Interaction of water with self-assembled monolayers of alkylsilanes on mica

The interaction of water with self-assembled alkylsilane monolayers on mica substrates has been studied using an atomic force microscope operated in contact, noncontact, and electrical polarization modes. Complete monolayer films were found to be effective in blocking water adsorption. On partially covered surfaces water was found to produce large changes in the conductivity and surface potential of the exposed mica regions. It was also found that water could penetrate films near defects and at island edges.     

Ge adsorption on Ag(111): A density-functional theory investigation

First-principles density-functional theory has been used to investigate the adsorptions of Ge on Ag(111) surfaces for a wide range of coverage. Preferred adsorption sites, adsorption energies, surface structures, and the electronic properties are studied. Our results show that adsorption on the surface in fcc- sites is energetically favorable. The adsorption energies decrease as increasing Ge atoms, while the work functions of Ag surface decrease. The contour maps of the difference charge show that there exists covalent bonding in lower coverage systems to some extent for Ge on Ag(111) surface, and the interaction of Ge and Ag atoms becomes weaker with the increase of adsorption degree. The calculated density of states indicates that the adsorption structures have metallic character, while the number of electron transition is small and the interaction is not strong between Ge and Ag atoms.     

石墨烯吸附TiCl4分子的条件控制及光电性能的理论研究

为研究石墨烯吸附TiCl₄分子的影响因素及其光电性能,探索复合物应用于传感器及透明导电薄膜的可能性,采用第一性原理与蒙特卡罗方法研究TiCl₄气体分子在石墨烯表面的吸附条件控制与光电性能。结果表明:(1)石墨烯对TiCl₄气体分子具有较强的物理吸附作用,Cl原子吸附在其附近相距质心位置最远的碳原子顶位最稳定;(2)温度升高不利于TiCl₄气体分子吸附,气体逸度增加有利于吸附,TiCl₄气体分子插入石墨/双层石墨烯/多层石墨烯时宜将温度维持在TiCl₄沸点附近,并增加气体的压力;(3)TiCl₄的吸附对石墨烯的电子结构进行了调控,使费米能级附近的态密度显著提高,赝能隙减小,有效提高了导电性能;(4)在可见光区域,TiCl₄的吸附对体系的吸收性能影响不大,在提升透明导电薄膜导电性的同时未影响薄膜的光学性能。     

CO adsorption on Cu-Pd alloy surfaces: ligand versus ensemble effects

The CO adsorption on ordered Cu-Pd alloy surfaces and surface alloys has been studied using density functional theory (DFT) within the framework of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). On the surface alloys, the CO adsorption energy at the top sites decreases with increasing concentration of the more reactive metal Pd. This surprising ligand effect is caused by the effective compressive strain induced by the larger size of the Pd atoms. On the other hand, at the most favorable adsorption sites the CO binding becomes stronger with increasing Pd concentration which is caused by an ensemble effect related to the availability of higher coordinated adsorption sites. At the surfaces of the bulk alloys, the trends in the adsorption energy as a function of the Pd concentration are less clear because of the strong Pd-Cu interaction and the absence of effective strain effects.     

Interaction between water and defective silica surfaces

We use the density functional theory method to study dry (1 × 1) α-quartz (0001) surfaces that have Frenkel-like defects such as oxygen vacancy and oxygen displacement. These defects have distinctively different effects on the water-silica interface depending on whether the adsorbent is a single water molecule, a cluster, or a thin film. The adsorption energies, bonding energies, and charge transfer or redistributions are analyzed, from which we find that the existence of a defect enhances the water molecule and cluster surface interaction by a large amount, but has little or even negative effect on water thin film-silica surface interaction. The origin of the weakening in film-surface systems is the collective hydrogen bonding that compromises the water-surface interaction in the process of optimizing the total energy. For clusters on surfaces, the lowest total energy states lower both the bonding energy and the adsorption energy.     

