DFT Studies of Ag‐Loading Intrinsic and Functionalized Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The first principles study was performed on the stability of Ag adsorbed on the internal walls of single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and loaded on acid modified SWCNT. The calculation results show that Ag can be adsorbed stably on the internal walls of SWCNT. With the increase of SWCNT diameter, the adsorption energy increases in a certain range. Ag can also be loaded on the modified SWCNT surface in the form of COOAg and OAg groups, and COOAg group is more stable than OAg group. For either the adsorption on the inner SWCNT or the load on the modified SWCNT surface, only a small proportion of the Ag ions can be stably bonded to the walls of SWCNT.     

Structural Preferences of Single‐Walled Silica Nanostructures: Nanospheres and Chemically Stable Nanotubes

Structural preferences of single‐walled and coordinatively saturated spherical and tubular nanostructures of silica have been determined by ab initio calculations. Two families of spherical (SiO₂)_n clusters derived from Platonic solids and Archimedean polyhedra are depicted, with n ranging from 4–120. The analogue of a truncated icosidodecahedron, I_h‐symmetric Si₁₂₀O₂₄₀, is favored in energy, closely followed by the I_h‐symmetric Si₆₀O₁₂₀‐truncated icosahedron. The silica nanotubes derived from spherical clusters are capped by Si₂O₂ rings, whereas the tubular section consists of single oxygen bridges. Periodic studies performed with open‐ended silica nanotubes and the α‐quartz polymorph of silica, along with a comparisons to fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, suggest that tubes with diameters of approximately 1 nm should be chemically stable.     

How Good is Fluorine as a Hydrogen‐Bond Acceptor in Fluorinated Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes?

Ab initio (RI-MP2/TZVPP) computations were employed to investigate the interaction between hydrogen-bond donors H2O and CH3OH and covalently bound fluorine in organofluorine compounds. While the CFHO interaction energy is around 3 kcal mol(-1) for unstrained systems, the linear correlation between pyramidalization angle at the carbon atom and the interaction energy suggests that increased binding can be obtained in strained systems. This is confirmed for the dihydrodifluoropyrene-methanol pair, but a large portion of the binding energy is due to the interaction of the pi system with the oxygen atom. Density functional periodic boundary condition computations (PBC-PBE/6-31G*) of the structures of (5,5) and (10,10) armchair (C2F)n fluorinated SWNTs (F-SWNTs) indicate that the pyramidalization at the fluorine-binding carbon atoms are too similar to that of CH3F to enhance the hydrogen-bond acceptor properties of fluorine significantly. The solubility of F-SWNTs in alcohols therefore could be due to a combination of hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions with the pi systems.     

Defective α‐Fe2O3(0001): An ab Initio Study

By using density functional theory calculations at the PBE+U level, we investigated the properties of hematite (0001) surfaces decorated with adatoms/vacancies/substituents. For the most stable surface termination over a large range of oxygen chemical potentials (${\mu _{\rm{O}} }$ ), the vacancy formation and adsorption energies were determined as a function of ${\mu _{\rm{O}} }$ . Under oxygen‐rich conditions, all defects are metastable with respect to the ideal surface. Under oxygen‐poor conditions, O vacancies and Fe adatoms become stable. Under ambient conditions, all defects are metastable; in the bulk, O vacancies form more easily than Fe vacancies, whereas at the surface the opposite is true. All defects, that is, O and Fe vacancies, Fe and Al adatoms, and Al substituents, induce important modifications to the geometry of the surface in their vicinity. Dissociative adsorption of molecular oxygen is likely to be exothermic on surfaces with Fe/Al adatoms or O vacancies.     

Redox Switches for Single‐Molecule Magnet Activity: An Ab Initio Insight

A dinuclear Co^II complex ( 1 ) featuring unprecedented anodic and cathodic switches for single‐molecule magnet (SMM) activity has been recently investigated (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013 , 135, 14670). The presence of sandwiched radicals in different oxidation states of this compound mediates magnetic coupling between the high‐spin (S=3/2) cobalt ions, which gives rise to SMM activity in both the oxidized ([ 1 (OEt₂)]⁺) and reduced ([ 1 ]^?) states. This feature represents the first example of a SMM exhibiting fully reversible, dual ON/OFF switchability. Here we apply ab initio and broken‐symmetry DFT calculations to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for magnetic properties and magnetization blocking in these compounds. It is found that due to the strong delocalization of the magnetic molecular orbital, there is a strong antiferromagnetic interaction between the radical and cobalt ions. The lack of high axiality of the cobalt centres explains why these compounds possess slow relaxation of magnetization only in an applied dc magnetic field.     

