Arsenic pentafluoride surface adsorption studies on Kagome-phosphorene – a DFT outlook

Arsenic pentafluoride (AsF₅) is a highly toxic gas molecule that finds its application in the manufacturing of electro-conductive polymers. Besides, exposure to AsF₅ molecule may invite several health issues, for instance, central-nervous-system disorders. Thus, the detection of AsF₅ gas is a significant and important concern for public health. For the very first time, we built a novel Kagome phosphorene nanosheet (Kagome-PNS) to study the adsorption behavior of AsF₅ molecule on the Kagome-PNS surface using density-functional theory method. The Kagome-PNS owns semiconductor property with an energy gap value of 1.22 eV. Initially, the geometrical stability of Kagome-PNS was verified with the negative value of cohesive formation energy. The transport properties of Kagome-PNS have also been carried out using current-voltage characteristics. Moreover, AsF₅ gas molecules are physisorbed on Kagome-PNS, the adsorption energy of the preferential complex structures is found to be −0.099 to −0.377 eV. An innovative finding of the present study acclaims that Kagome-PNS can be proficiently used as a chemical sensor to detect AsF₅ gas molecules.     

Li adsorption on a Fullerene–Single wall carbon nanotube hybrid system: Density functional theory approach

In this study, we investigate Li adsorption mechanisms on the C₆₀-SWCNT hybrid system using density functional theory. It is found that the Li adsorption energy of the C₆₀-SWCNT hybrid system is increased in comparison to that of the pure SWCNT. The Li adsorption energy ranges from −1.917 eV to −2.642 eV for the single-Li adsorbed system and from −2.351 eV to −2.636 eV for the double-Li adsorbed system. It is also found that the adsorption energy becomes similar at most positions throughout the structure. In addition, the Li adsorption energy of 31-Li system is calculated to be −1.863 eV, which is significantly lower than the Li–Li binding energy (−1.030 eV). These results infer that Li atoms will be adsorbed on the space 1) between C₆₀ and C₆₀; 2) between SWCNT and C₆₀; 3) the rest of the space (e.g. between SWCNTs), rather than form Li clusters. As more Li atoms are adsorbed onto the C₆₀-SWCNT hybrid system due to such improved Li adsorption capability, the metallic character of the system is enhanced, which is confirmed via the band structure and electronic density of states.     

A density functional theory study on the adsorption of CO and O2 on Cu-terminated Cu2O （111） surface

The adsorptions of CO and 02 molecules individually on the stoichiometric Cu-terminatcd Cu20 （111） surface are investigated by first-principles calculations on the basis of the density functional theory. The calculated results indicate that the CO molecule preferably coordinates to the Cu2 site through its C atom with an adsorption energy of-1.69 eV, whereas the 02 molecule is most stably adsorbed in a tilt type with one O atom coordinating to the Cu2 site and the other O atom coordinating to the Cul site, and has an adsorption energy of -1.97 eV. From the analysis of density of states, it is observed that Cu 3d transfers electrons to 2π orbital of the CO molecule and the highest occupied 5σ orbital of the CO molecule transfers electrons to the substrate. The sharp band of Cu 4s is delocalized when compared to that before the CO molecule adsorption, and overlaps substantially with bands of the adsorbed CO molecule. There is a broadening of the 2π orbital of the 02 molecule because of its overlapping with the Cu 3d orbital, indicating that strong 3d-2π interactions are involved in the chemisorption of the 02 molecule on the surface.     

Theoretical study of adsorption of water vapor on surface of metallic uranium

Ｉｔｉｓｗｅｌｌｋｎｏｗｎｔｈａｔｕｒａｎｉｕｍｉｓｅａｓｙｔｏｒｅａｃｔｗｉｔｈｏｘｙｇｅｎａｎｄｗａｔｅｒｖａｐｏｒｉｎａｉｒｆｏｒｉｔｓｃｈｅｍｉｃａｌａｃｔｉｖｉｔｉｅｓ .Ｅｘｔｅｎｓｉｖｅｓｔｕｄｉｅｓａｎｄｒｅｖｉｅｗｓｏｆｕｒａｎｉｕｍ ｗａ     

Theoretical study of ZnO adsorption and bonding on Al_2O_3(0001) surface

Sapphire (α-Al2O3) and silicon (Si) are widely applied as the substrates of the highquality ZnO thin films prepared by pulse laser deposition (PLD) and molecule beamepitaxy (MBE) technology. The adhesion, diffusivity, and bonding of the particles on thesubstrates play a significant role in the forming and initial growing of nucleation for filmgrowth, and directly influence the quality of the entire thin films[1]. No sufficient studiesand experiments are available on the surface atomic str…     

dimer paramagnetic centers in lead germanate crystals doped with iron and halogen (Cl−, Br−, F−) ions

