Similarities and differences in the structure of 3<Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-metal monocarbides and monoxides

The structure and properties of the monocarbides ScC, TiC, VC, CrC, MnC, FeC, CoC, NiC, CuC, ZnC and their negatively and positively charged ions together with 3 d-metal monoxide cations are calculated by density functional theory (DFT) and hybrid DFT methods. In addition to the spectroscopic constants, the computed properties include the electron affinities, ionization energies, and dissociation energies. These results along with our previous results for the neutral and negatively charged 3 d-metal monoxides allow a detailed comparison of similarity and differences in the bonding of the metal oxides and carbides. These results are compared with results obtained using other theoretical approaches and with experiment. Chemical bonding, analyzed using the natural bond orbital scheme, was found to be rather different in the 3 d-metal monocarbides and monoxides.     

Investigation of 205Tl NMR shielding,structural, and electronical properties in thallium halides by applying PBE-GGA,YS-PBE0 and mBJ functionals

We report the structural, electronical, and heavy nuclear ²⁰⁵Tl Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) shielding properties of thallium halides TlX (X = F, Cl, Br, and I) by the first principles calculation. The Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof Generalized Gradient Approximation, Yukawa Screened-PBE0 hybrid functional, and modified Becke–Johnson (mBJ) functionals including the relativistic and spin-orbit coupling effects are applied for calculation of the exchange-correlation potentials. Calculated PDOS spectra display that the valence band is composed of the X-s, Tl-5d, X-p, and Tl-6s states, and these states play an important role in ²⁰⁵Tl NMR shielding. Our findings indicate that the nuclear magnetic shielding parameters depend on the electronic properties. Obtained results by mBJ show that there is a close agreement between the experimental and the calculated NMR parameters.     

A Systemic DFT Study on Several 5<Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-Electron Element Dimers: Hf<Subscript>2</Subscript>, Ta<Subscript>2</Subscript>, Re<Subscript>2</Subscript>, W<Subscript>2</Subscript>, and Hg<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Eleven kinds of density functionals in conjunction with three different basis sets are employed to investigate the homonuclear 5d-electron dimers: Hf₂, Ta₂, Re₂, W₂ and Hg₂. The computed bond lengths, vibrational frequencies and dissociation energies of these molecules are used to compare with available experimental data to find the appropriate combination of functional and basis set. The different functionals and basis sets favor different ground electronic state for Hf₂ and Re₂ molecules, indicating that these two dimers are sensitive to the functionals used. The molecular properties of Hg₂ dimer depend strongly on both functionals and basis sets used. It is found that the BP86 and PBEPBE functionals are generally successful in describing the 5d-electron dimers. For the ground states of these dimers, the bonding patterns are determined by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. Natural electron configurations show that the 6s and 5d orbitals in the bonding atoms hybrid with each other for the studied dimers except for Hg₂.     

Theoretical investigations of the elastic,electronic, optical and thermodynamics properties of SrSi

The crystal structural, electronic, optical and thermodynamic properties of SrSi are investigated by using the first-principles plane-wave pseudopotential density function theory within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We have calculated the ground states properties and they are in good agreement with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. We have obtained the electronic structure and density of states, and the results showed that both of Immm and Cmcm phases are metal material. The elastic properties such as elastic constants, shear modulus, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are obtained for the first time. Furthermore, the optical properties are reported for radiation up to 30 eV. Finally, the thermodynamic properties of Cmcm phase such as free energy, entropy, enthalpy, heat capacity and Debye temperature are given for reference.     

Structure and magnetic properties of the Al1−xGaxFeO3 family of oxides: A combined experimental and theoretical study

Magnetic properties of the Al_1−xGa_xFeO₃ family of oxides crystallizing in a non-centrosymmetric space group have been investigated in detail along with structural aspects by employing X-ray and neutron diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy and other techniques. The study has revealed the occurrence of several interesting features related to unit cell parameters, site disorder and ionic size. Using first-principles density functional theory based calculations, we have attempted to understand how magnetic ordering and related properties in these oxides depend sensitively on disorder at the cation site. The origin and tendency of cations to disorder and the associated properties are traced to the local structure and ionic sizes.     

