Defect-induced photoconductivity in layered manganese oxides: a density functional theory study

Enhanced photoconductivity of layered Mn(IV)O2 containing protonated Mn(IV) vacancy defects has been recently demonstrated, suggesting new technological possibilities for photoelectric conversion based on visible light harvesting. Using spin-polarized density functional theory, we provide the first direct evidence that such defects can indeed facilitate photoconductivity by (i) reducing the band-gap energy and (ii) separating electron and hole states. Our results thus support the proposition that nanosheet MnO2 offers an attractive new material for a variety of photoconductivity applications.     

基于密度泛函理论的CO2吸附微观机理比较研究

为探究吸附法捕获CO₂过程中的微观机理和吸附剂材料间的作用关系,基于密度泛函理论方法,综合比较了典型吸附剂包括煤基官能团、Fe、限域离子液体、Na₂CO₃、SrTiO₃与CO₂的吸附过程和差异性.根据不同计算策略,着重分析比较了吸附能、结构优化参数、吸附构型以及原子分布等参数.结果表明,化学吸附中CO₂分子与吸附面呈平行关系时通常吸附能最大;在一种材料的同类型官能团中,吸附能大小与氧原子的数量呈正相关关系;吸附过程中C-O键的伸长活化会生成一种重要的中间产物CO₂^-.提出在探寻CO₂吸附材料时可以在含氧原子较多的官能团、活性金属表面等方面进一步探究.最后对基于密度泛函理论的CO₂的吸附机理的进一步研究方向进行了展望.     

吡喃木糖热裂解机理的密度泛函理论研究

采用密度泛函理论理论方法 M062X/6-311++G(d,p),对吡喃木糖的热解反应机理进行了理论计算分析.针对吡喃木糖热解可能发生的化学反应共设计了九条可能的热解路径,并对各路径中的反应物、中间体和过渡态的几何结构进行了能量梯度全优化,并在梯度全优化的基础上计算了各热解反应路径的热力学和动力学参数.文中以两大类方式来设计反应路径:1)木糖首先经过过渡态TS1发生开环反应生成链状中间体2,该步的反应能垒为188.7 kJ/mol,对于中间体2共设计了五种可能的热解反应路径;2)考虑双键同时断裂的情况,木糖先发生脱水反应,接着按C-C和C-O键同时断裂的情况发生开环反应,针于这种情况共设计了四条可能的热解路径.计算结果表明,吡喃木糖热解的主要反应产物有乙醇、乙醛、糠醛、丙酮、酸类、CO_2和CO等小分子化合物.     

吡喃木糖热裂解机理的密度泛函理论研究

采用密度泛函理论理论方法M062X/6-311++G(d,p),对吡喃木糖的热解反应机理进行了理论计算分析。针对吡喃木糖热解可能发生的化学反应共设计了九条可能的热解路径,并对各路径中的反应物、中间体和过渡态的几何结构进行了能量梯度全优化,并在梯度全优化的基础上计算了各热解反应路径的热力学和动力学参数。文中以两大类方式来设计反应路径：1）木糖首先经过过渡态TS1发生开环反应生成链状中间体2,该步的反应能垒为188.7 kJ/mol,对于中间体2共设计了五种可能的热解反应路径;2）考虑双键同时断裂的情况,木糖先发生脱水反应,接着按C-C和C-O键同时断裂的情况发生开环反应,针于这种情况共设计了四条可能的热解路径。计算结果表明,吡喃木糖热解的主要反应产物有乙醇、乙醛、糠醛、丙酮、酸类、CO2和CO等小分子化合物。     

Activation mechanisms of silver toward CO oxidation by tungsten carbide substrate: A density functional theory study

The development of efficient catalysts for low temperature CO oxidation is important to the application of fuel cells. In this work, we report that the Ag monolayer on WC (0001) surface (Ag_ML/WC) could effectively catalyze CO oxidation through the L-H mechanism (CO + O₂ → OOCO → CO₂ + O). The most sluggish reaction step is suggested to be CO + O → CO₂ with a barrier of 0.48 eV, which is 1.21 eV lower than the barrier of O₂ dissociation. The electronic structure and d-band center analyses demonstrate that the promoted activity may originate from the synergistic effect between Ag monolayer and WC. The present study is conducive to design new efficient and cost-effective catalysts for CO oxidation without using of the noble platinum.     

