Interaction of atomic hydrogen with anthracene and polyacene from density functional theory

Abstract

The interaction of atomic hydrogen with two linear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), anthracene and polyacene (the polymer of benzene), was studied within the density functional theory (DFT). Using a proper dispersion-corrected method (DFT-D) the preferential physisorption sites were explored. The activation barrier for the bond formation between a peripheral C and the incoming H was calculated to be 58.5 and 34.1 meV with pure DFT on anthracene and polyacene at its antiferromagnetic ground state, respectively. DFT-D, although improves the description of the physisorbed state, tends to underestimate the chemisorption barriers due an artifact arising from the dispersion correction.