Theoretical investigation of electron paramagnetic resonance spectra and local structure distortion for Mn2+ ions in CaCO3:Mn2+ system: a simple model for Mn2+ ions in a trigonal ligand field

This paper reports on a novel application of a ligand field model for the detection of the local molecular structure of a coordination complex. By diagonalizing the complete energy matrices of the electron-electron repulsion, the ligand field and the spin-orbit coupling for the d5 configuration ion in a trigonal ligand field, the local distortion structure of the (MnO6)10- coordination complex for Mn2+ ions doped into CaCO3, have been investigated. Both the second-order zero-field splitting parameter b(0)2 and the fourth-order zero-field splitting parameter b(0)4 are taken simultaneously in the structural investigation. From the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) calculations, the local structure distortion, DeltaR=-0.169 A to -0.156 A, Deltatheta=0.996 degrees to 1.035 degrees for Mn2+ ions in calcite single crystal, DeltaR=-0.185 A to -0.171 A, Deltatheta=3.139 degrees to 3.184 degrees for Mn2+ ions in travertines, and DeltaR=-0.149 A to -0.102 A, Deltatheta=0.791 degrees to 3.927 degrees for Mn2+ ions in shells are determined, respectively. These results elucidate a microscopic origin of various ligand field parameters which are usually used empirically for the interpretation of EPR and optical absorption experiments. It is found that the theoretical results of the EPR and optical absorption spectra for Mn2+ ions in CaCO3 are in good agreement with the experimental findings. Moreover, to understand the detailed physical and chemical properties of the doped CaCO3, the theoretical values of the fourth-order zero-field splitting parameters b(0)4 for Mn2+ ions in travertines and shells are reported first.     

EPR and optical absorption studies on VO2+ ions in L-asparagine monohydrate single crystals

X-Band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of VO(2+) ions in l-asparagine monohydrate single crystals have been done at room temperature. Detailed EPR analysis indicates the presence of two magnetically inequivalent VO(2+) sites. Both the vanadyl complexes are found to take up interstitial position. The angular variation of the EPR spectra in three planes ab, bc and ca are used to determine principal g and A tensors. For the two sites the spin Hamiltonian parameters are, site I: g(x)=1.9633, g(y)=2.0274, g(z)=1.9797, A(x)=88, A(y)=61, A(z)=161x10(-4)cm(-1); site II: g(x)=1.9627, g(y)=1.9880, g(z)=1.9425, A(x)=90, A(y)=66, A(z)=167x10(-4)cm(-1). The optical absorption study is also carried out at room temperature and absorption bands are assigned to various transitions. The theoretical band positions are obtained using energy expressions and a good agreement is found with the experimental values. By correlating EPR and optical data different molecular orbital coefficients are evaluated and the nature of bonding in the crystal is discussed.     

Theoretical determination of the zero-field splitting in copper acetate monohydrate

The zero-field splitting of the copper acetate monohydrate complex is studied using wave function based calculations. The anisotropy parameters extracted from highly correlated methods are in excellent agreement with the most accurate experimental results; in particular, the negative sign of the axial anisotropy parameter D is reproduced. During several decades, the interpretation of experimental data based on an analytical expression derived from perturbation theory led to a positive D-value. Although the validity of this expression is confirmed, it is explained that the incorrect attribution of a positive D is related to the assumption of an antiferromagnetic coupling between excited states. We have found in the present work that this coupling is actually ferromagnetic. The analysis of the various contributions to the anisotropy parameters shows that both spin-spin and spin-orbit couplings participate in the magnetic anisotropy of this complex. Although the anisotropy arising from the spin-spin coupling is essentially independent of the level of calculation, the zero-field-splitting parameters resulting from the spin-orbit coupling are strongly sensitive to the effects of dynamic correlation. This works provides important new insights into the physical origin of the zero-field-splitting parameters in copper dimers.     

