Search

In this paper, the electronic structures of cis- and trans-ClONO and BrONO are studied at the CCSD/aug-cc-pVTZ, CASSCF(14,12)/aug-cc-pVTZ, and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ computational levels. For the Cl-O bond, topological analysis of the electron density field, ρ(r), shows the prevalence of the shared-electron type bond (∇2ρ(3,-1) < 0). The Br-O bond, however, represents the closed-shell interaction (∇2ρ(3,-1) > 0). Topological analysis of the electron localization function, η(r), and electron localizability indicator (ELI-D), ΥDσ(r), shows that the electronic structure of the central N-O bond is very sensitive to both electron correlation improvements (coupled-cluster single double (CCSD), CASSCF, density functional theory (DFT)) and bond length alteration. Depending on the method used, the N-O bond can be characterized as a 'normal' N-O bond with a disynaptic V(N,O) basin (DFT); a protocovalent N-O bond with two monosynaptic, V(N) and V(O), basins (CCSD, CASSCF); or a new type, first discovered for FONO, characterized by a single monosynaptic, V(N) basin (CCSD, DFT). The total basin population oscillates between 0.46-0.96 e (CCSD) and 0.86-1.02 e (CASSCF). The X-O bond is described by the single disynaptic basin, V(X,O), with a basin population between 0.76 and 0.81 e (CCSD) or 0.77 and 0.85 e (CASSCF). Analysis of the localized electron detector distribution for the cis-Cl-O1-N=O2 shows a manifold in the Cl···O2 region, associated with decreased electron density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simplified fluid-substrate interaction models derived from the Lennard-Jones potential are widely used in the simulation of gas physisorption phenomena. In this paper, we reinterpret the well known Steele 10-4-3 potential for a gas molecule interacting with a planar surface, and use the resultant scheme to derive new potentials for cylindrical and spherical pore geometries. These new potentials correctly recover the Steele result in the limit of infinite pore radius, a useful improvement over existing models. We demonstrate the new cylindrical Steele 10-4-3 potential in calculations of argon adsorption via fluid density functional theory. This potential yields markedly different adsorption behavior than existing cylindrical potentials, which follow from small but significant differences in both the strength and the shape of the fluid-surface interaction. These differences cannot be fully reconciled simply by reparameterizing (scaling) the existing models; the new potential is more realistic in design, and is especially to be preferred in studies where comparison with planar substrates is made. Finally, we discuss extensions of this approach to more complicated pore geometries, yielding a family of Steele-like potentials that all satisfy the correct planar limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly argued that the self-interaction error (SIE) inherent in semilocal density functionals is related to the degree of the electronic localization. Yet at the same time there exists a latent ambiguity in the definitions of the terms 'localization' and 'self-interaction,' which ultimately prevents a clear and readily accessible quantification of this relationship. This problem is particularly pressing for organic semiconductor molecules, in which delocalized molecular orbitals typically alternate with localized ones, thus leading to major distortions in the eigenvalue spectra. This paper discusses the relation between localization and SIEs in organic semiconductors in detail. Its findings provide further insights into the SIE in the orbital energies and yield a new perspective on the failure of self-interaction corrections that identify delocalized orbital densities with electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous paper [J. L. McAfee and B. Poirier, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 064701 (2009)], using spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT), the authors reported a binding energy of 0.755 eV, for a single hydrogen atom adsorbed on a pristine (unrelaxed) (5,5) single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) substrate. A full three-dimensional (3D) potential energy surface (PES) for the SWNT-H system was also developed, and used in a quantum dynamics calculation to compute all rovibrational bound states, and associated equatorial and longitudinal adsorbate migration rates. A highly pronounced preference for the latter migration pathway at ambient temperatures was observed. In this work, we extend the aforementioned study to include multiple H-atom adsorbates. Extensive DFT calculations are performed, in order to ascertain the most relevant dynamical pathways. For two adsorbates, the SWNT-H-H system is found to exhibit highly site-specific binding, as well as long-range correlation and pronounced binding energy enhancement. The latter effect is even more pronounced in the full-hydrogenation limit, increasing the per-adsorbate binding energy to 2.6 eV. To study migration dynamics, a single-hole model is developed, for which the binding energy drops to 2.11 eV. A global 3D PES is developed