The dimer complexes Fe³⁺-Cl^?, Fe³⁺-Br^?, and Fe³⁺-O^2? in ferroelectric lead germanate crystals doped with iron and annealed in chlorine-, bromine-, and fluorine-containing atmospheres have been studied using the electron paramagnetic resonance method. These complexes are formed by Fe³⁺ ions in the trigonal position of lead and their associated anions located in the interstitial channel of the structure. The positions of the charge-compensating anions in the channel have been discussed based on the analysis of the parameters of the spin Hamiltonian and their temperature dependence.     

DFT study of carbon monoxide adsorption on α-Al2O3(0001)

The adsorption of CO on α-Al₂O₃(0001) was studied using the DFT-GGA computational method and on α-Al₂O₃ powder experimentally by Infra red spectroscopy. The core and valence level regions of α-Al₂O₃(0001) single crystal surface were also studied experimentally. Ar ions sputtering of the surface results in a slight but reproducible decrease in the XPS O2p lines in the valence band regions due to preferential removal of surface (and near surface) O atoms. Core level XPS O1s and Al2p further confirmed oxygen depletion with an associated surface stoichiometry close to Al₂O_2.9. The adsorption energy of CO was computed and found equal to 0.52 eV for θ = 0.25, it decreased to 0.42 eV at θ = 1. The IR frequency of νCO was also computed and in all cases it was blue shifted with respect to gas phase CO. The shift, Δν, decreased with increasing coverage where it was found equal to 56 cm^? 1 for θ = 0.25 and decreased to 30 cm^? 1 for θ = 1. Structural analyses indicated that the change in the adsorption energy and the associated frequency shift is due to surface relaxation upon adsorption. Experimentally the adsorption of CO gave rise to one main IR peak at 2154 cm^? 1 at 0.3 Torr and above. Two far smaller peaks are also seen at lower pressures of 0.03–0.2 Torr at 2189 and 2178 cm^? 1. The isosteric heat of adsorption was computed for the IR band at 2154 cm^? 1 and was found equal to 0.2 eV which did not change with coverage in the investigated range up to θ = 0.6.     

First–principles study of potassium adsorption and diffusion on graphene

Potassium–ion batteries (KIBs) are a new–type of energy storage devices that have attracted increasing attention due to their low cost and the abundant resource of K in the Earth’s crust. Monolayer and multilayer graphene are promising electrode materials for KIBs. Herein, the adsorption and diffusion of potassium atoms on the surface of graphene were studied using the first–principles calculations including the van der Waals interaction. It was determined that K atoms can stably adsorb on the surface of graphene. The climbing image nudged elastic band method was employed to calculate the diffusion barriers of a single K atom and two K atoms on the surface of graphene. The results demonstrated that the diffusion barrier of a single K atom on graphene was low. The interaction between K atoms was considered and it facilitates the K atom diffusion to the second and third nearest–neighbour site of the K adatom, but prevents the K atom diffusion to the far nearest–neighbour site of the K adatom. Moreover, the difference in charge density demonstrates that there was a significant charge transfer from two K adatoms to its nearest–neighbour carbon atoms.     

The effect of Ag adsorption on the structural,electronic, and optical properties of the ZnO(101̅0) surface: A first-principles study

The effect of the Ag adsorption on the structural, electronic and optical properties of the clean ZnO$(10\bar{1}0)$ surface was investigated using the first principles method. The obtained results show that adsorbed Ag atoms transfer charge to the surface which results in a charge accumulation in near-surface region accompanied with a decrease of the work function. On the other hand, our results show that the adsorption of Ag atoms leads also to the new optical absorption peaks in the visible region which could improve ZnO photocatalytical properties.     

Methane adsorption on graphite（0001） films： A first-principles study

Using first-principles methods, we have systematically investigated the electronic density of states, work function, and adsorption energy of the methane molecule adsorbed on graphite(0001) films. The surface energy and the interlayer relaxation of the clean graphite(0001) as a function of the thickness of the film were also studied. The results show that the interlayer relaxation is small due to the weak interaction between the neighboring layers. The one-fold top site is found most favourable on substrate for methane with the adsorption energy of 133 meV. For the adsorption with different adsorption heights above the graphite film with four layers, the methane is found to prefer to appear at about 3.21 A above the graphite. We also noted that the adsorption energy does not dependent much on the thickness of the graphite films. The work function is enhanced slightly by adsorption of methane due to the slight charge transfer from the graphite surface to the methane molecule.     