Theoretical investigation of the reaction of Mn+ with ethylene oxide

The potential energy surfaces of Mn(+) reaction with ethylene oxide in both the septet and quintet states are investigated at the B3LYP/DZVP level of theory. The reaction paths leading to the products of MnO(+), MnO, MnCH(2)(+), MnCH(3), and MnH(+) are described in detail. Two types of encounter complexes of Mn(+) with ethylene oxide are formed because of attachments of the metal at different sites of ethylene oxide, i.e., the O atom and the CC bond. Mn(+) would insert into a C-O bond or the C-C bond of ethylene oxide to form two different intermediates prior to forming various products. MnO(+)/MnO and MnH(+) are formed in the C-O activation mechanism, while both C-O and C-C activations account for the MnCH(2)(+)/MnCH(3) formation. Products MnO(+), MnCH(2)(+), and MnH(+) could be formed adiabatically on the quintet surface, while formation of MnO and MnCH(3) is endothermic on the PESs with both spins. In agreement with the experimental observations, the excited state a(5)D is calculated to be more reactive than the ground state a(7)S. This theoretical work sheds new light on the experimental observations and provides fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanism of ethylene oxide with transition metal cations.     

Improved spin hamiltonian parameters for Mn2+ determined by EPR at zero magnetic field

EPR has been studied at zero magnetic field for high-spin Mn²⁺ in MgSO₄·7H₂O and NH₄Cl. Significant differences have been found between high-field EPR spin hamiltonmn parameters in the literature and those necessary to fit the complex zero-field spectra. Sources of the discrepancies are discussed in relation to the Mn²⁺ systems and more generally     

Local structure of Mn4+ and Fe3+ spin probes in layered LiAlO2 oxide by modelling of zero-field splitting parameters

The zero-field splitting parameters (ZFS) of Mn(4+) and Fe(3+) ions in LiAlO(2) with a layered structure are analyzed experimentally and theoretically by using high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, Neuman superposition model (NSM), DFT and multiconfigurational calculations. The interpretation of ZFS is based on the comparison of the experimentally determined values with the calculated ones. This approach allows assessing the performance of different methods for computation of ZFS of Fe(3+) and Mn(4+) in layered oxide matrices. DFT and multiconfigurational calculations are used to analyze the effect of oxygen, aluminium, and lithium neighbours on ZFS of Fe(3+) and Mn(4+). These calculations are based on a cluster comprising Fe(3+) or Mn(4+) ions in a trigonally compressed octahedron with 6 metal ions (Al(3+) or Co(3+)) as first metal neighbours and 6 O(2-) and 2 Li(+) (above and below the layer) as second neighbours. A satisfactory agreement with the experimental data is achieved when the local structure of Mn(4+) and Fe(3+) deviates from the trigonal host-site geometry. The local structure of Fe(3+) comprises an axial distortion, while trigonal environment with reduced extent of distortion appears around Mn(4+).     

Studies of the electric-field-induced zero-field splitting for a substitution Mn2+ ion in SrCl2 crystal

The zero-field splittings induced by the electric-field have been studied theoretically from the formulas, including three important microscopic mechanisms for a substitutional Mn2+ ion in SrCl2 crystal. From the studies, it is found that the zero-field splitting can be attributed primarily to the electric-field-induced displacement of Mn2+ ion along the electric-field direction and the magnitudes of the displacements at various strengths of electric-field are obtained. The results are comparable with those obtained from the potential-energy curve of Mn2+ center.     

Theoretical investigations of the EPR parameters for Cr3+ and Mn4+ ions in PbTiO3 crystals

The complete high-order perturbation formulas of EPR parameters (g factors g( parallel), g( perpendicular) and zero-field splitting D), containing the crystal-field (CF) mechanism and charge-transfer (CT) mechanism (the latter is omitted in crystal-field theory which is often used to study the EPR parameters), are established from a cluster approach for 3d3 ions in tetragonal octahedral sites. According to the calculations based on these formulas, the EPR parameters g( parallel), g( perpendicular) and zero-field splitting D for Cr3+ and Mn4+ ions in PbTiO3 crystals are explained reasonably. The calculations show that (i) the sign of g-shift Deltag(i)(CT) (=g(i)-g(s), where g(s)=2.0023 is free-electron value and i= parallel and perpendicular) in CT mechanism is opposite to, but that of D(CT) is the same as, the corresponding signs in the CF mechanism and (ii) the relative importance of CT mechanism for the high valence state 3d3 ion (e.g., Mn4+) is large and so the contributions to EPR parameters from CT mechanism should be taken into account. The different sign of splitting D and the different defect structure for Cr3+ and Mn4+ impurity centers in PbTiO3 crystals are also suggested from the calculations. The results are discussed.     

