SiC Monolayers as Promising Substrates for the Development of Highly Stable Palladium Single Atom Catalysts: A Density Functional Theory Study

Single-atom catalysts have been touted as highly efficient catalysts, but the catalytic single-atom sites are unstable and tend to aggregate into nanoparticles during chemical reactions. In this study, we show that SiC monolayers are promising substrates for the development of highly stable single-atom catalysts (Pd-1/SiC) within the density functional theory. In presence of a Si-vacancy, the diffusion barrier energy of a Pd-1 atom embedded in the SiC monolayer is substantially enhanced from 2.3 to 7.8 eV, which is much higher than the reported diffusion barrier energies of graphene, boron nitride and defective MgO of the same catalytic system. Ab initio molecular dynamic calculations at 500 K also confirm the enhanced stability of Pd-1/SiC monolayer (Si-vacancy) such that the Pd-1 atom remains embedded in the vacancy. Additionally, the Pd-1/SiC monolayer (Si-vacancy) catalysts show a similar to 34 % reduction of activation barrier energy for CO oxidation as compared to pristine catalysts. This work implies that nanostructured SiC materials are promising substrates for the synthesis of highly stable single-atom catalysts.