Improving platinum catalyst binding energy to graphene through nitrogen doping

Platinum on carbon black is a common catalyst/support combination where modifying the support can increase the durability of the catalyst. Density functional theory is used to evaluate the binding energy between a single platinum atom and several nitrogen-doped carbon graphene structures. It was calculated that the addition of nitrogen to the support can double the binding energy. This increase in binding energy is proportional to the number and proximity of nitrogen atoms to the carbon–platinum bond and is a result of the nitrogen atoms locally destabilizing the delocalized double bond present in the pure carbon structure.