Boron doping to limit sulfur poisoning on metal catalysts

Abstract

Sulfur poisoning is a major challenge in catalytic processes where it can result in a gradual decline in the activity of the metal catalyst or a complete deactivation of the catalyst. Many studies were conducted to investigate the effects of sulfur poisoning on metals and address this challenge by developing a catalyst that is resistant to sulfur poisoning without compromising its performance. Boron doping showed to be a promising approach to modify the properties of metal catalysts and improve their performance in various applications. In this work, we conduct periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study boron doping on a number of metals and its impact on sulfur poisoning. Our DFT calculations show that boron doping impacts metals differently. Boron doping is favourable on few metals (Pd, Pt, Rh and Ru) and very unfavourable on other metals (e.g. Ag and Cu). On Pd, Pt, and Rh, boron doping has a positive impact on reducing sulfur poisoning, with the impact varying with boron concentration. Finally, as a case study, we examine the impact of boron doping on H2S splitting to create H2 and show that boron doping has a pronounced positive impact on the performance of Pd-based catalyst.