Electronic structural properties of BiOF crystal and its oxygen vacancy from first-principles calculations

Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A - First-principles calculations are performed to investigate the crystal and electronic structures of BiOF crystal and its oxygen vacancy BiO7/8F. By...     

Nonempirical calculations of models of interstitial defects in an LiF crystal

Models of interstitial Li⁺ and F^– ions in an LiF crystal have been calculated by the nonempirical Hartree-Fock-Roothaan method with the 4-31G+ basis and with the aid of a nonempirical pairwise potential. It has been shown that the energies needed for the adiabatic transfer of Li⁺ and F^– ions from infinity to interstitial positions in Li₄F₄ cubes are equal to +2.3 and +8.1 eV, respectively. The energies required for the transfer of Li⁺ and F^– ions from infinity to interstitial positions in a large cubic cluster of 4000 LiF molecules (a cube with an edge consisting of 20 atoms) are determined to a considerable extent by the long-range interactions of nonelectro-static nature and are equal to –0.25 and +9.9 eV, respectively, without consideration of the relaxation of the lattice.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2272–2277, October, 1989.We express our thanks to P. Charskii for supplying his version of the HONDO-5 + MP2 program and to V. G. Zakzhevskii for supplying the GAUSSIAN-SM program.     

On calculations of activities of chemical individuals from disorder models

Assuming the validity of the law of mass action for particles, the relationships for the calculation of the activities of chemical individuals from the concentration of particles in a homogeneous system, are derived using the transformation of baricentric coordinates. These relationships can be applied to general disorder models, and they can serve for the selection of the correct and optimum methods for the comparison between disorder models and experimental data. Possible methods of application to binary and ternary systems are discussed.     

Clusters as crystal fragments of silicon bulk

Silicon clusters of 13 to 43 atoms were studied with the semi-empirical method SINDO1. Crystalline structures of face-centered cubic (fcc), hexagonal close packed (hcp) and diamond type and noncrystalline structures of icosahedral type were compared. Noncrystalline structures are most stable for clusters up to 13 atoms. Clusters with 19 and more atoms of the fcc structure are preferable to the less dense diamond structure. With more than 35 Si atoms, the diamond structure is favored over the hcp structure. The binding energy of fcc and hcp structures decreases and that of the diamond structure increases with increasing cluster size. A similar trend is observed for the HOMO-LUMO energy gap which is taken as a measure of the band gap.     

Atomistic calculations of crystal structures of polyisobutylene

Semiempirical atomistic calculations are performed to investigate the crystalline structure of stretched poly(1,1-dimethylethylene), or polyisobutylene. The packing analysis was done without any lattice symmetry assumptions. The results are in good agreement with the x-ray analysis and favor Tanaka's model II. The calculations show several other crystalline structures with the chains in an all-gauche conformation. They have a somewhat higher density and may play a role in a hypothetical high-pressure phase of polyisobutylene.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. W. Pechhold on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Physical properties from association models

Equation of state models with a ‘chemical’ contribution that accounts for association and solvation effects, are computationally intensive as they have to solve an internal chemical equilibrium calculation.

Frequently, only the final results of this internal calculation are used in the subsequent evaluation of physical properties from the model. As a consequence, a substantial amount of unneeded work is performed. We show here how the state function minimization in the chemical equilibrium calculation can be utilized to simplify the calculation of physical properties like pressure and chemical potentials and the derivatives of these properties with respect to temperature, volume and composition.     

Hydration water and bulk water in proteins have distinct properties in radial distributions calculated from 105 atomic resolution crystal structures

Water plays a critical role in the structure and function of proteins, although the experimental properties of water around protein structures are not well understood. The water can be classified by the separation from the protein surface into bulk water and hydration water. Hydration water interacts closely with the protein and contributes to protein folding, stability, and dynamics, as well as interacting with the bulk water. Water potential functions are often parametrized to fit bulk water properties because of the limited experimental data for hydration water. Therefore, the structural and energetic properties of the hydration water were assessed for 105 atomic resolution (相似文献   

Simple models for large-molecule calculations

In spite of tremendous advances in computational quantum chemistry during recent years, there remains the problem of how to deal with molecules so large that calculations of electronic structure and properties require the use of simplified models. This review contains (i) an appraisal of some currently available theoretical models together with proposals for further development, and (ii) a discussion of the use of such models (via variation-perturbation theory) in the interpretation and prediction of electronic properties. The great majority of electronic properties can be discussed in terms of three distribution functions: the electron density, the spin density, and the current density. The electron density is “observed” in x-ray scattering and the spin density in (spin-polarized) neutron scattering, while the current density (present whenever a magnetic field is applied) gives rise to effects observed typically in ESR and NMR experiments. The aim of model calculations should be to obtain a realistic picture of the distribution functions, sufficient for semiquantitative property calculations. For this purpose, as history suggests, it may not always be essential to proceed to the limits of computational feasibility.     

Prediction of stable BC3N2 monolayer from first-principles calculations: Stoichiometry,crystal structure,electronic and adsorption properties

In this paper, a novel BC₃N₂ monolayer has been found with a graphene-like structure using the developed particle swarm optimization algorithm in combination with ab initio calculations. The predicted structure meets the thermodynamical, dynamical, and mechanical stability requirements. Interestingly, the BC₃N₂ plane shows a metallic character. Importantly, BC₃N₂ has an in-plane stiffness comparable to that of graphene. We have also investigated the adsorption characteristics of CO₂ on pristine monolayer and Mo functionalized monolayer using density functional theory. Subsequently, electronic structures of the interacting systems (CO₂ molecule and substrates) have been preliminarily explored. The results show that Mo/BC₃N₂ has a stronger adsorption capacity towards CO₂ comparing with the pristine one, which can provide a reference for the further study of the CO₂ reduction mechanism on the transition metal-functionalized surface as well as the new catalyst’s design.     