Reaction mechanism for CO oxidation on Cu(3 1 1): A density functional theory study

The microscopic reaction mechanism for CO oxidation on Cu(3 1 1) surface has been investigated by means of comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The elementary steps studied include O₂ adsorption and dissociation, dissociated O atom adsorption and diffusion, as well as CO adsorption and oxidation on the metal. Our results reveal that O₂ is considerably reactive on the Cu(3 1 1) surface and will spontaneously dissociate at several adsorption states, which process are highly dependent on the orientation and site of the adsorbed oxygen molecule. The dissociated O atom may likely diffuse via inner terrace sites or from a terrace site to a step site due to the low barriers. Furthermore, we find that the energetically most favorable site for CO molecule on Cu(3 1 1) is the step edge site. According to our calculations, the reaction barrier of CO + O → CO₂ is about 0.3 eV lower in energy than that of CO + O₂ → CO₂ + O, suggesting the former mechanism play a main role in CO oxidation on the Cu(3 1 1) surface.     

Computational studies of CO and CO: Density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory

Potential energy curves, equilibrium interatomic distances, term energies and harmonic vibration frequencies for the 16 lowest states of neutral carbon monoxide and the six lowest states of singly ionized carbon monoxide are calculated by density functional theory (DFT) and linear-response time-dependent density functional (LR-TDDFT) theory. The results are compared with experimental data. The two theories, DFT and LR-TDDFT, are described briefly.     

Ab-initio density functional theory study of a WO3 NHa-sensing mechanism

WO3 bulk and various surfaces are studied by an ab-initio density functional theory technique. The band structures and electronic density states of WO3 bulk are investigated. The surface energies of different WO3 surfaces are compared and then the （002） surface with minimum energy is computed for its NH3 sensing mechanism which explains the results in the experiments. Three adsorption sites are considered. According to the comparisons of the energy and the charge change between before and after adsorption in the optimal adsorption site Olc, the NH3 sensing mechanism is obtained.     

Encapsulation of small fullerenes into nitrogenated holey nanotubes: a density functional theory study

Encapsulation of fullerene into nanotubes based on a C₂N sheet, known as nitrogenated holey graphene, was investigated using density functional theory. The structural and electronic properties of these carbon hybrid materials, consisting of nitrogenated holey nanotubes and a small C₂₀ fullerene, were studied. The formation energies showed that encapsulation of the fullerene into the nitrogenated holey nanotube is an exothermic process. To characterise the electronic properties, the electronic band structure and density of states of armchair and zigzag nitrogenated holey nanotubes were calculated. Filling these nanotubes with the C₂₀ fullerene resulted in a p-type semiconducting character. The energy band gap of the nitrogenated holey nanotubes decreased with fullerene encapsulation. The results are indicative of the possibility of band gap engineering by encapsulation of small fullerenes into nitrogenated holey nanotubes.     

硅团簇自旋电子器件的理论研究

利用过渡金属掺杂的硅基团簇, 构建了一种自旋分子结; 并利用第一性原理方法, 对其电子自旋极化输运性质进行了研究. 计算表明, 通过过渡金属掺杂可以有效地产生自旋极化电流, 磁性金属Fe和非磁性金属Cr和Mn掺杂的体系呈现出较明显的自旋极化透射现象, 但分子结的自旋极化输运能力与团簇孤立状态下的磁矩无一致性.从Sc到Ni的掺杂, 体系的自旋极化透射能力先增大后迅速减小, 在Fe掺杂的Si₁₂团簇中出现最大值. 关键词： 硅团簇 自旋极化输运 密度泛函理论 非平衡格林函数     

Ferromagnetism in GaN:Gd: a density functional theory study

First-principle calculations of the electronic structure and magnetic interaction of GaN:Gd have been performed within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) of the density functional theory with the on-site Coulomb energy U taken into account (also referred to as GGA+U). The ferromagnetic p-d coupling is found to be over 2 orders of magnitude larger than the s-d exchange coupling. The experimental colossal magnetic moments and room-temperature ferromagnetism in GaN:Gd reported recently are explained by the interaction of Gd 4f spins via p-d coupling involving holes introduced by intrinsic defects such as Ga vacancies.     

金原子掺杂的碳纳米管吸附CO气体的密度泛函理论研究

鉴于碳纳米管复合材料具有较强气敏性,该性质对于指导剧毒气体探测器的研发具有重要意义,因此,本文采用密度泛函方法对CO气体在本征、金原子掺杂(8,0)单壁碳纳米管的吸附行为进行研究. 通过对吸附体系的几何、电子结构研究表明,CO分子在金原子掺杂的碳纳米管外壁的金原子位置处的吸附能力远大于CO在本征碳纳米管处的吸附,此外,还计算了两种典型位置的电子密度、态密度,进一步支持了掺金碳纳米管对CO气体具有超强的敏感性,因此,金原子掺杂的碳纳米管有望成为探测CO气体的新一代气敏元件. 关键词： 碳纳米管 CO 金原子 掺杂     

