Canonical, deprotonated, or zwitterionic? II. A computational study on amino acid interaction with the TiO2(110) rutile surface: comparison with the anatase (101) surface

The adsorption of 11 amino acids (Gly, Leu, Met, Phe, Ser, Cys, Glu, Gln, Arg, Lys, and His) on the TiO2(110) rutile surface is investigated adopting a theoretical approach, using the PBE-D2* functional as implemented in the periodic VASP code. The adsorption of the amino acids is considered in their canonical, deprotonated and zwitterionic forms. For all cases, the most stable adsorption mode adopts a bidentate (O,O) binding with surface undercoordinated Ti atoms, in agreement with previous experimental and computational studies using glycine as a test case. Such a binding mode is possible due to the surface morphology, because the Ti–Ti distances match very well with the carboxylic O–O distance. The most stable adsorption states are the deprotonated and the zwitterionic ones, the canonical one lying significantly above in energy. The relative stability between the deprotonated and the zwitterionic states results in a delicate trade-off among dative interactions (O, N, and S atoms of the amino acids with Ti atoms of the surface), H-bond interactions, dispersive forces and, to a lesser extent, steric hindrance of the amino acidic lateral chains. Finally, the difference in the amino acid adsorption between the (110) rutile and the (101) anatase surfaces is discussed both from the energetic and surface morphological standpoints, highlighting the larger reactivity of the rutile polymorph in adsorbing and deprotonating the amino acids compared with the anatase one.