Single‐ and double‐electron reductions of CO2 by using superalkalis: An ab initio study

CO₂, a major contributor to global warming, can be balanced by converting it into fuels. The reduction of CO₂ has been difficult due to its extremely high stability. Recently, single‐electron reduction of CO₂ by superalkalis has been proposed using quantum chemical methods. Herein, we report a systematic study on the single‐reduction of CO₂ by using typical superalkalis. Superalkalis are hypervalent species possessing lower ionization energies than alkali atoms. We have studied the interaction of CO₂ with FLi₂, OLi₃, and NLi₄ superalkalis using ab initio MP2 calculations. We notice that this interaction leads to stable superalkali‐CO₂ complexes in which the structure of CO₂ is bent due to electron transfer from superalkalis. This clearly reveals that the CO₂ can successfully be reduced to the anion. It has been also noticed that the size of superalkalis plays a crucial in the single‐electron reduction of CO₂. For instance, the binding energy of superalkali‐CO₂ complex and charge transfer to CO₂ decreases monotonically with the increase in the size of superalkali. We have also proposed that CO₂ can be further reduced to in case of the anionic complex such as (FLi₂ CO₂)‾. Thus, FLi₂ superalkali is also capable of double‐electron reduction of CO₂. These findings should provide new insights into CO₂‐activation as well as motivate further research in this direction.     

Functionalization of Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Through chemical functionalization of single‐walled carbon nanotubes, the prerequisites for possible applications of such nanostructures are established. The derivatized tubes differ from the crude materials in their good solubility, which enables both a more extensive characterization and subsequent chemical reactivity. Current derivatization methods include defect and covalent sidewall functionalization, as well as noncovalent exo‐ and endohedral functionalization. In this way, for example, a range of nanotubes can be prepared: with sidewall substituents, wrapped with polymers, or with guest molecules included. The current state of the literature is presented in this Minireview.     

氧化钼表面不同氧位对氢吸附性能的从头计算研究

 用从头计算Hartree－Fock方法研究了MoO3（010）和（100）晶面上几种结构不等价氧的成键特征和电子结构,并考察了H＋在不同氧位上的吸附性能以及吸附后形成的OH从表面脱附的性质．结果表明,在氧化钼晶体中,钼氧原子间的成键具有离子性和共价性相结合的特性,且几种不等价氧与钼之间的成键性质各不相同：端氧或不对称桥氧与钼的成键具有较强的共价性,而对称桥氧具有较强的离子性;H＋在MoO3（010）和（100）晶面上几种不等价氧位都能形成稳定的吸附,而在端氧位的吸附最稳定;H＋吸附形成的OH都与表面有较强的作用,端氧位的OH最难脱附,而桥氧位的OH在表面的活动性较大,故桥氧位很可能是丙烯选择氧化过程中脱氢反应的活性中心．     

Simultaneous Aromatic–Beryllium Bonds and Aromatic–Anion Interactions: Naphthalene and Pyrene as Models of Fullerenes,Carbon Single‐Walled Nanotubes,and Graphene

The possibility of forming stable BeR₂:ArH:Y^? (R=H, F, Cl; ArH=naphthalene, pyrene; Y=Cl, Br) ternary complexes in which the beryllium compounds and anions are located on the opposite sides of an extended aromatic system is explored by means of MP2/aug‐cc‐pVDZ ab initio calculations. Comparison of the electron‐density distribution of these ternary complexes with the corresponding BeR₂:ArH and ArH:Y^? binary complexes reveals the existence of significant cooperativity between the two noncovalent interactions in the triads. The energetic effects of this cooperativity are quantified by evaluation of the three‐body interaction energy Δ³E in the framework of the many‐body interaction‐energy (MBIE) approach. Although an essential component of the interaction energies is electrostatic and is well reflected in the changes in the molecular electrostatic potential of the aromatic system on complexation, strong polarization effects, in particular for the BeR₂:ArH interactions, also play a significant role. The charge transfers associated with these polarization effects are responsible for significant distortion of both the BeR₂ and the aromatic moieties. The former are systematically bent in all the complexes, and the latter are curved to a degree that depends on the nature of the R substituents of the BeR₂ subunit.     

Electronic and magnetic structures and conductivity of strontium ferrite: An ab initio LSDA + U approach

Using the first-principle nonempirical linear muffin-tin orbital method in the tight-binding approximation (TB-LMTO) to the LSDA + U approximation, the electronic and magnetic structures and defect formation in strontium ferrite Sr₃Fe₂O₆ are studied. It is found that Sr₃Fe₂O₆ is a G type antiferromagnetic with the semiconductor electronic structure. The calculated band gap of 1.82 eV agrees well with experimental value (～2 eV). The ferrite spectrum corresponds to that of a semiconductor with a band gap of charge transfer. Iron ions in Sr₃Fe₂O₆ are in a high-spin state and have configuration t _2g ^↑3 e _g ^↑2 e _g ^↓1 . The calculated local magnetic moment on the iron ions is 3.9 μ_B. The presence of iron ions with a magnetic moment approaching 4 μ_B in Sr₃Fe₂O₆ is explained by strong hybridization of 3d orbitals of iron and 2p orbitals of oxygen. The high-spin state of iron ions is described by d ⁵ + d ⁶ L states with predominant contribution d ⁶L, where L is a hole on oxygen. Based on ab initio LSDA + U calculations, various types and configurations of defects in the oxygen sublattice (oxygen vacancies, anti-Frenkel defects) are studied and a model for ionic transport in Sr₃Fe₂O₆ is proposed.     