Efficient optimization of van der Waals parameters from bulk properties

Due to the computational cost involved, when developing a force field for new compounds, one often avoids fitting van der Waals (vdW) terms, instead relying on a general force field based on the atom type. Here, we provide a novel approach to efficiently optimize vdW terms, based on both ab initio dimer energies and condensed phase properties. The approach avoids the computational challenges of searching the parameter space by using an extrapolation method to obtain a reliable difference quotient for the parameter derivatives based on the central difference. The derivatives are then used in an active‐space optimization method which convergences quadratically. This method is applicable to polarizable and nonpolarizable force fields, although we focus on the parameterization of the AMBER force field. The scaling of the electrostatic potential (ESP) of the compounds is also studied. The algorithm is tested on 12 compounds, reducing the root mean squared error (RMSE) of the density from 0.061 g/cm³ with GAFF parameters to 0.004 g/cm³, and the heat of vaporization from 1.13 to 0.05 kcal/mol. This is done with only four iterations of molecular dynamic runs. Using the optimized vdW parameters, the RMSE of the self‐diffusion was reduced from 1.22 × 10^?9 to 0.78 × 10^?9 m² s^?1 and the RMSE of the hydration free energies was reduced from 0.30 to 0.26 kcal/mol. Scaling the ESP to improve dimer energies resulted in the RMSE improving to 0.77× 10^?9 m² s^?1, but the worsened to 0.33 kcal/mol. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Molecular orbital calculations for the HF crystal

CNDO based molecular orbital calculations are reported for solid HF and compared with results from a recent structural determination. It is found that theoretical structure is not in good agreement with that observed experimentally at 4 K.     

Crosslinked liquid crystal polymers from liquid crystal monomers: Synthesis and mechanical properties

Difunctional acrylates and methacrylate monomers have been made which are high order smectic liquid crystal (or crystalline) at room temperature. This report discusses materials with the following structure: F–S–M–S–F, where F is a functional group, acrylate or methacrylate (A or M); S is a spacer (CH₂)_n(n), and M is a mesogen—in this case 4,4′-dioxybiphenyl (B). They are codified as BnA or BnM where n is the number of methylenes in the spacer. High conversion with high T_g can be obtained when polymerizing in the smectic state because the reactive end groups are concentrated in a small volume and can react well with little or no diffusion. B2A, B3A, B6A, B11A, and B3M were polymerized in the smectic state and compared to polymers made at temperatures where the monomers were isotropic. High conversion was obtained below final T_g—even then, probably because the polymers were ordered. All the polymers were studied by WAXD and dynamic mechanical spectroscopy. Solid-state NMR on B3A showed that there was very high conversion of the double bonds at all temperatures. B3A photopolymerized in the smectic state (60–76°C) produced a crystalline polymer with T_g = 185°C (1 Hz). When photopolymerized at 85°C, above the isotropization temperature (T_i), a poorly organized polymer was obtained with a T_g of 155°C (1 Hz). Monomers with an odd number of methylene groups as spacers were crystalline after polymerization. With an even number of methylene groups, they lost most of their crystallinity on polymerization below T_i, but retained a low order smectic structure. Similar structures were obtained with all the monomers when they were polymerized above T_i. There was little effect of polymerization temperature on T_g when the spacers had an even number of methylene groups. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An error analysis for Hartree-Fock crystal orbital calculations

Our error analysis shows that numerical instabilities can be always expected in Hartree-Fock crystal orbital calculations using extended atomic basis sets due to the errors caused by improper lattice sum truncations. These instabilities may appear also at relatively large eigenvalues of the overlap matrix and are not related to a linear dependence in the basis set. An infinite linear chain of hydrogen atoms is analysed as an example, exhibiting the numerical instabilities which were encountered also in other solids.     

Ground- and excited-state properties of inorganic solids from full-potential density-functional calculations

The development in theoretical condensed-matter science based on density-functional theory (DFT) has reached a level where it is possible, from “parameter-free” quantum mechanical calculations to obtain total energies, forces, vibrational frequencies, magnetic moments, mechanical and optical properties and so forth. The calculation of such properties are important in the analyses of experimental data and they can be predicted with a precision that is sufficient for comparison with experiments. It is almost impossible to do justice to all developments achieved by DFT because of its rapid growth. Hence, it has here been focused on a few advances, primarily from our laboratory. Unusual bonding behaviors in complex materials are conveniently explored using the combination of charge density, charge transfer, and electron-localization function along with crystal-orbital Hamilton-population analyses. It is indicated that the elastic properties of materials can reliably be predicted from DFT calculations if one takes into account the structural relaxations along with gradient corrections in the calculations. Experimental techniques have their limitations in studies of the structural stability and pressure-induced structural transitions in hydride materials whereas the present theoretical approach can be applied to reliably predict properties under extreme pressures. From the spin-polarized, relativistic full-potential calculations one can study novel materials such as ruthenates, quasi-one-dimensional oxides, and spin-, charge-, and orbital-ordering in magnetic perovskite-like oxides. The importance of orbital-polarization correction to the DFT to predict the magnetic anisotropy in transition-metal compounds and magnetic moments in lanthanides and actinides are emphasized. Apart from the full-potential treatment, proper magnetic ordering as well as structural distortions have to be taken into account to predict correctly the insulating behavior of transition-metal oxides. The computational variants LDA and GGA fail to predict insulating behavior of Mott insulators whereas electronic structures can be described correctly when correlation effects are taken into account through LDA+U or similar approaches to explain their electronic structures correctly. Excited-state properties such as linear optical properties, magneto-optical properties, XANES, XPS, UPS, BIS, and Raman spectra can be obtained from accurate DFT calculations.