Comparative crystal-chemical analysis of d-metal sulfides, selenides, and tellurides and binary compounds

The structures of d-metal sulfides, selenides, and tellurides containing a tetrahedral complex anion have been compared to 1573 representatives of the topological types of binary compounds with the use of the TOPOS structural topological program package. The cases of similarity between these classes of compounds are found and discussed. Based on the results of topological analysis of ionic matrices, the rules are formulated that allow one to predict specific features of the structures of salts with complex chalcogen-containing anions.     

Quantum mechanical modeling of Zn-based spinel oxides: Assessing the structural,vibrational, and electronic properties

The structural, electronic, and vibrational properties of two leading representatives of the Zn-based spinel oxides class, normal ZnX₂O₄ (X = Al, Ga, In) and inverse Zn₂MO₄ (M = Si, Ge, Sn) crystals, were investigated. In particular, density functional theory (DFT) was combined with different exchange-correlation functionals: B3LYP, HSE06, PBE0, and PBESol. Our calculations showed good agreement with the available experimental data, showing a mean percentage error close to 3% for structural parameters. For the electronic structure, the obtained HSE06 band-gap values overcome previous theoretical results, exhibiting a mean percentage error smaller than 10.0%. In particular, the vibrational properties identify the significant differences between normal and inverse spinel configurations, offering compelling evidence of a structure-property relationship for the investigated materials. Therefore, the combined results confirm that the range-separated HSE06 hybrid functional performs the best in spinel oxides. Despite some points that cannot be directly compared to experimental results, we expect that future experimental work can confirm our predictions, thus opening a new avenue for understanding the structural, electronic, and vibrational properties in spinel oxides.     

Theoretical studies of d-d and d-π-d magnetic interactions in (EDT-TTFVO)2FeBr4 crystals

The effective exchange integrals (J(HB)) of the Heisenberg spin model have been evaluated by using the ab initio MO and based on Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) for organic magnetic metals, the (EDT-TTFVO)₂FeBr₄ crystal based on the X-ray crystallographic structures at 113 K. In order to study the magnetic properties, we proposed some of the pairs, where the direct (d-d) and indirect (d-π-d) magnetic couplings between Fe(III) d-spins (S = 5/2) without/with π-dimer spins (S = 1/2) were calculated, respectively. The effective exchange integrals were evaluated by using UB3LYP method, and principal J values were 0.5, −0.1 and 0.4 K. From these results, it is found that there were three dimensional spin arrangements of Fe(III) d-spins. The Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations had been carried out with our calculated J values to evaluate the magnetic susceptibility for this molecular crystal, reproducing the experimental tendency.     

Quantum-chemical calculations of molecular structure of trans-isomeric chelate of Ni(II) with hydrazinomethanethioamide using different versions of DFT method

The results of quantum-chemical calculations of the molecular structure parameters (bond lengths, bond and torsion angles) of the trans-chelate of Ni(II) with hydrazinomethanethioamide obtained by different versions of the density functional theory (DFT) method and GAUSSIAN09 program are summarized. The calculated data were compared with the corresponding experimental data. Although the structural data obtained using different methods of DFT are in good agreement with experiment they give different results in the evaluation of the spin multiplicity of the ground state and the relative energies between ground and excited states. The best agreement with experiment was observed in the calculation by OPBE/TZVP method.     