Electron-spin magnetic moments of the 2Σ+ ions Li2+, Li2−, and Be2+: An ab initio ROHF study

For the ²Σ⁺ ground states of the ions Li₂⁺, Li₂⁻, and Be₂⁺, the dependence of the magnetic moment (parametrized by g-shifts) on the bond length R was studied at the ROHF level. The Δ g-values were calculated via a perturbative approach (complete to second order in Breit-Pauli interactions) using quadruple-zeta AO basis sets augmented by semidiffuse and polarization functions. All Δ g-values in these systems are negative. The parallel component Δ g_∥ generally changes little with R, remaining close to the g-shift of the corresponding ²S atomic dissociation product. For Li₂⁺ and Be₂⁺, the perpendicular component Δ g _⟂ is more sensitive to geometry than is Δ g_∥, mainly because of the second-order magnetic coupling with excited ²Π states. For Li₂⁻, Δ g _⟂ and Δ g_∥ are similar due to the large size of the 2σ_u, SOMO, resulting in g-values close to that of a free electron. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 63: 511–521, 1997     

Ground and Electronically Excited Singlet‐State Structures of 5‐Fluoroindole Deduced from Rotationally Resolved Electronic Spectroscopy and ab Initio Theory

The structure and electronic properties of the electronic ground state and the lowest excited singlet state (S₁) of 5‐fluoroindole (5FI) were determined by using rotationally resolved spectroscopy of the vibration‐less electronic origin of 5FI. From the parameters of the axis reorientation Hamiltonian, the absolute orientation of the transition dipole moment in the molecular frame was determined and the character of the excited state was identified as L_b.     

Homocatenation of Aluminum: Alkane‐like Structures of Li2Al2H6 and Li3Al3H8

A new class of aluminum homocatenated compounds (Li_nAl_nH_2n+2) is proposed based on quantum chemical calculations. In these compounds, Al abstracts an electron from Li, becoming valence isoelectronic with C, Si, and Ge, thus mimicking respective structural features of Group 14 hydrides. Using the Coalescence Kick search program coupled with density functional theory calculations, we investigated the potential energy surfaces of Li₂Al₂H₆ and Li₃Al₃H₆. Then single‐point‐energy coupled‐cluster calculations were performed for the lowest energy structures found. Indeed, the global minima established for Li₂Al₂H₆ and Li₃Al₃H₆ contain the Al₂H₆^2? and Al₃H₆^3? kernels, which are isostructural with ethane (C₂H₆), disilane (Si₂H₆), digermane (Ge₂H₆) and propane (C₃H₈), trisilane (Si₃H₈), trigermane (Ge₃H₈) molecules, respectively. Structural, energetic, and electronic characteristics of the Li₂Al₂H₆ and Li₃Al₃H₈ compounds are presented and the viability of their synthesis is discussed.     

Experimental and Computational Investigations of the Properties of Fluorinated Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Fluorination of single‐walled carbon nanotubes by reaction with elemental fluorine at elevated temperatures provides fluorinated single‐walled carbon nanotubes (F‐SWNT), which have the highest degree of functionalization (up to F/C=1/2) of any derivatized carbon‐nanotube material reported to date. Also, F‐SWNTs have received more scrutiny than any other functionalized carbon nanotubes. This Minireview covers experimental and computational investigations of F‐SWNTs with a focus on the nature and the strength of the C–F linkage.     

Covalent Attachment of Anderson‐Type Polyoxometalates to Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes Gives Enhanced Performance Electrodes for Lithium Ion Batteries

Single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) covalently functionalized with redox‐active organo‐modified polyoxometalate (POM) clusters have been synthesized and employed as electrode materials in lithium ion batteries. The Anderson cluster [MnMo₆O₂₄]^9? is functionalized with Tris (NH₂C(CH₂OH)₃) moieties, giving the new organic–inorganic hybrid [N(nC₄H₉)₄]₃[MnMo₆O₁₈{(OCH₂)₃CNH₂}₂]. The compound is then covalently attached to carboxylic acid‐functionalized SWNTs by amide bond formation and the stability of this nanocomposite is confirmed by various spectroscopic methods. Electrochemical analyses show that the nanocomposite displays improved performance as an anode material in lithium ion batteries compared with the individual components, that is, SWNTs and/or Anderson clusters. High discharge capacities of up to 932 mAh g^?1 at a current density of 0.5 mA cm^?2 can be observed, together with high long‐term cycling stability and decreased electrochemical impedance. Chemisorption of the POM cluster on the SWNTs is shown to give better electrode performance than the purely physisorbed analogues.