A computational SCC-DFTB investigation dealing with the structure of hydrated and anhydrous halloysite nanotubes with a spiral geometry is reported. The peculiar characteristics of these systems are described in terms of tetrahedral and octahedral distortions, of hydrogen bonds geometries involving water molecules and the surfaces in the hydrated nanotube, and of the interlayer interactions in the anhydrous one. When the properties of the spiral nanotube are compared with those of the kaolinite sheet, a certain degree of intrinsic disorder in the halloysite systems is revealed, due to the intrinsic nature of the spiral folding. This is particularly evident in the hydrogen bonds network occurring in the hydrated nanotube
The isomerization of cis-but-2-ene to trans-but-2-ene within a 22T H-ZSM-5 zeolite model, also in the presence of two adsorbed Pd atoms, has been studied by DFT calculations. The results obtained allow us to state that the cis/trans but-2-ene isomerization can easily proceed inside unsupported zeolite cavities. In this case, differently than in the gas phase reaction, the trans-but-2-ene is less stable than the cis-but-2-ene, when adsorbed on the zeolite inner surface. Excluding the adsorption-desorption steps, the isomerization process involves two intermediates and three transition states, whose energy content is always very low with respect to that of reagents and intermediate species. The reaction is in principle allowed also in the presence of two Pd atoms embedded inside the zeolite cavity. However, strong H-Pd interactions seem to cause higher activation energies along the formation of the involved intermediates and transition states. To evaluate the confining effects of the zeolite room on the cis/trans isomerization process, the latter has been also analyzed on protonated (Pd2H(+)) and unprotonated (Pd2) bare palladium fragments at different multiplicity states. The but-2-ene adsorption on the considered systems and the mutual influence occurring between the metal atoms and the hydrogen acidic sites at different multiplicity states have also been taken into consideration.
Biomass-based feedstocks are often oxygenated compounds characterized by large amounts of hydroxyls. As an example, polyols and sugar alcohols are largely employed as reactants for different chemical catalytic transformations such as oxidation, dehydration, and hydrodeoxigenation, which usually occur in aqueous medium. With the goal of gaining new insights into processes that could be industrially relevant, the adsorption of the OH groups on metal surfaces and in the presence of water has to be correctly reproduced and described, within a chosen theoretical framework. Toward this goal, several tests were performed on the catalytically relevant metal Ru, Pd, and Re, benchmarking their bulk and surfaces properties in the frame of the DFT paradigm and employing numerical atomic orbitals, joined with different exchange-correlation vdW-DF functionals. In particular, methanol, ethylene glycol, glycerol, and erythritol adsorption processes on Ru (0001), Pd (111), and Re (0001) surfaces were investigated, as well as their coadsorption with water
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