Optical properties of alkaline-earth metal oxides from first principles

This study reports the results of an ab initio electronic and optical calculation of alkaline-earth metal oxides (MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO) in the NaCl crystal structure using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method within the density functional theory. The exchange-correlation potential is treated by the generalized gradient approximation within the Perdew et al scheme. Moreover, the Engel–Vosko GGA formalism is applied so as to optimize the corresponding potential for band structure calculations. The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function ?(ω), the optical absorption coefficient I(ω), the reflectivity R(ω) and the energy loss function are calculated by random phase approximation (RPA). The calculated results show a qualitative agreement with the available experimental results in the sense that we can recognize some peaks qualitatively, those due to single particle transitions. Furthermore the interband transitions responsible for the structures in the spectra are specified. It is shown that the oxygen 2p states and metal d states play the major role in optical transitions as initial and final states respectively. The effect of the spin–orbit coupling on the optical properties is also investigated and found to be quite small, especially in the low energy region. The dielectric constants are calculated and compared with the available theoretical and experimental results.     

Theoretical study of 3<Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>-metal porphyrin π-complexes acetylene

The structural parameters, energies, and spectroscopic characteristics of acetylene π-complexes of metalloporphyrins M(P)(π-C₂H₂), where M is a 3d-metal atom in different multiplicity states have been calculated by the density functional theory B3LYP method. It has been shown that the activation of the coordinated acetylene molecule is manifested in (i) a sharp weakening of its C-C bond, (ii) a 20°–40° decrease of the bond angles φ(HCC) and an elongation by 0.05–0.10 Å of the R(CC) bond, (iii) a long-wavelength shift of the ν_str(CC) stretching mode by 300–500 cm^?1, (iv) considerable electron density transfer from the porphyrin ring (P ring) to the π-ligand, and (iv) a strong displacement (0.5–0.6 Å) of the M atom from the P ring plane toward the π-ligand and the dome distortion of the P ring. There is a trend in the behavior of the activation effects along the 3d series and with a change in the electronic state multiplicity of the complexes.     

DFT-BS study on the magnetic coupling interaction in a series of (R-Bpmp)Mn2(μ-OAc)2 complexes

The magnetic properties of a series of dinuclear Mn^II systems are investigated by the calculations based on density functional theory combined with broken-symmetry approach (DEF-BS). It is found that there are weak antiferromagnetic interactions in these systems with different bridging ligands. The changing trend of the magnetic coupling constants J indicates that with the electronegativity of the increasing bridging ligands, the antiferromagnetic coupling interaction is weakened. The analyses of the magnetic orbitals and the spin densities show that the weakly antiferromagnetic couplings in these systems are due to the vertical magnetic d orbitals and the weak spin delocalization. These results should be instructive for the design of new molecular magnetic materials.     

High Magnetic Moments in Manganese‐Doped Silicon Clusters

We report on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of manganese‐doped silicon clusters cations, Si_nMn⁺ with n=6–10, 12–14, and 16, using mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy in combination with density functional theory computations. This combined experimental and theoretical study allows several structures to be identified. All the exohedral Si_nMn⁺ (n=6–10) clusters are found to be substitutive derivatives of the bare Si_n+1⁺ cations, while the endohedral Si_nMn⁺ (n=12–14 and 16) clusters adopt fullerene‐like structures. The hybrid B3P86 functional is shown to be appropriate in predicting the ground electronic states of the clusters and in reproducing their infrared spectra. The clusters turn out to have high magnetic moments localized on Mn. In particular the Mn atoms in the exohedral Si_nMn⁺ (n=6–10) clusters have local magnetic moments of 4 μ_B or 6 μ_B and can be considered as magnetic copies of the silicon atoms. Opposed to other 3d transition‐metal dopants, the local magnetic moment of the Mn atom is not completely quenched when encapsulated in a silicon cage.     