Imogolite类纳米管直径单分散性密度泛函理论研究

采用密度泛函理论方法研究了三种imogolite类(未取代、NH₂取代和F取代)纳米管的直径单分散性及表面电荷的分布情况, 并从键长方面定性地解释了直径单分散性的原因. 我们给出了IMO, IMO_NH₂和IMO_F的应变能曲线, 结果表明三种纳米管结构的最稳定管径值按照IMO < IMO_NH₂ < IMO_F的顺序递增, 而imogolite类纳米管直径单分散性是由于管径的增大导致内部Si–O, Al–O键与外部Al-OH键键长变化趋势相反造成的, 总之是内部Si–O, Al–O 键和外部Al–OH键相互作用的结果. 此外, 对三种稳定的纳米管结构做了Mulliken布局分析, 并总结了纳米管直径变化对表面电荷的影响. 结果表明正电荷主要积聚在外表面, 而内表面则感应出负电荷, 同时随着纳米管直径的增大表面电荷逐渐增加, 揭示了表面电荷与管径大小的关系. 研究表明, 可以通过改变imogolite内表面不同的官能化取代来控制纳米管直径, 进而调节表面电荷的分布情况, 这在imogolite类材料的分子设计及应用方面有着重要意义.     

Mixed Si-Ge nanoparticle quantum dots: a density functional theory study

We present a systematic study of small mixed composition Si and Ge nanoparticle quantum dots performed using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) with real space grids and norm-conserving pseudopotentials. Quantum dot models are obtained by distributing Si and Ge atoms within basic models containing a specified number of atomic sites, tetrahedrally-coordinated about a central site, with H atoms added to terminate the surfaces. We consider models containing up to 35 semiconductor atoms, and a number of subsets of the total number of possible configurations (e.g. alternating elements in successive shells). Following calculation of structural and energetic properties, the optical absorption spectra are determined using time-dependent DFT within Casida’s linear-response approach. With respect to Si, the inclusion of Ge moves spectral weight to lower energies. We observe that the relative fractions of Si and Ge have stronger effects on the absorption spectra than the structural distribution of those atoms within the nanoparticle, which tends to have quite small effects.     

The NMR response of boroxol rings: a density functional theory study

Cluster models of boron oxide glasses are studied computationally using density functional theory. It is shown that the isotropic chemical shielding of boron in boroxol rings is about 5 ppm less than for boron in non-ring BO3/2 units, and that the quadrupole coupling in ring sites is about 0.1 MHz larger than in non-ring sites, confirming assignments made in glasses and crystalline model compounds. The chemical shielding anisotropy of these sites is computed and shown to be in agreement with recent experimental measurements. Furthermore, it is shown that the reason for the different responses is not the co-planarity of BO3/2 groups bound in rings, but rather the contraction in the B-O-B bond angle from about 134 degrees in relaxed structures to 120 degrees as found in rings.     

Methylamine decomposition on nickel surfaces: A density functional theory study

The adsorption and decomposition of methylamine on Ni(1 1 1), Ni(1 0 0), stepped Ni(1 1 1), and nitrogen atom modified Ni(1 0 0) (denoted N–Ni(1 0 0)) have been studied with the DFT–GGA method using the periodic slab models. The initial scissions of C–H, N–H and C–N bond are considered. The adsorption energies under the most stable configurations for the possible species and the activation energies for the possible initial elementary reactions involved are obtained in the present work. Through systematic exploring of the kinetics mechanism of methylamine decomposition on these four surfaces, it is found that the reactivity of these surfaces decreased with the order of stepped Ni(1 1 1) > Ni(1 0 0) > Ni(1 1 1) > N–Ni(1 0 0). This indicates that the reactivity is related to the openness of the surface, and the presence of nitrogen atom reduces the reactivity of the Ni(1 0 0). For the three reactions, the barriers decreased with the order of C–N > N–H > C–H on Ni(1 1 1) and Ni(1 0 0), whereas they decreased with the order of C–N > C–H > N–H on stepped Ni(1 1 1) and N–Ni(1 0 0).     

Effects of the substrate on graphone magnetism: A density functional theory study

The magnetism of graphone, a single-side-hydrogenated graphene derivative, has been related to the localized and unpaired p-electrons associated with the unhydrogenated carbon atoms. In the present density functional theory study, the effects the adhesion to either Cu(111) or α-quartz (0001) surface on the magnetic properties of graphone have been investigated. The total magnetization of the graphone adsorbed to copper and quartz surface is reduced by four and two times, respectively, with respect to the isolated graphone. We have shown there is electronic charge transfer from surface towards three-fold coordinated C atoms of graphone, but the main role in the partial magnetism quenching is played by bond formation and the consequent electron pairing of p-electrons. The critical temperature has been investigated on the basis of the mean field theory to evaluate the stability of the magnetism at ordinary temperature.     

