Estudo teórico de catalisadores à base de macrociclos porfírinicos para a aplicação em células a combustível

Abstract

This work presents a theoretical study and modeling of the metal-porphyrins monomers and the search of the porphyrin-metal complexes that can act as a potential catalyst to make the cleavage of the O2 bond for use in fuel cell. All calculations were made by the Gaussian package on the Windows OS, using the DFT, by the B3LYP functional, and the 6-31G and LANL2DZ basis set. The studied porphyrin-metal complexes were those formed by the porphyrin ring and the Si, Ni, Ge, Co, Fe, Mo and Sn metals in the different oxidation states. The obtained theoretical model was satisfactory for the description of role played by the metal-porphyrins complexes in the catalysis of the O2 molecule. In the obtained model, the porphyrin-metal- complexes showed the capability of aggregate the O2 molecules and weaken the strength of this chemical bond facilitating the final reduction process in the catalyst. In general, although not acting as a catalyst in the oxygen reduction reaction (o.r.r.), can be observed the importance of the porphyrin ring to a possible use in PEM fuel cell, that is, facilitating the catalysis process in the latter step of the reaction process.