DFT study on the structure and spectra of GasP5 cluster

In this paper, possible structures of GasP5 cluster were optimized by using density functional method with generalized gradient correction （B3LYP）. The electronic structure of the isomers with lower energy was studied. The most stable structure obtained for GasP5 is a distorted pentaprism. The Ga-P bond formed in the cluster is strongly ionic. Based on NBO analysis, an average value of 0.59 electron transfers from Gallium to Phosphorus. The bond length 2.33-2.43 is around the value in bulk GaP. The HOMO-LUMO gap is about 2.2 eV. The dipole moment and polarizability are calculated, and the IR and Raman spectra are also presented.     

Combined theoretical and experimental determination of the atomic structure and adsorption site of Na on the Si(100)2 × 1 surface

The Na/Si(100)2 × 1 interface is studied by both ab initio local density functional total energy DMol molecular calculations using very large cluster models and photoemission EXAFS which provides the unique feature of probing both Na adsorbate and Si substrate environments. Theoretical and experimental bond lengths are found to be in very good agreement and enable a definite assignment of the adsorption site: Na is adsorbed on a single site, the cave, with no Na-Na distance consistent with any “double layer” models. The growth and existence of a second Na layer are shown to occur only in presence of very low level impurities.     

First-principles study on anatase TiO2（101） surface adsorption of NO

In this paper, the stable structure and the electronic and optical properties of nitric oxide （NO） adsorption on the anatase TiO2 （101） surface are studied using the plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method, which is based on the density functional theory. NO adsorption on the surface is weak when the outermost layer terminates on twofold coordinated oxygen atoms, but it is remarkably enhanced on the surface containing O vacancy defects. The higher the concentration of oxygen vacancy defects, the stronger the adsorption is. The adsorption energies are 3.4528 eV （N end adsorption）, 2.6770 eV （O end adsorption）, and 4.1437 eV （horizontal adsorption）. The adsorption process is exothermic, resulting in a more stable adsorption structure. Furthermore, O vacancy defects on the TiO2 （101） surface significantly contribute to the absorption of visible light in a relatively low-energy region. A new absorption peak in the low-energy region, corresponding to an energy of 0.9 eV, is observed. However, the TiO2 （101） surface structure exhibits weak absorption in the low-energy region of visible light after NO adsorption.     

First-principles study of O2 adsorption on the α-U(001) surface

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) have been performed to investigate the adsorption structures and electronic properties for O₂ on the α-U(001) surface. It was found that O₂ tends to dissociate with significant energetic preference compared to molecular adsorption. When approaching the surface perpendicularly along top site, the O₂ adsorbates were found to remain as molecule on the surface. The density of states of the system showed strong hybridization features for O2p, U6d and U5f states in the case of dissociative adsorption which is weaker for molecular adsorption. Further electronic properties analysis demonstrated that the bonding character of U–O bond is related to the symmetry of the adsorption site. Top site configuration showed stronger covalent component for the U–O bond, while the ionic character was found to be more obvious for hollow site adsorption.     

Effect of substituent on UV–visible absorption and photostability of liquid crystals: DFT study

The electronic transitions in the ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) range of two nematogens, namely 4′-cyanophenyl-4-n-pentylbenzoate and 4′-cyanophenyl-4-n-pentoxybenzoate, have been studied. The UV–Vis and circular dichroism spectra of these molecules have been simulated using the TDDFT/B3LYP/6-31+G(d) method. Mulliken atomic charges for each molecule have been compared with Loewdin atomic charges to analyze the molecular charge distribution and phase stability. The highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies corresponding to the electronic transitions in the UV–Vis range have been reported. The excited states have been calculated via configuration interaction singles with semi-empirical Hamiltonian ZINDO (Zerner's intermediate neglect of differential overlap method). Further, the effect of substituent on ultraviolet absorption and photostability of the molecules has been discussed. The photostability of the molecules has been investigated in order to understand the application and operation with ultraviolet and visible light regions.     

Enhancement of green emission by the codoping A+ (A=Li,Na, K) in Ca2BO3Cl：Tb3+ phosphor

Tb³⁺-doped Ca₂BO₃Cl compounds with different charge compensation approaches are synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state reaction method, and the luminescent properties and Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates are systematically characterized. Ca₂BO₃Cl:Tb³⁺ can produce green emission under 376 nm radiation excitation. With codoped A⁺ (A=Li, Na, K) as charge compensators, the relative emission intensities of Ca₂BO₃Cl:Tb³⁺ are enhanced by about 1.61, 1.97, and 1.81 times compared with those of the direct charge balance, which is considered to be due to the effect of the difference in ion radius on the crystal field. The CIE chromaticity coordinates of Ca₂BO₃Cl:Tb³⁺, A⁺ (A=Li, Na, K) are (0.335, 0.584), (0.335, 0.585), and (0.335, 0.585), corresponding to the hues of green. Therefore, A⁺ (A=Li, Na, K) may be the optimal charge compensator for Ca₂BO₃Cl:Tb³⁺.     