Investigations of zero-field splitting (ZFS) and local distortion parameters of ZnAl2S4:Mn2+ by theoretical analysis

Fourth-order perturbation formula on the basis of the dominant spin-orbit coupling mechanism is employed to investigate the local environment around Mn2+ centers in ZnAl2S4 single crystals. The zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameter D is calculated for the Mn2+ ions at the Al3+ site with local symmetry D3d using the different orbital reduction factors. Both the contributions of the lattice distortions to the crystal-field (CF) parameters and the D are examined by means of different cases. The comparison between the calculated results in this study and the previous experimental and theoretical values reveals a good agreement and reasonable distortion parameters for Mn2+ ions at Al3+ sites.     

Studies of the defect structure for Mn2+ in KTaO3 crystal from the calculation of EPR zero-field splitting

There are several mistakes in the recent paper about the theoretical studies of defect structure for Mn(2+) ion at the 12-fold tetrakaidecahedral K+ site in KTaO(3) by calculating the spin Hamiltonian (SH) parameters, so the calculated defect structure (which is smaller than those obtained from the local density approximation (LDA) method, density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the dipole moment study (DMS)) is doubtful. Therefore, we restudy the defect structure in this paper by using the reasonable expressions and parameters. The present result is in agreement with those based on LDA, GGA and DMS methods and can be regarded as reasonable. It appears that the reliability of the defect structure of impurity center determined from the calculation of SH parameter depends strongly upon reasonableness of the used expressions and parameters.     

Investigations on the electron paramagnetic resonance parameters for Mn2+ in the ABF3 fluoroperovskites

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters (g factor, the hyperfine structure constant A and the superhyperfine parameters A' and B') for Mn(2+) in the fluoroperovskites ABF(3) (A=K and Cs; B=Zn, Mg, Cd and Ca) are theoretically investigated from the perturbation formulas of these parameters for a 3d(5) ion under ideal octahedra. In the above treatments, not only the crystal-field mechanism but also the charge transfer mechanism is considered uniformly on the basis of the cluster approach. The theoretical EPR parameters are in good agreement with the experimental data. The charge transfer contribution to the g-shift Δg (≈g-g(s), where g(s)≈2.0023 is the spin-only value) is opposite (positive) in sign and comparable in magnitude to the crystal-field one. Nevertheless, the charge transfer contribution to the hyperfine structure constant shows the same sign and about 10% that of the crystal-field one. So, the conventional argument that the charge transfer contributions to the zero-field splittings are negligible for 3d(5) ions under low symmetrically distorted fluorine octahedra is proved no longer valid for the Δg analysis of ABF(3):Mn(2+) in view of the dominant second-order charge transfer perturbation terms. The unpaired spin densities of the fluorine 2s, 2p σ and 2p π orbitals are determined from the quantitative dependences upon the related molecular orbital coefficients, rather than obtained by fitting the observed superhyperfine parameters in the previous works.     

A comparative investigation of Co2+ and Mn2+ incorporation into aluminophosphates by in situ XAS and DFT computation

The incorporation processes of Mn2+ and Co2+ into the framework of aluminophosphate molecular sieve AlPO4-5, at the onset of crystallization, were investigated by in situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and density functional theory (DFT) computation. The results indicated that the syntheses of MnAPO-5 and CoAPO-5 were different in the incorporation mechanism of metal ions. For the synthesis of CoAPO-5, Co2+ transferred from an octahedral into tetrahedral structure with crystal formation, while, for MnAPO-5, the Mn2+ transition to the tetrahedral structure was much more difficult and it occurred after the appearance of long-range ordered microporous structure. The DFT computations of model intermediates involved in the synthesis process suggested that much higher transformation energy of [Mn(OP(OH)3)4]2+ than that of [Co(OP(OH)3)4]2+ was responsible for the diversity of the incorporation behaviors.     

Theoretical investigation of product channels in the CH3O2 + Br reaction

Several reaction pathways on the potential energy surface (PES) for the reaction of CH3O2 radicals with Br atoms are examined using both ab initio and density functional methods. Analysis of the PES suggests the presence of the stable intermediates CH3OOBr and CH3OBrO. CH3OOBr is calculated to be more stable than CH3OBrO by 9.7 kcal mol(-1) with a significant barrier preventing formation of CH3OBrO via isomerization of CH3OOBr. The relative importance of bi- and termolecular product channels resulting from the initially formed CH3OOBr adduct are assessed based on calculated barriers to the formation of CH2OO + HBr, CH3O + BrO, CH3Br + O2, and CH2O + HOBr.     

