Modeling of Syngas Reactions and Hydrogen Generation Over Sulfides

The objective of the research is to analyze pathways of reactions of hydrogen with oxides of carbon over sulfides, and to predict which characteristics of the sulfide catalyst (nature of metal, defect structure) give rise to the lowest barriers toward oxygenated hydrocarbon product. Reversal of these pathways entails the generation of hydrogen, which is also proposed for study. In this first year of study, adsorption reactions of H atoms and H{sub 2} molecules with MoS{sub 2}, both in molecular and solid form, have been modeled using high-level density functional theory. The geometries and strengths of the adsorption sites are described and the methods used in the study are described. An exposed MO{sup IV} species modeled as a bent MoS{sub 2} molecule is capable of homopolar dissociative chemisorption of H{sub 2} into a dihydride S{sub 2}MoH{sub 2}. Among the periodic edge structures of hexagonal MoS{sub 2}, the (1{bar 2}11) edge is most stable but still capable of dissociating H{sub 2}, while the basal plane (0001) is not. A challenging task of theoretically accounting for weak bonding of MoS{sub 2} sheets across the Van der Waals gap has been addressed, resulting in a weak attraction of 0.028 eV/MoS{sub 2} unit, compared to the experimental value of 0.013 eV/MoS{sub 2} unit