Interaction mechanism among CO,H2S and CuO oxygen carrier in chemical looping combustion: A density functional theory calculation study

When using coal-derived syngas or coal as fuel in chemical looping combustion (CLC), CO as a representative pyrolysis/gasification product and H₂S as the main sulfurous gas coexist in fuel reactor. Either CO or H₂S can absorb on the surface of CuO (the active component of Cu-based oxygen carriers), and reactions will occur among them. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are conducted to investigate the interaction among H₂S, CO, and CuO, including: the reaction between CO and H₂S over CuO particle, the influence of CO on the H₂S dissociation and further reaction process, and the impact of H₂S dissociation products on CO oxidation. Firstly, the co-adsorption results suggest that H₂S might directly react with CO to produce COS via the Eley–Rideal mechanism, while CO prefers to react with HS* or S* via the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. This means that the reaction mechanisms between CO and H₂S will change as the H₂S dissociation proceeds, which has already been forecasted by the co-adsorption energies and verified by all of potential Eley–Rideal and Langmuir–Hinshelwood reaction pathways. Then, the influence of CO on the H₂S dissociation process is examined, and it is noted that the presence of CO greatly limits the dissociation of H₂S due to the increased energy barrier of the rate-determining dehydrogenation step. Furthermore, the impact of H₂S dissociation products on CO oxidation by CuO is also investigated. The presence of H₂S and S* significantly supresses the CO oxidation activity, while the presence of HS* slightly promotes the CO oxidation activity. Finally, the complete interaction mechanisms among H₂S, CO, and CuO are concluded. It should be noted that COS will be inevitably produced via the Langmuir–Hinshelwood reaction between surface S* and CO*, which is prior to H₂O generation and subsequent sulfidation reaction.     

Ammonia activation on platinum {1 1 1}: A density functional theory study

By means of density functional theory calculations we have investigated the role of adsorbed atomic oxygen and adsorbed OH in the oxidation of ammonia on Pt{1 1 1}. We have investigated the dissociation of NH_3,ads, NH_2,ads and NH_ads on Pt{1 1 1} and the oxidation of these species by O_ads and OH_ads. We have done normal mode frequency analysis and work function calculations to characterise reactant, product and transition states. We have determined reaction energies, activation entropies, kinetic parameters and corrected total energies with the zero point energy. We have shown that O_ads only activates the dehydrogenation of NH_3,ads and that OH_ads activates the dehydrogenation of all NH_x,ads species and have reasoned this difference in activation by a bond order conservation principle. We have pointed out the importance of a zero point energy correction to the reaction energies and barriers. We have compared the calculated vibrational modes of the adsorbates with corresponding experimental EELS data. This has led to a revise of the frequency assignment of ν(Pt-OH₂), a revise in the identification of a NH₂ species on the Pt{1 1 1} surface after electron bombardment of pre-adsorbed NH₃ and the confirmation of an ammonia dimer binding model at the expense of a hollow site occupation by ammonia on the Pt{1 1 1} surface.     

A density functional theory study of formaldehyde adsorption on ceria

Molecular adsorption of formaldehyde on the stoichiometric CeO₂(1 1 1) and CeO₂(1 1 0) surfaces was studied using periodic density functional theory. Two adsorption modes (strong chemisorbed and weak physisorbed) were identified on both surfaces. This is consistent with recent experimental observations. On the (1 1 1) surface, formaldehyde strongly chemisorbs with an adsorption energy of 0.86 eV to form a dioxymethylene-like structure, in which a surface O lifts from the surface to bind with the C of formaldehyde. A weak physisorbed state with adsorption energy of 0.28 eV was found with the O of formaldehyde interacting with a surface Ce. On the (1 1 0) surface, dioxymethyelene formation was also observed, with an adsorption energy of 1.31 eV. The weakly adsorbed state of formaldehyde on the (1 1 0) surface was energetically comparable to the weak adsorption state on the (1 1 1) surface. Analysis of the local density of states and charge density differences after adsorption shows that strong covalent bonding occurs between the C of formaldehyde and surface O when dioxymethylene forms. Calculated vibrational frequencies also confirm dioxymethylene formation. Our results show that as the coverage increases, the adsorption of formaldehyde on the (1 1 1) surface becomes weak, but is nearly unaffected on the (1 1 0) surface.