for the hole migration model, using 40 radial × 18 cylindrical ab initio geometries, fit to a Fourier basis with radially dependent expansion coefficients (rms error 4.9 meV). As compared with the single-adsorbate case, the hole migration PES does not exhibit separate chemisorption and physisorption wells. The barrier to longitudinal migration is also found to be much lower. Quantum dynamics calculations for all rovibrational states are then performed (using a mixed spectral basis/phase-space optimized discrete variable representation), and used to compute longitudinal migration rates. Ramifications for the use of SWNTs as potential hydrogen storage materials are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) has recently been extended to describe many-body open quantum systems evolving under nonunitary dynamics according to a quantum master equation. In the master equation approach, electronic excitation spectra are broadened and shifted due to relaxation and dephasing of the electronic degrees of freedom by the surrounding environment. In this paper, we develop a formulation of TDDFT linear-response theory (LR-TDDFT) for many-body electronic systems evolving under a master equation, yielding broadened excitation spectra. This is done by mapping an interacting open quantum system onto a noninteracting open Kohn-Sham system yielding the correct nonequilibrium density evolution. A pseudoeigenvalue equation analogous to the Casida equations of the usual LR-TDDFT is derived for the Redfield master equation, yielding complex energies and Lamb shifts. As a simple demonstration, we calculate the spectrum of a C2 + atom including natural linewidths, by treating the electromagnetic field vacuum as a photon bath. The performance of an adiabatic exchange-correlation kernel is analyzed and a first-order frequency-dependent correction to the bare Kohn-Sham linewidth based on the Görling-Levy perturbation theory is calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the accuracy of the ΔSCF method for computing low-lying HOMO→LUMO transitions in organic dye molecules. For a test set of vertical excitation energies of 16 chromophores, surprisingly similar accuracy is observed for time-dependent density functional theory and for ΔSCF density functional theory. In light of this performance, we reconsider the ad hoc ΔSCF prescription and demonstrate that it formally obtains the exact stationary density within the adiabatic approximation, partially justifying its use. The relative merits and future prospects of ΔSCF for simulating individual excited states are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the implementation of efficient approximations to time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) for hybrid density functionals. For the calculation of the TDDFT/TDA excitation energies and analytical gradients, we combine the resolution of identity (RI-J) algorithm for the computation of the Coulomb terms and the recently introduced 'chain of spheres exchange' (COSX) algorithm for the calculation of the exchange terms. It is shown that for extended basis sets, the RIJCOSX approximation leads to speedups of up to 2 orders of magnitude compared to traditional methods, as demonstrated for hydrocarbon chains. The accuracy of the adiabatic transition energies, excited state structures, and vibrational frequencies is assessed on a set of 27 excited states for 25 molecules with the configuration interaction singles and hybrid TDDFT/TDA methods using various basis sets. Compared to the canonical values, the typical error in transition energies is of the order of 0.01 eV. Similar to the ground-state results, excited state equilibrium geometries differ by less than 0.3 pm in the bond distances and 0.5° in the bond angles from the canonical values. The typical error in the calculated excited state normal coordinate displacements is of the order of 0.01, and relative error in the calculated excited state vibrational frequencies is less than 1%. The errors introduced by the RIJCOSX approximation are, thus, insignificant compared to the errors related to the approximate nature of the TDDFT methods and basis set truncation. For TDDFT/TDA energy and gradient calculations on Ag-TB2-helicate (156 atoms, 2732 basis functions), it is demonstrated that the COSX algorithm parallelizes almost perfectly (speedup ∼26-29 for 30 processors). The exchange-correlation terms also parallelize well (speedup ∼27-29 for 30 processors). The solution of the Z-vector equations shows a speedup of ∼24 on 30 processors. The parallelization efficiency for the Coulomb terms can be somewhat smaller (speedup ∼15-25 for 30 processors), but their contribution to the total calculation time is small. Thus, the parallel program completes a Becke3-Lee-Yang-Parr energy and gradient calculation on the Ag-TB2-helicate in less than 4 h on 30 processors. We also present the necessary extension of the Lagrangian formalism, which enables the calculation of the TDDFT excited state properties in the frozen-core approximation. The algorithms described in this work are implemented into the ORCA electronic structure