First-principles study of benzene and its homologues upon graphene-metal surfaces: Comparison of London dispersion corrections

We perform a comparative theoretical study of benzene and its homologues (toluene, para-xylene, and mesitylene) adsorbed on Cu/Al/Pd(111)-supported graphene using density functional theory (DFT). The long-range attraction is handled by semiempirical dispersion correction method (PBE-D3) and ab initio van der Waals density functionals (vdW-DF2, optB86b-vdW, optB88-vdW, and SCAN-rVV10). Our results show a systematic increase in the adsorption energy of organic molecules on graphene in the presence of underlaying metal substrates. In the case of strong metal-graphene contact, such as Pd(111)-graphene, the adsorption energy of benzene even increases 0.44 eV, which presents suitable platform for filtering harmful molecules such as benzene. Besides, we find out that the dispersion-corrected functionals play a fundamental role in the structure and adsorption energy. Furthermore, the adsorption energy increases linearly with the number of methyl groups on the benzene ring.

Automated summary

Our study shows that the adsorption energy of organic molecules on graphene increases systematically in the presence of underlying metal substrates, with dispersion-corrected functionals playing a fundamental role. Additionally, the adsorption energy increases linearly with the number of methyl groups on the benzene ring.