Magnetic Anisotropy of Small Ir<Subscript>n</Subscript> Clusters (n = 2–5)

We employ a noncollinear implementation of density functional theory (DFT) including spin–orbit coupling (SOC) interaction to calculate the magnetic properties of Ir_n (n = 2–5) clusters. The impact of the magnetic anisotropy on the geometric structures and magnetic properties has been analyzed. SOC leads to formation of large orbital moment and a mixing of different spin states, but does not affect the relative stability of different structural isomers for a given cluster. In order to measure the SOC effect, we further define the spin–orbit energy (E_so) and compute the exact values. Magnetic anisotropy energies (MAEs) obtained from DFT calculations are further supported by the results of torque approach. We find that MAEs of Ir₂ and Ir₃ in ground state configurations are 40.6 and 28.5 meV respectively, while the MAE decreases to 9 meV for Ir₄. For Ir₅, MAE for its ground state structure increases to 38.3 meV.     

Magnetic circular dichroism of matrix-isolated group IVb diatomic oxides

The absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra of the diatomic group IVb metal oxides have been measured in argon matrices. Temperature independent MCD spectra for the three oxides TiO, ZrO, and HfO confirm the assignments of their ground states to the magnetically nondegenerate ³Δ₁, ¹ Σ⁺, and ¹Σ⁺ states, respectively. The observed MCD spectra for the three oxides consist of A terms, B terms, or no MCD signal. From simple selection rule considerations, the appearance (or nonappearance) of particular MCD terms has been used to assign a number of heretofore unknown states and to confirm known assignments. Transitions due to the atomic Ti and Zr species codeposited with the corresponding oxide have also been observed. Temperature dependent C term behavior enabled a straightforward differentiation of the atomic bands from the temperature independent molecular bands. Assignments of the atomic transitions consistent with the observed C term signs are reported.     

First-principles study on MRh12 (M = Rh, Fe, Co, AND Ni) clusters

In this paper, a first-principles study on the stability, electronic and magnetic properties of MRh₁₂ (M = Rh, Fe, Co and Ni) clusters is performed. By optimizing the geometrical structure, we find that MRh₁₂ clusters change from a perfect icosahedron to a distorted structure and have an obvious bond length contraction as compared with the corresponding bulk phase; FeRh₁₂, CoRh₁₂, and NiRh₁₂ clusters are more energetically stable than the RhRh₁₂ cluster. The effect of the impurity M on the density of states, valence band width, HOMO and LUMO for MRh₁₂ clusters is not significant, but when the central Rh atom is substituted with M, the magnetic moment of MRh₁₂ reduces dramatically. The Mulliken population analysis indicates that there are more charge transfers from other orbitals to Rh4d and M3d orbitals, and the spd hybrid effect in d orbitals of MRh₁₂ clusters is stronger than that in the RhRh₁₂ cluster. this situation means that the unpaired d electrons have more chance to be paired, and the magnetic moments of MRh₁₂ clusters can be reduced reasonably.     

Theoretical study of CeO2 and Ce2O3 using a screened hybrid density functional

The predicted structures and electronic properties of CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3) have been studied using conventional and hybrid density functional theory. The lattice constant and bulk modulus for CeO(2) from local (LSDA) functionals are in good agreement with experiment, while the lattice parameter from a generalized gradient approximation (GGA) is too long. This situation is reversed for Ce(2)O(3), where the LSDA lattice constant is much too short, while the GGA result is in reasonable agreement with experiment. Significantly, the screened hybrid HSE functional gives excellent agreement with experimental lattice constants for both CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3). All methods give insulating ground states for CeO(2) with gaps for the 4f band lying between 1.7 eV (LSDA) and 3.3 eV (HSE) and 6-8 eV for the conduction band. For Ce(2)O(3) the local and GGA functionals predict a semimetallic ground state with small (0-0.3 eV) band gap but weak ferromagnetic coupling between the Ce(+3) centers. By contrast, the HSE functional gives an insulating ground state with a band gap of 3.2 eV and antiferromagnetic coupling. Overall, the hybrid HSE functional gives a consistent picture of both the structural and electronic properties of CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3) while treating the 4f band consistently in both oxides.