system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the use of polarizable force fields in Molecular Dynamics simulations has been gaining importance, since they allow a better description of heterogeneous systems compared to simple point charges force fields. Among the various techniques developed in the last years the one based on polarizable point dipoles represents one of the most used. In this paper, we review the basic technical issues of the method, illustrating the way to implement intramolecular and intermolecular damping of the electrostatic interactions, either with and without the Ewald summation method. We also show how to reduce the computational overhead for evaluating the dipoles, introducing to the state-of-the-art methods: the extended Lagrangian method and the always stable predictor corrector method. Finally we discuss the importance of screening the electrostatic interactions at short range, defending this technique against simpler approximations usually made. We compare results of density functional theory and classical force field-based Molecular Dynamics simulations of chloride in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of discrete variable representation (DVR) basis sets within ab initio molecular dynamics calculations allows the latter to be performed with converged energies and, more importantly, converged forces. In this paper, we show how to carry out ab initio molecular dynamics calculations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble with fully flexible simulation boxes within the DVR basis set framework. In particular, we derive the appropriate DVR based expression for the pressure tensor when the electronic structure is represented using Kohn-Sham density functional theory, and we examine the convergence of this expression as a function of the basis set size. An illustrative example using 64 silicon atoms in a fully flexible box using a combination of the Martyna-Tobias-Klein [Martyna et al., J. Chem. Phys. 101, 4177 (1994)] and Car-Parrinello [Car and Parinello, Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 2471 (1985)] algorithms is presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper clarifies why long-range corrected (LC) density functional theory gives orbital energies quantitatively. First, the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies of typical molecules are compared with the minus vertical ionization potentials (IPs) and electron affinities (EAs), respectively. Consequently, only LC exchange functionals are found to give the orbital energies close to the minus IPs and EAs, while other functionals considerably underestimate them. The reproducibility of orbital energies is hardly affected by the difference in the short-range part of LC functionals. Fractional occupation calculations are then carried out to clarify the reason for the accurate orbital energies of LC functionals. As a result, only LC functionals are found to keep the orbital energies almost constant for fractional occupied orbitals. The direct orbital energy dependence on the fractional occupation is expressed by the exchange self-interaction (SI) energy through the potential derivative of the exchange functional plus the Coulomb SI energy. On the basis of this, the exchange SI energies through the potential derivatives are compared with the minus Coulomb SI energy. Consequently, these are revealed to be cancelled out only by LC functionals except for H, He, and Ne atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anharmonic OH phonon dispersion curves have been calculated for the Mg(OH)2 crystal. A crystal Hamiltonian was set up for the vibrational problem, where the coordinates consists of the bond lengths of two hydroxide ions in the central unit cell. Its two-dimensional potential energy surface was constructed from first principle calculations within the density functional theory approximation. Dispersion curves were calculated by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian in a basis of singly excited crystal functions. The single particle functions used to construct the crystal states were taken from a Morse oscillator basis set. These well chosen functions made it possible to restrict calculations to include only very few functions, which greatly contributed to a transparent presentation of the underlying theory. All calculations could be done analytically except for the calculation of a few integrals. We have compared our results with those of a series of harmonic lattice dynamics calculations and have found that the anharmonicity shifts the IR and Raman dispersion curves downward appreciably and slightly changes the energy differences between both curves. From an analysis of the harmonic results we conclude that incorporating the coupling between OH stretching motion and the motion of their centers of mass will appreciably change the overall features of the dispersion curves. Extension of the anharmonic model along these lines will cause no problem to the theoretical approach presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical density functional theories usually separate the formulation of the excess Helmholtz free energy in