Theoretical investigation on the optical and EPR spectra for Cu2+-doped ZnO-CdS nanocomposites

The three optical absorption bands and EPR parameters of the [CuO₆]¹⁰⁻ center in the ZnO-CdS composite nanopowders are theoretically studied from the perturbation formulas based on the cluster approach. In the formulas, the contributions to EPR parameters arising from the ligand orbital and spin–orbit coupling interactions via covalence effect are considered. For the studied [CuO₆]¹⁰⁻ cluster, the Cu–O bond lengths are suggested to show a relative elongation ratio ρ (≈ 4.1%) along the z-axis due to Jahn–Teller effect. The defect models suggested in this work are different from the previous assumption that the impurity Cu²⁺ can replace the host Zn²⁺ site when it enters the lattices of the ΖnO and ΖnS nanocrystals, forming the tetrahedral [CuΧ₄]⁶⁻ clusters (Χ = O, S). The validity of the proposed model is discussed. The differences between the present calculations and the previous ones for the interstitial Cu²⁺ center in ZnO nanocrystals are analyzed in view of the dissimilar impurity behaviors due to the new composition CdS and distinct preparation conditions.     

Theoretical investigation on the electronic and geometric structure of GaN2+ and GaN4+

The electronic and geometric structures of gallium dinitride cation, GaN2+ and gallium tetranitride cation, GaN4+ were systematically studied by employing density functional theory (DFT-B3LYP) and perturbation theory (MP2, MP4) in conjunction with large basis sets, (aug-)cc-pVxZ, x = T, Q. A total of 7 structures for GaN2+ and 24 for GaN4+ were identified, corresponding to minima, transition states, and saddle points. We report geometries and dissociation energies for all the above structures as well as potential energy profiles, potential energy surfaces, and bonding mechanisms for some low-lying electronic states. The calculated dissociation energy (De) of the ground state of GaN2+, X1Sigma+, is 5.6 kcal/mol with respect to Ga+(1S) + N2(X1Sigmag+) and that of the excited state, ?3Pi, is 24.8 kcal/mol with respect to Ga+(3P) + N2(X1Sigmag+). The ground state and the first excited minimum of GaN4+ are of 1A1(C2v) and 3B1(C2v) symmetry with corresponding De of 11.0 and 43.7 kcal/mol with respect to Ga+(1S) + 2N2(X1Sigmag+) for X1A1 and Ga+(3P) + 2N2(X1Sigmag+) for 3B1.     

Ca+催化的N2O+CO反应机理的理论研究

采用B3LYP/cc-pVTZ理论水平系统研究了Ca+离子催化N2O+CO→N2+CO2反应的微观机理.反应分两步进行:第一步Ca+夺取N2O中的O原子有两条反应通道,其中优势通道为Ca+金属离子与N2O分子中O作用,形成线性分子复合物,活化N2O分子中的N-O键,之后的反应路径为O-N键断裂机理;第二步为CaO+金属...     

Theoretical investigation on the reaction of HS+ with CH3NH2

The singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces for the reaction of HS⁺ with the simplest primary amine, CH₃NH₂, were determined at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(d,p) level using the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) and QCISD/6-311G(d,p) geometries. All possible reaction channels were explored. The results show that three paths on the singlet potential energy surface and one path on the triplet potential energy surface are competitive. These four feasible paths provide products which are presented in the paper and they are consistent with previous experimental results. On the other hand, the stationary points involved in the most favourable path all lie below those of the reactant and thus the title reaction is expected to be rapid, which is also consistent with the experiment.     

New observations on the luminescence decay lifetime of Mn2+ in Zns: Mn2+ nanoparticles

A fast decay emission peaking at 645 nm with a decay lifetime within the experimental resolution of 0.14 micros is observed in ZnS:Mn2+ nanoparticles. This short-lived signal is also observed in pure ZnS and MgS: Eu3+ nanoparticles, which has nothing to do with Mn(2+)-doped ions but is from the deep trap states of the host materials. The short-lived component decreases in intensity relative to the Mn2+ emission at higher excitation powers, while it increases in intensity at low temperatures and shifts to longer wavelengths at longer time delays. Our observations demonstrated further that the emission of Mn2+ in ZnS: Mn2+ nanoparticles behaves basically the same as in bulk ZnS: Mn2+; the fast decay component is actually from the intrinsic and defect-related emission in sulfide compounds.