How bulk and surface properties of Ti₄SiC₃, V₄SiC₃, Nb₄SiC₃ and Zr₄SiC₃ tune reactivity: a computational study

We present several in silico insights into the MAX-phase of early transition metal silicon carbides and explore how these affect carbon dioxide hydrogenation. Periodic density functional methodology is applied to models of Ti4SiC3, V4SiC3, Nb4SiC3 and Zr4SiC3. We find that silicon and carbon terminations are unstable, with sintering occurring in vacuum and significant reconstruction taking place under an oxidising environment. In contrast, the metal terminated surfaces are highly stable and very active towards CO2 reduction. However, we predict that under reaction conditions these surfaces are likely to be oxidised. These results are compared to studies on comparable materials and we predict optimal values for hydrogen evolution and CO2 reduction.