hard-body and energetic contributions. Fundamental measure theories (FMTs) have emerged as the preferred choice to account for the former contribution. The evaluation of geometrically weighted densities (convolutions) arisen in FMT for hard spheres in long cylindrical cavities is addressed in this paper. Previously, Malijevský [J. Chem. Phys. 126, 134710 (2007)] reported expressions containing elliptic integrals for the kernels of the convolutions involving scalar and vectorial weights. Here, the set of kernels is extended to second and third order tensorial weights that introduce desirable dimensional crossover properties to the evaluation of the excess free energy. An alternative formulation for the convolutions, which greatly facilitates their computation, is also proposed. Integrals of the original kernels arise in this way and a set of expressions for them, again expressed in terms of elliptic integrals, is presented here. With the aim of providing a computationally simple framework to evaluate equilibrium density profile with cylindrical symmetry, a procedure based on direct minimization of the discretized grand potential energy, rather than employing the Euler–Lagrange equilibrium conditions, is discussed and used to identify differences between two FMT formulations, including or not second order tensorial kernels in very narrow cylindrical pores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an approach for the simulation of time resolved photoelectron spectra based on the combination of the ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics ”on the fly” with the Stieltjes imaging method utilizing discrete neutral states above the ionization limit for the approximate description of the ionization continuum. Our approach has been implemented in the framework of the time-dependent density functional theory and has been applied to interrogate the ultrafast internal conversion between the S2 and S1 states in pyrazine. The simulations reveal that, parallel to the S2→S1 internal conversion, a change in the dominant ionization process (S2→D1 versus S1→D0) occurs on the time scale of 20 fs such that no significant change in the photoelectron kinetic energy distribution is observed. The presented results are in full agreement with the experimental results presented in the accompanying paper [Suzuki et al., J. Chem. Phys. 132, 174302 (2010)] and provide an insight into the interplay between the nonradiative relaxation and the photoionization process in pyrazine as reflected in the time resolved photoelectron spectrum. Our approach represents a general tool for the investigation of ultrafast photoionization processes in complex systems and thus can be used to investigate the ultrafast femtochemistry of complex molecular systems including all degrees of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functionalizing nanoparticles with organic ligands, such as oligomers, polymers, DNA, and proteins, is an attractive way to manipulate the interfacial interactions between the nanoparticles and the medium the particles are placed in, and thus control the nanoparticle assembly. In this paper we have conducted a Monte Carlo simulation study on copolymer grafted spherical nanoparticles to show the tremendous potential of using monomer sequence on the copolymers to tune the grafted chain conformation, and thus the effective interactions between copolymer grafted nanoparticles. We have studied AB copolymers with alternating, multiblock, or diblock sequences, where either A monomers or B monomers have monomer-monomer attractive interactions. Our focus has been to show the nontrivial effect of monomer sequence on the conformations of the grafted copolymers at various particle diameters, grafting densities, copolymer chain lengths, and monomer-monomer interactions in an implicit small molecule solvent. We observe that the monomer sequence, particle diameter, and grafting density dictate whether (a) the grafted chains aggregate to bring attractive monomers from multiple grafted chains together (interchain and intrachain monomer aggregation) if the enthalpy gained by doing so offsets the entropic loss caused by stretching of chains, or (b) each grafted chain folds onto itself to bring its attractive monomers together (only intrachain monomer aggregation) if the entropic loss from interchain aggregation cannot be overcome by the enthalpic gain. For six copolymers of chain length N=24 grafted on a spherical particle of diameter D=4, interchain and intrachain monomer aggregation occurs, and the radius of gyration varies nonmonotonically with increasing blockiness of the monomer sequence. At larger particle diameters the grafted chains transition to purely intrachain monomer aggregation. The radius of gyration varies monotonically with monomer sequence for intrachain monomer aggregation because as the sequence becomes blockier (like monomers are grouped together), the copolymer chain has to fold less compactly to maximize the enthalpically favorable contacts while maintaining high conformational entropy. The radius of gyration of alternating and diblock copolymers scales with chain length N through a power law 