A first-principles study of surface and subsurface H on and in Ni(1 1 1): diffusional properties and coverage-dependent behavior

Periodic, self-consistent, density functional theory (GGA-PW91) calculations are performed for both surface and subsurface atomic hydrogen on and in Ni(1 1 1). At a low coverage (θ=0.25 ML), the binding energies (BEs) of a hydrogen atom in surface fcc, subsurface octahedral (first layer), and subsurface octahedral (second layer) sites are −2.89, −2.18, and −2.11 eV, respectively. The activation energy barriers for hydrogen diffusion from the surface to the first subsurface layer and from the first to the second subsurface layer are estimated to be 0.88 and 0.52 eV, respectively. In the entire coverage range studied, hydrogen occupies surface fcc and hcp sites and subsurface octahedral sites. In addition, the magnitude of the BE per hydrogen atom and the magnetization of the nickel slabs both decrease as hydrogen coverage increases. Vibrational frequencies of hydrogen at various surface and subsurface sites are calculated and are in reasonable agreement with experimental data. A phase stability calculation with a 2 × 2 surface unit cell shows that a p(2 × 2)-2H overlayer structure (θ=0.5 ML) and a p(1 × 1)-1H structure (θ=1.0 ML) are stable at low hydrogen pressures, in agreement with numerous experimental results. A very large increase in pressure is required to populate subsurface sites. After such an increase occurs, the first subsurface layer is filled completely.     

Effect of subsurface oxygen on the reactivity of the Ag(111) surface

Periodic, self-consistent, density functional theory calculations have been performed to demonstrate that subsurface oxygen (O(sb)) dramatically increases the reactivity of the Ag(111) surface. O(sb) greatly facilitates the dissociation of H2, O2, and NO and enhances the binding of H, C, N, O, O2, CO, NO, C2H2, and C2H4 on the Ag(111) surface. This effect originates from an O(sb)-induced upshift of the d-band center of the Ag surface and becomes more pronounced at higher O(sb) coverage. Our findings point to the important role that near-surface impurities, such as O(sb), can play in determining the thermochemistry and kinetics of elementary steps catalyzed by transition metal surfaces.     

A first-principles study of methanol decomposition on Pt(111)

A periodic, self-consistent, Density Functional Theory study of methanol decomposition on Pt(111) is presented. The thermochemistry and activation energy barriers for all the elementary steps, starting with O[bond]H scission and proceeding via sequential hydrogen abstraction from the resulting methoxy intermediate, are presented here. The minimum energy path is represented by a one-dimensional potential energy surface connecting methanol with its final decomposition products, CO and hydrogen gas. It is found that the rate-limiting step for this decomposition pathway is the abstraction of hydroxyl hydrogen from methanol. CO is clearly identified as a strong thermodynamic sink in the reaction pathway while the methoxy, formaldehyde, and formyl intermediates are found to have low barriers to decomposition, leading to very short lifetimes for these intermediates. Stable intermediates and transition states are found to obey gas-phase coordination and bond order rules on the Pt(111) surface.     

NMR and theoretical investigations on the structures and dynamics of octahedral bis(chelate)dichloro V(III) compounds isolated by an unusual reduction of non-oxo V(IV) species

Reaction of the non-oxo V(IV) species [V(IV)Cl(2)(L(OO))(2)] [L(OO) = acetylacetonate (acac(-)) or benzoylacetonate (bzac(-))] with a chelate nitrogen-donor ligand L(NN) in acetonitrile leads to the reduction of V(IV) to V(III) and the formation of the mononuclear V(III) compounds of the general formula [V(III)Cl(2)(L(OO))(L(NN))] (L(OO) and L(NN) are acac(-) and bipy for 1; acac- and 5,5'-me(2)bipy for 2; acac(-) and 4,4'-tb(2)bipy for 3; acac(-) and phen for 4; bzac(-) and bipy for 5; bzac(-) and phen for 6). The reduction of the V(IV) complexes was monitored by GC-MS and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Both one- and two-dimensional (2D COSY and 2D EXSY) (1)H NMR techniques were used to assign the observed (1)H NMR resonances of 1-6 in CD(2)Cl(2) or CDCl(3) solution. It appeared that in solution these V(III) complexes form two isomers which are in equilibrium: cis-[V(III)Cl(2)(L(OO))(L(NN))] <==> trans-[V(III)Cl(2)(L(OO))(L(NN))]. 2D EXSY cross-peaks were clearly observed between bipy- and acac-hydrogen atoms of the two geometrical isomers of 1-3 as well as between bipy and acac(-) protons of the cis isomer, indicating a dynamic process that corresponds to cis-trans isomerization and a cis-cis racemization. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the equilibrium between these two isomers were calculated for compounds 1 and 2 by using variable temperature (VT) NMR data. Both cis-trans isomerization and cis-cis racemization processes probably proceed with an intramolecular twist mechanism involving a trigonal prismatic transition state. Density functional calculations (DFT) also indicated such a rearrangement mechanism.     

