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Main Authors: Sun, Menglin, Jin, Bin, Yang, Xiaolong, Xu, Shenzhen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12458
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author Sun, Menglin
Jin, Bin
Yang, Xiaolong
Xu, Shenzhen
author_facet Sun, Menglin
Jin, Bin
Yang, Xiaolong
Xu, Shenzhen
contents Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is the key step for energy conversion in electrocatalysis. Atomic-scale simulation acts as an indispensable tool to provide a microscopic understanding of PCET. However, consideration of the quantum nature of transferring protons under an exact grand canonical (GC) constant potential condition is a great challenge for theoretical electrocatalysis. Here, we develop a unified computational framework to explicitly treat nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) by a sufficient GC sampling, further assisted by a machine learning force field adapted for electrochemical conditions. Our work demonstrates a non-negligible impact of NQEs on PCET simulations for hydrogen evolution reaction at room temperature, and provides a physical picture that wave-like quantum characteristic of the transferring protons facilitates the particles to tunnel through classical barriers in PCET paths, leading to a remarkable activation energy reduction compared to classical simulations. Moreover, the physical insight of NQEs may reshape our fundamental understanding of other types of PCET reactions in broader scenarios of energy conversion processes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_12458
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Machine-Learning Accelerated Grand Canonical Sampling Framework for Nuclear Quantum Effects in Constant Potential Electrochemistry
Sun, Menglin
Jin, Bin
Yang, Xiaolong
Xu, Shenzhen
Materials Science
Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is the key step for energy conversion in electrocatalysis. Atomic-scale simulation acts as an indispensable tool to provide a microscopic understanding of PCET. However, consideration of the quantum nature of transferring protons under an exact grand canonical (GC) constant potential condition is a great challenge for theoretical electrocatalysis. Here, we develop a unified computational framework to explicitly treat nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) by a sufficient GC sampling, further assisted by a machine learning force field adapted for electrochemical conditions. Our work demonstrates a non-negligible impact of NQEs on PCET simulations for hydrogen evolution reaction at room temperature, and provides a physical picture that wave-like quantum characteristic of the transferring protons facilitates the particles to tunnel through classical barriers in PCET paths, leading to a remarkable activation energy reduction compared to classical simulations. Moreover, the physical insight of NQEs may reshape our fundamental understanding of other types of PCET reactions in broader scenarios of energy conversion processes.
title A Machine-Learning Accelerated Grand Canonical Sampling Framework for Nuclear Quantum Effects in Constant Potential Electrochemistry
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12458