1/2=αNν with the prefactor α and scaling exponent ν, varying with monomer sequence and monomer-monomer attraction strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show that first-principle calculations using a van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) [M. Dion, H. Rydberg, E. Schröder, D. C. Langreth, and B. I. Lundqvist, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 246401 (2004)] permit the determination of molecular crystal structure within density functional theory (DFT). We study the crystal structures of hexamine and the platonic hydrocarbons (cubane and dodecahedrane). The calculated lattice parameters and cohesion energy agree well with experiments. Further, we examine the asymptotic accounts of the van der Waals forces by comparing full vdW-DF with asymptotic atom-based pair potentials extracted from vdW-DF. The character of the binding differs in the two cases, with vdW-DF giving a significant enhancement at intermediate and relevant binding separations. We analyze consequences of this result for methods such as DFT-D and question DFT-D’s transferability over the full range of separations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we evaluate the performance of density functional theory with the B3LYP functional for calculations on ceria (CeO2) and cerium sesquioxide (Ce2O3). We demonstrate that B3LYP is able to describe CeO2 and Ce2O3 reasonably well. When compared to other functionals, B3LYP performs slightly better than the hybrid functional PBE0 for the electronic properties but slightly worse for the structural properties, although neither performs as well as LDA+U(U=6 eV) or PBE+U(U=5 eV). We also make an extensive comparison of atomic basis sets suitable for periodic calculations of these cerium oxides. Here we conclude that there is currently only one type of cerium basis set available in the literature that is able to give a reasonable description of the electronic structure of both CeO2 and Ce2O3. These basis sets are based on a 28 electron effective core potential (ECP) and 30 electrons are attributed to the valence space of cerium. Basis sets based on 46 electron ECPs fail for these materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use density functional theory corrected for on-site Coulomb interactions (DFT+U) to study the adsorption of CO at La-doped ceria (111) and (110) surfaces. Doping of ceria with La is known to enhance oxidation of CO to CO2 and this study investigates the atomic level details of this reaction. With La3+ doping, an [La3+–O-] defect state with an oxygen hole is formed at both surfaces. The formation energy of an oxygen vacancy is reduced and vacancy formation results in the appearance of Ce3+, instead of hole compensation. On the doped surfaces weak and strong adsorption of CO is found. In the former, the molecule remains intact. In the latter, the final adsorption species depends strongly on the surface and whether oxygen vacancies are present or not. On (111) a CO2-like species forms, while on the (110) surface, mono- or bidentate carbonates are present. La-doping of ceria surfaces shows enhanced reactivity over the undoped surfaces and we discuss the origin of the enhanced reactivity and the nature of the surface species upon CO adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate predictions of molecular acidity using ab initio and density functional approaches are still a daunting task. Using electronic and reactivity properties, one can quantitatively estimate pKa values of acids. In a recent paper [S. B. Liu and L. G. Pedersen, J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 3648 (2009)], we employed the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) on the nucleus and the sum of valence natural atomic orbital (NAO) energies for the purpose. In this work, we reformulate these relationships on the basis of conceptual density functional theory and compare the results with those from the thermodynamic cycle method. We show that MEP and NAO properties of the dissociating proton of an acid should satisfy the same relationships with experimental pKa data. We employ 27 main groups and first to third row transition metal-water complexes as illustrative examples to numerically verify the validity of these strong linear correlations. Results also show that the accuracy of our approach and that of the conventional method through the thermodynamic cycle are statistically similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we perform a systematic investigation on all-trans polyacetylene chains of different lengths, end-capped with moieties of different donor or acceptor natures and different strengths, to infer useful structure/property relationship rules and behavioral patterns. The values for bond length alternation (BLA), longitudinal polarizability, and first and second hyperpolarizabilities have been computed with the Coulomb-attenuating density function (CAM-B3LYP), using response theory. A comparison of the relative effect that each end-capping combination contributes to BLA, linear, and nonlinear optical coefficients has been performed. This results in useful insights and general