Theoretical Study of the Adsorption of 2-Propanol onto Silica Surfaces on the Basis of and Density Functional Calculations

The adsorptive interactions of 2-propanol (2-PrOH) molecules with silica surfaces were investigated using ab initio and density functional calculations. Two cluster models of silica were chosen to represent the terminal ≡SiOH groups and the siloxane bridges ≡Si–(O) 2 –Si≡ on the silica surface. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mariam R. Abdallah, Muhammad A. Hasan, Mohamed I. Zaki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2009-04-01
Series:Adsorption Science & Technology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1260/026361709789868884
Description
Summary:The adsorptive interactions of 2-propanol (2-PrOH) molecules with silica surfaces were investigated using ab initio and density functional calculations. Two cluster models of silica were chosen to represent the terminal ≡SiOH groups and the siloxane bridges ≡Si–(O) 2 –Si≡ on the silica surface. The Hartree–Fock (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) approaches, employing a 6–31G(d) basis set, were used to calculate the geometries, electronic structures, vibrational frequencies and adsorption energies of the adsorption complexes formed. The calculated adsorption energies were corrected for zero-point vibrational energies (ZPVE) and basis set superposition errors (BSSE). The results favoured a most likely surface configuration for the physisorbed species in which 2-PrOH molecules are bound to exposed silanol groups via two hydrogen bonds, with the alcoholic –OH group acting simultaneously as a proton acceptor and donor. Moreover, bonding of 2-PrOH with strained surface siloxane bridges (≡Si–O–Si≡) was shown to lead to chemisorption of the alcohol molecule. These findings have been shown to help interpreting reported infrared spectroscopic results of in-situ experimental studies.
ISSN:0263-6174
2048-4038