氧化钼表面不同氧位对氢吸附性能的从头计算研究

 用从头计算Hartree－Fock方法研究了MoO3（010）和（100）晶面上几种结构不等价氧的成键特征和电子结构,并考察了H＋在不同氧位上的吸附性能以及吸附后形成的OH从表面脱附的性质．结果表明,在氧化钼晶体中,钼氧原子间的成键具有离子性和共价性相结合的特性,且几种不等价氧与钼之间的成键性质各不相同：端氧或不对称桥氧与钼的成键具有较强的共价性,而对称桥氧具有较强的离子性;H＋在MoO3（010）和（100）晶面上几种不等价氧位都能形成稳定的吸附,而在端氧位的吸附最稳定;H＋吸附形成的OH都与表面有较强的作用,端氧位的OH最难脱附,而桥氧位的OH在表面的活动性较大,故桥氧位很可能是丙烯选择氧化过程中脱氢反应的活性中心．     

A First-principles Study on the Gas Sensitivity of Metal-loaded Graphene with an Atomic Vacancy to O_2

In this work, adsorption energies, geometrical and electronic structures for adsorption systems of O_2 at metal-loaded graphene(M-Gra) and metal-loaded defective graphene(M-D-Gra)(M = Ni, Pd, Pt and Al) surfaces are studied using a GGA-PW91 method. Calculated results show that loaded M make the interaction between O_2 and the graphene surface change from physical to chemical adsorptions, band gaps of M-Gra systems after the O_2 adsorption change, and the Ni-loaded Gra has the highest sensitivity to O_2. For O_2-M-D-Gra systems, interactions between O_2 and the M-D-Gra surfaces are chemical, similar to the O_2-M-Gra systems, and loaded Pt and Al have the strongest effect on the sensitivity of D-Gra to O_2. The M loads at the perfect Gra and D-Gra surfaces make the interactions between O_2 and the surfaces have obvious charge transfer. This work would provide a valuable guidance on the gas sensitivity study of graphene to O_2.     

The effect of hydrogen adsorption on the electronic structure of gold nanoparticles

It has been demonstrated that hydrogen adsorption has an effect on the electronic structure of gold nanoparticles. The physicochemical properties of separate gold nanoparticles have been studied under an ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope. The structure and electronic structure of gold–hydrogen clusters were modeled by the quantum-chemical density functional theory method. Hydrogen adsorption onto gold nanoparticles 4–5 nm is size at room temperature was experimentally revealed, and the lower limit of 1.7 eV for the Au–H bond energy was determined. The interaction of hydrogen with gold leads to a considerable rearrangement of the electronic subsystem of nanoparticles. The experimentally observed effects were supported by quantum-chemical calculations. The rearrangement mechanism is related to strong correlations in the electronic subsystem.     

Structure and bonding of ethoxy species adsorbed on transition metal surfaces

The interaction of the ethoxy radical with Cu(111), Ag(111), Pd(111) and Au(111) has been studied using a periodic density functional approach. The most stable adsorption site is the fcc with adsorption energies in the 1.1–2.2 eV interval. All analyses consistently indicate that ethoxy becomes negatively charged, that the presence of ethoxy slightly perturbs the electronic structure of the metallic surface, that the interaction is essentially of electrostatic character and not directional predicting a rather mobile species. The calculated adsorption energies are found to correlate almost linearly with the total net charge on the ethoxy moiety thus confirming that the electrostatic interactions dominate the bonding between this organic species and the underlying metallic surfaces.     

Molecular dynamics simulation study of the structure of poly(ethylene oxide) brushes on nonpolar surfaces in aqueous solution

The structure of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO, M(w) = 526) brushes of various grafting density (sigma) on nonpolar graphite and hydrophobic (oily) surfaces in aqueous solution has been studied using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Additionally, the influence of PEO-surface interactions on the brush structure was investigated by systematically reducing the strength of the (dispersion) attraction between PEO and the surfaces. PEO chains were found to adsorb strongly to the graphite surface due primarily to the relative strength of dispersion interactions between PEO and the atomically dense graphite compared to those between water and graphite. For the oily surface, PEO-surface and water-surface dispersion interactions are much weaker, greatly reducing the energetic driving force for PEO adsorption. This reduction is mediated to some extent by a hydrophobic driving force for PEO adsorption on the oily surface. Reduction in the strength of PEO-surface attraction results in reduced adsorption of PEO for both surfaces, with the effect being much greater for the graphite surface where the strong PEO-surface dispersion interactions dominate. At high grafting density (sigma approximately 1/R(g)(2)), the PEO density profiles exhibited classical brush behavior and were largely independent of the strength of the PEO-surface interaction. With decreasing grafting density (sigma < 1/R(g)(2)), coverage of the surface by PEO requires an increasingly large fraction of PEO segments resulting in a strong dependence of the PEO density profile on the nature of the PEO-surface interaction.     

