Abstract:
The adsorption characteristics of Hg
0, HgCl and HgCl
2 on the Mo-doped Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface were investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculation with the CASTEP software package. The results indicate that both HgCl and HgCl
2 are chemically adsorbed on the Mo-doped Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface, whereas Hg
0 is bound to the surface by physisorption. The binding energies of HgCl on the Mo-doped Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface is about 40%-66% higher than that on the pure Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface. For the adsorption of HgCl
2 molecule on the pure Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface, two Cl atoms interact with one Mo atom and one Fe atom, forming the "M" structure; in contrast, on the Mo-doped Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface, the stronger interaction between Cl atom and Mo atom allows a complete dissociation of HgCl
2 and release of Hg. The adsorption mechanism of mercury species on the Mo-doped Fe
3O
4 (111) Fe
tet surface revealed in this work may be helpful for the practical removal of mercury from coal-fired flue gases.