Influence of ion–ion correlation on Na+ transport in Na2Ni2TeO6: molecular dynamics study

Molecular dynamics (MD) study of Na⁺ transport in Na₂Ni₂TeO₆ is performed systematically with varying strength of Na⁺–Na⁺ short range repulsions to understand the physical principle governing ion transport mechanism. Na⁺ diffusion is enhanced by nearly an order of magnitude with reduced Na⁺–Na⁺ short range repulsion within the studied range. A similar behavior is also observed in other systems, e.g., AgI and Na₂Zn₂TeO₆, where mobile ions are located closely. The Na⁺ ion occupancy in Na₂Ni₂TeO₆ shows a significant shift from Na1 to Na2 sites gaining some degree of correlation. The study also emphasizes how mobile ion size influences the ionic diffusion. The fresh insight such as microscopic migration pathways, energy barriers, and jumping mechanism of Na⁺ are derived from the study.     

A first principles study of the adsorption and dissociation of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> on the δ-Pu (111) surface

A complete understanding of the nature of the 5f electrons has been and continues to be a major scientific problem in condensed matter physics. Bulk and surface electronic structure studies of the actinides as also atomic and molecular adsorptions on the actinide surfaces provide a path towards this understanding. In this work, ab initio calculations within the framework of density functional theory have been used to study the adsorption of molecular CO₂ and the corresponding partially dissociated (CO + O) and completely dissociated (C + O + O) products on the δ-Pu (111) surface. The completely dissociated C + O + O configurations exhibit the strongest binding with the surface (7.92 eV), followed by partially dissociated products CO + O (5.08 eV), with molecular CO₂ adsorption having the lowest binding energies (2.35 eV). For all initial vertically upright orientations, the CO₂ molecule physisorbs or do not bind to the surface and the geometry and orientation do not change. For all initial flat lying orientations chemisorption occurs, with the final state corresponding to a bent CO₂ molecule with bond angles of 117°–130° and the elongation of the CO bond. For CO + O co-adsorption, the stable configurations corresponded to CO dipole moment orientations of 100°–172° with respect to the surface normal and the elongation of the CO bond. The most stable chemisorption cases correspond to anomalously large rumpling of the top Pu layer. The interactions of the CO₂ and CO with the Pu surface have been analyzed using the energy density of states and difference charge density distributions. The nature and the behavior of the 5f electrons have also been discussed in detail in the context of this study.     

Limits on low scale gravity from e+e−→W+W−, ZZ and γγ

It has been proposed recently that the scale of quantum gravity (“the string scale”) can be M_S∼few TeV with n≥2 extra dimensions of size R≲mm so that, at distances greater than R, Newtonian gravity with M_Pl∼10¹⁸ GeV is reproduced if M_Pl²∼RⁿM_Sⁿ⁺². Exchange of virtual gravitons in this theory generates higher-dimensional operators involving SM fields, suppressed by powers of M_S. We discuss constraints on this scenario from the contribution of these operators to the processes e⁺e⁻→W⁺W⁻, ZZ, γγ. We find that LEP2 can place a limit M_S≈1 TeV from e⁺e⁻→W⁺W⁻, ZZ, γγ.     

Carbon nanoribbons and nanotubes based on δ-graphyne: A first-principles study

As a stable allotropy of two-dimensional (2D) carbon materials, δ-graphyne has been predicted to be superior to graphene in many aspects. Using first-principles calculations, we investigated the electronic properties of carbon nanoribbons (CNRs) and nanotubes (CNTs) formed by δ-graphyne. It is found that the electronic band structures of CNRs depend on the edge structure and the ribbon width. The CNRs with zigzag edges (Z-CNRs) have spin-polarized edge states with ferromagnetic (FM) ordering along each edge and anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) ordering between two edges. The CNRs with armchair edges (A-CNRs), however, are semiconductors with the band gap oscillating with the ribbon width. For the CNTs built by rolling up δ-graphyne with different chirality, the electronic properties are closely related to the chirality of the CNTs. Armchair (n, n) CNTs are metallic while zigzag (n, 0) CNTs are semiconducting or metallic. These interesting properties are quite crucial for applications in δ-graphyne-based nanoscale devices.