钴掺杂氮化硼纳米管吸附氯酚类污染物的理论研究

氯酚(CPs)类污染物是形成持久性有机污染物二噁英的先驱物, 具有较强的致畸、致癌和致突变性. 为探索去除或检测这类污染物的新型材料, 应用密度泛函理论研究了(8,0)单壁氮化硼纳米管(BNNT)和Co掺杂的(8,0)单壁氮化硼纳米管(Co-BNNT)对2-氯酚(2-CP)、2,4,6-三氯酚(TCP)、五氯酚(PCP)的吸附行为及作用机制. 结果表明, 与BNNT相比, Co-BNNT费米能级附近出现杂化态, 带隙明显减小. BNNT对2-CP、TCP和PCP呈现物理吸附, 而Co-BNNT对三种氯酚则是化学吸附, 纳米管与分子间发生了明显的电荷转移, 体系态密度在费米能级附近发生了明显变化. Co原子掺杂明显增强了BNNT的电子输运能力, 提高了纳米管对氯酚的吸附活性. Co-BNNT有望是去除或检测氯酚类污染物的潜在资源.     

Dual-scale modeling of benzene adsorption onto Ni(111) and Au(111) surfaces in explicit water.

We present a multiscale modeling approach for studying interactions of organic molecules with metal surfaces in explicit water. The approach is based on combining adsorption energies of isolated molecules on transition metal surfaces calculated by ab initio density functional methods and classical molecular dynamics simulations using atomistically detailed force fields. The interaction of benzene with Ni(111) and Au(111) surfaces was studied. It is shown that a strong affinity of water for the hydrophilic surfaces makes benzene adsorption on Au thermodynamically unfavorable, while on Ni there is no preference. The work presented here serves as a first step in modeling the interactions of larger organic molecules with metal surfaces.     

Adsorption and reaction of CO and CO2 on oxidized and reduced SrTiO3(100) surfaces

The adsorption and reaction of CO and CO(2) on oxidized and reduced SrTiO(3)(100) surfaces have been studied with temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS results indicate that the oxidized SrTiO(3)(100) surfaces are nearly defect-free with predominantly Ti(4+) ions whereas the sputter-reduced surfaces contain substantial amounts of defects. Both CO and CO(2) are found to adsorb weakly on the oxidized SrTiO(3)(100) surfaces. On sputter-reduced surfaces, enhanced reactivity of CO and CO(2) is observed due to the presence of oxygen vacancy sites, which are responsible for dissociative adsorption of these molecules. Our studies indicate that the CO and CO(2) molecules exhibit relatively weaker interactions with SrTiO(3)(100) compared to those with TiO(2)(110) and TiO(2)(100) surfaces. This is most likely an influence of the Sr cations on the electronic structure of the Ti cations in the mixed oxide of SrTiO(3).     

Cl/Ag(111)体系研究——Ⅲ.Cl吸附对O_2吸附的影响

考察了Ag(111)表面和吸氯的Ag(111)表面上氧的吸附行为.结果表明在Ag(111)及低暴露量氯吸附的Ag(111)上氧吸附时,表面上均存在弱的分子氧和原子氧物种.但在高暴露量氯吸附的Ag(111)表面上氧吸附时则选择性地只产生表面分子氧物种,这种选择性只与氯的吸附程度有关,而与氯的存在与否无关.结合以前的实验结果,对氯吸附至(c)阶段时的Ag(111)表面上氧的选择性吸附行为的本质作了详细讨论.     

Comparative simulation study of nitrogen and ammonia adsorption on graphitized and nongraphitized carbon blacks

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation is used to study the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and ammonia at 240 K to represent weakly polar and polar molecules, respectively, on infinite and finite graphite surfaces. These graphite surfaces were modeled with different percentages of carbons removed (defects) from the top graphite layer. Increasing the number of defects increases the adsorption and the isosteric heat of nitrogen at low pressure. At moderate pressures the amount adsorbed is less due to the disruption in the packing of the nitrogen in the first layer. In contrast, the adsorption of ammonia at all pressures is reduced as the percentage of defects is increased. This is due to the disruption in ammonia bonding caused by the defects. The condensation-like step change in the ammonia isotherm on the perfect graphite surface is not observed for any of these surfaces with defects even for the case of only 10% defects. At high percentage of defects the adsorption isotherm is close to Henry law behavior for much of the pressure range. The adsorption on finite surfaces shows that the amount adsorbed for both molecules decreases compared with that of the infinite surfaces, resulting from interaction potentials with the surface and other fluid molecules at the edge. The decrease is much greater for the ammonia adsorption because the bonding between ammonia molecules is disrupted, meaning that the adsorption cannot follow the mechanism of condensation seen for the infinite surface.     

