The
types and compositions of oxygen functional groups on graphite
surfaces are heavily subjected to the method in which the graphite
is synthesized and processed in experiments, which makes the characterization
difficult. The challenge even extends to the modeling of oxygenated
graphite surfaces in computational studies. However, the determination
of both the types and compositions of oxygen functional groups on
graphite surfaces is of paramount importance as it plays a significantly
important role in dictating the behaviors and performances of electrochemical
systems. For example, the surface structure and composition of the
graphitic anode used in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) determine the
quality of a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) that forms at the
electrode/electrolyte interface, which, in turn, substantially affects
the stability and lifetime of the devices. To help predict the structure
and the composition of the surface oxygen functional groups on graphite
surfaces resulting from solution-based syntheses and modification
processes, we analyze the adsorption of different oxygen functional
groups at both edge and basal sites of graphite as a function of pH
under which the solution-based processes may take place. A series
of density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that at room
temperature and for a pH range from 0 to 14, the (112̅0) edge
surface of graphite will be fully oxygenated, while the basal sites
remain unsaturated. The oxygen functional groups at the edge sites
are comprised of mostly hydroxyl and ketonic groups, with carboxyl
and carbonyl groups present only in small amounts. Furthermore, we
observe the transformation of the carbonyl group into the ketonic
group in the presence of empty surface carbon sites, which further
stabilize the graphite surface. Meanwhile, carboxyl groups are more
stable when all surface sites within a carboxyl layer are all populated.
We conclude that the population of oxygen groups that can be found
at the edge surface of a graphite in the ascending order is carboxyl
< carbonyl < hydroxyl < ketonic. On the contrary to the edge
plane, a small amount of oxygen functional groups may be forced to
adsorb on the basal surface upon the application of an external potential.
The adsorbed groups are found to prefer to cluster together on basal
sites in a highly ordered fashion, while the edge surface does not
show this preference for adsorption sites.