Secure Polar Coding for the Primitive Relay Wiretap Channel

With the emergence of wireless networks, cooperation for secrecy is recognized as an attractive way to establish secure communications. Departing from cryptographic techniques, secrecy can be provided by exploiting the wireless channel characteristics; that is, some error-correcting codes besides reliability have been shown to achieve information-theoretic security. In this paper, we propose a polar-coding-based technique for the primitive relay wiretap channel and show that this technique is suitable to provide information-theoretic security. Specifically, we integrate at the relay an additional functionality, which allows it to smartly decide whether it will cooperate or not based on the decoding detector result. In the case of cooperation, the relay operates in a decode-and-forward mode and assists the communication by transmitting a complementary message to the destination in order to correctly decode the initial source’s message. Otherwise, the communication is completed with direct transmission from source to the destination. Finally, we first prove that the proposed encoding scheme achieves weak secrecy, then, in order to overcome the obstacle of misaligned bits, we implement a double-chaining construction, which achieves strong secrecy.     

Triangular Ni2Ln and Ni2Y complexes derived from di-2-pyridyl ketone: Synthesis, structures and magnetic properties

The synthetic investigation of the Ni^II/M(NO₃)₃·6H₂O/di-2-pyridyl ketone [(py)₂CO] tertiary reaction system in EtOH has yielded triangular Ni₂M cationic complexes (M = lanthanide, Y). The reaction between Ln(NO₃)₃·6H₂O, Ni(ClO₄)₂·6H₂O, (py)₂CO and base (1:3:3:3) in EtOH under gentle heating gave the isostructural complexes [Ni₂Ln{(py)₂C(OEt)(O)}₃{(py)₂C(OH)(O)}(NO₃)(H₂O)](ClO₄)₂ (Ln = Gd, 2; Ln = Tb, 3) in high yields. The ligands (py)₂C(OEt)(O)⁻ and (py)₂C(OH)(O)⁻ are the monoanions of the hemiketal and gem-diol derivatives of (py)₂CO, respectively, formed in situ in the presence of the metal ions. The cations of 2 and 3 consist of one 8-coordinate Ln^III and two distorted octahedral Ni^II atoms in an essentially isosceles, triangular arrangement capped by a central μ₃-Ο⁻ atom of the unique 3.3011 (Harris notation) (py)₂C(OH)(O)⁻ ligand. Each metal-metal edge is bridged by the deprotonated O atom of one 2.2011 (py)₂C(OEt)(O)⁻ ligand. The isostructural complexes [Ni₂M{(py)₂C(OEt)(O)}₄(NO₃)(H₂O)]₂[M(NO₃)₅](ClO₄)₂ (M = Y, 4 ; M = Tb, 5 ; M = Dy, 6) were prepared by the 1:1 reaction of the mononuclear “metalloligand” [Ni(O₂CMe){(py)₂CO}{(py)₂C(OH)₂}](ClO₄) (1) and M(NO₃)₃·6H₂O in EtOH under mild heating in moderate to good yields. The structures of the dications of 4-6 are similar to those in 2 and 3, the only difference being the replacement of the unique 3.3011 (py)₂C(OH)(O)⁻ ligand of the latter by one 3.3011 (py)₂C(OEt)(O)⁻ group in the former. The Y^III, Tb^III and Dy^III atoms in [M(NO₃)₅]²⁻ are coordinated by five bidentate chelating nitrato groups. Characteristic IR bands of the complexes are discussed in terms of the known structures and the coordination modes of the ligands. Variable temperature, solid-state direct current magnetic susceptibility and magnetization studies were carried out on dried samples of 2-4. The data indicate ferromagnetic Ni?Ni and Ni?Gd exchange interactions, and an S_T = 11/2 ground state for 2. Complex 3 is characterized by a high-spin ground state while the ferromagnetic Ni?Ni interaction for 2 is independently supported by the study of 4. No out-of-phase, alternating current susceptibility signals have been detected for 3 that would be indicative of SMM behavior.