An ab initio study of electrochemical vs. electromechanical properties: the case of CO adsorbed on a Pt(111) surface

We have studied electrochemical vibrational and energy properties of CO/Pt(111) in the framework of periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We have used a modified version of the previously developed Filhol-Neurock method to correct the unphysical contributions arising from homogeneous background countercharge in the case of thick metallic slabs. The stability of different CO adsorption sites on Pt(111) (Top, Bridge, Hcp, Fcc) has been studied at constant electric field. The energies are dominated by the surface dipole interaction with the external electric field: a strong positive electric field favors the surfaces with the lower dipole moment (that correspond to the ones with the lower coordination). The Stark tuning slope of the CO stretching frequency for a Top site was calculated for different surface coverages in very good agreement with both experimental and other theoretical results. Finally, we have performed an analysis of the origin of Stark shifts showing that the total Stark effect can be split into two competing components. The first one corresponds to the direct effect of charging on the C-O chemical bond: it is referred as an electrochemical effect. The second is the consequence of the surface dipole interaction with the applied electric field that modifies the C-O distance, inducing a change of the C-O force constant because of C-O bond anharmonicity: it is referred as the electromechanical effect. In the CO/Pt(111) case, the dominant contribution is electromechanical. The electrochemical contribution is very small because the electronic system involved in the surface charging is mostly non-bonding as analyzed by looking at the surface Fukui function.     

Glycine at the pyrite-water interface: the role of surface defects

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations were performed in order to study chemisorption, electronic properties, and desorption of glycine at wet pyrite surfaces focusing on the role of surface point defects. The change in the electronic structure and its influence on the chemical reactivity of the free FeS(2)(100) surface due to sulfur vacancies was studied in detail yielding several adsorption modes of glycine and water molecules. Energetically preferred adsorption modes were furthermore investigated in the presence of hot pressurized water mimicking "Iron Sulfur World" prebiotic conditions. The metadynamics Car-Parrinello technique was employed to map the free energy landscape including paths and barriers for desorption of glycine from such wet defective surfaces. The ubiquitous sulfur vacancies are found to increase the retention time of the adsorbed amino acid by many orders of magnitudes in comparison to the ideal pyrite-water interface. The importance of these findings in terms of a possible two-dimensional primordial chemistry on mineral surfaces is discussed.     

Electronic composition-property relationship applied to SO2 chemisorption on Pt111 surfaces, alloys, and overlayers

We have developed a new electronic composition-property relationship between the adsorption energy of molecules binding unequally to multiple atoms on metal surfaces and the electronic properties of the surface. This relationship allows the estimation of the relative stability of adsorbates on various surfaces, assuming that the adsorbate adopts the same local configuration on each surface, and therefore also allows the estimation of the adsorption energy of molecules through large regions of parameter space in alloy systems with data from only a few explicit calculations. We have applied this relationship to the adsorption of SO(2) on Pt surfaces alloyed with Pd, Cu, Ru, and Ni. Using a new formula for weighting the metal d-band, we found a strong linear relationship between the weighted positions of the d states of surfaces and the most stable molecular adsorption energies. The consequences of our electronic composition-property relationship for catalyst design are also discussed.     

DFT study of interaction of O, O2, and OH with unreconstructed Pt(hkl) (h, k, l = 0, 1) surfaces—similarities, differences, and universalities

Adsorption of O, O₂, and OH on Pt(111), Pt(100), and Pt(110) surfaces was studied using periodic DFT calculations. It was found that generally adsorbate-surface interaction strengths increase with the decrease in surface packing density. On the Pt(111) surface the dissociation of O₂ molecule was not predicted, but it was predicted on Pt(100) and Pt(110) surfaces. While the strength of the adsorbate-substrate interaction decreases with the rise in surface coverage by O atoms, in the case of OH adsorption adsorbate layer gets stabilized at higher surface coverage through the hydrogen bonding. In spite of all the mentioned differences, single parameter of surface electronic structure was identified, being useful for the explanation of the adsorption trends at different adsorption sites for O and OH adsorption on Pt surfaces of various crystallographic orientations and also provided a deeper understanding of atomic oxygen adsorption as a function of surface coverage.