Theoretical study of structure and analytic potential energy function for the ground state of PO2 molecule

In this paper, the energy, the equilibrium geometry, and the harmonic frequency of the ground electronic state of PO₂ are computed using B3LYP, B3P86, CCSD(T), and QCISD(T) methods in conjunction with 6-311++G(3df, 3pd) and cc-pVTZ basis sets. A comparison between the computational results and the experimental values indicates that the B3P86/6-311++G(3df, 3pd) method can give better energy calculation results for the PO₂ molecule. It is shown that the ground state of the PO₂ molecule has C_2v symmetry and its ground electronic state is X²A₁. The equilibrium parameters of the structure are R_P-O=0.1465 nm, d=19.218 eV. The bent vibrational frequency ν₁=386 cm^-1, the symmetric stretching frequency ν₂=1095 cm^-1, and the asymmetric stretching frequency ν₃=1333 cm^-1 are obtained. On the basis of atomic and molecular reaction statics, the reasonable dissociation limit for the ground state of the PO₂ molecule is determined. Then the analytic potential energy function of the PO₂ molecule is first derived by using the many-body expansion theory. The potential curves correctly reproduce the configurations and the dissociation energy for the PO₂ molecule.