Density Functional Theory Study of Cu-Modified B12N12 Nanocage as a Chemical Sensor for Carbon Monoxide Gas

The development of efficient B12N12-based toxic gas sensors has received considerable attention from the scientific community. Thus, in this reg a r d , quantum chemical calculations were performed using density functional theory (DFT) at the B97D/6-31G(d,p) level for all of the studied systems. Modification of copper on B12N12 results i n five optimized structures, named CuB11N12 and B12N11Cu (doped structures), Cu@b66 and Cu@b64 (decorated structures), and Cu@B12N12 (encapsu-lated structure). The results indicate that the CO gas weakly physisorbed on the B12N12 nanocage. It was found that the gas adsorption performance of B12N12 is improved due to the introduction of the Cu atom, but t h e interaction between CO and B12N11Cu, Cu@B12N12, Cu@b64, and Cu@ b66 nanocages is strong, limiting the applications as a sensor. Particularly, the CuB11N12 system shows moderate adsorption (Eads = -0.6 eV) and a high electronic sensit i v i t y (Delta E g a p = 81.6%) toward CO gas, compared to other modified systems. Furthermore, based on the sensor performance analysis, it was found that CuB11N12 presented low recovery time (14 ms) and high selecti v i t y for CO detection, making it a promising fast response sensor. Finally, our results demonstrated the capabi l i t y of CuB11N12 as a superior sensor material for applications involving the selective detection of CO gas.

Automated summary

This study focused on the development of B12N12-based toxic gas sensors using quantum chemical calculations. The results showed that the introduction of copper improved the gas adsorption performance of B12N12, but the interaction between CO and certain modified structures limited their application as sensors. Among the studied systems, CuB11N12 exhibited moderate adsorption and high electronic sensitivity, with a short recovery time and high selectivity, making it a promising fast response sensor material for the selective detection of CO gas.