure but different energy. The relative energy of structure c is -2.089 eV without geometry relaxation, with the adsorption energy of -0.648 eV. After structure relaxation to a stable structure, the system reaches the most stable state (d) when the relative energy is -2.149 eV and the adsorption energy is only − 0.421eV. The interaction between lewisite and Fe/G changes to weak physical adsorption, and lewisite cannot be stably adsorbed on the graphene sheet. When − 0.008a.u.electric field is added to the adsorption system, the interaction is further weakened and the adsorption energy turns to 0.153 eV (Fig. 6). That is to say the interaction between the lewisite and Fe/G turns to weak repulsion when the electric field intensity reaches to -0.008 a.u.. Due to weak physical adsorption or electrostatic repulsion, the lewisite molecule is likely to detach from the Fe/G surface and the recovery and reuse of adsorbent can be achieved when the negative electric field intensity is more than 0.006 a.u..