rules to ad hoc tailoring the molecular response for a specific characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-Markovian approach developed in the companion paper [Hughes et al., J. Chem. Phys. 131, 024109 (2009)], which employs a hierarchical series of approximate spectral densities, is extended to the treatment of nonadiabatic dynamics of coupled electronic states. We focus on a spin-boson-type Hamiltonian including a subset of system vibrational modes which are treated without any approximation, while a set of bath modes is transformed to a chain of effective modes and treated in a reduced-dimensional space. Only the first member of the chain is coupled to the electronic subsystem. The chain construction can be truncated at successive orders and is terminated by a Markovian closure acting on the end of the chain. From this Mori-type construction, a hierarchy of approximate spectral densities is obtained which approach the true bath spectral density with increasing accuracy. Applications are presented for the dynamics of a vibronic subsystem comprising a high-frequency mode and interacting with a low-frequency bath. The bath is shown to have a striking effect on the nonadiabatic dynamics, which can be rationalized in the effective-mode picture. A reduced two-dimensional subspace is constructed which accounts for the essential features of the nonadiabatic process induced by the effective environmental mode. Electronic coherence is found to be preserved on the shortest time scale determined by the effective mode, while decoherence sets in on a longer time scale. Numerical simulations are carried out using either an explicit wave function representation of the system and overall bath or else an explicit representation of the system and effective-mode part in conjunction with a Caldeira–Leggett master equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicomponent density functional theory has been developed to treat systems with more than one type of quantum particle, such as electrons and nuclei, in an external potential. The existence of the exact universal multicomponent density functional in terms of the one-particle densities for each type of quantum particle has been proven. In the present paper, a number of important mathematical properties of the exact universal multicomponent density functional are derived. The expression relating the electron-proton pair density to the one-particle densities leads to an inequality for the potential energy component of the electron-proton correlation functional under well-defined conditions. General inequalities for the kinetic energy correlation functionals and the total electron-proton correlation functional are also derived. The coordinate scaling analysis leads to mathematical inequalities describing the effect of scaled densities on the kinetic, potential, and total energy functionals. The adiabatic connection formula defines the exact electron-proton functional in terms of an adiabatic scaling parameter that smoothly connects the noninteracting system with the fully interacting system. The virial expression provides the relation between the exact kinetic and potential energy functionals for the ground state densities of multicomponent systems. These mathematical relationships provide insight into the fundamental properties of the exact universal multicomponent density functional and serve as a guide for the development of approximate electron-proton density functionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work I develop and apply a theoretical method for calculating effective electronic couplings (or transfer integrals) between redox sites involved in hole or electron transfer reactions. The resulting methodology is a refinement and a generalization of a recently developed approach for transfer integral evaluation. In fact, it holds for any overlap between the charge-localized states used to represent charge transfer (CT) processes in the two-state model. The presented theoretical and computational analyses show that the prototype approach is recovered for sufficiently small overlaps. The method does not involve any empirical parameter. It allows a complete multielectron description, therefore including electronic relaxation effects. Furthermore, its theoretical formulation holds at any value of the given reaction coordinate and yields a formula for the evaluation of the vertical excitation energy (i.e., the energy difference between the adiabatic ground and first-excited electronic states) that rests on the same physical quantities used in transfer integral calculation. In this paper the theoretical approach is applied to CT in B-DNA base dimers within the framework of Density Functional Theory (DFT), although it can be implemented in other computational schemes. The results of this work, as compared with previous Hartree–Fock (HF) and post-HF evaluations, support the applicability of the current implementation of the method to larger π-stacked arrays, where post-HF approaches are computationally unfeasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed understanding of the chemical reactions of organic molecules with semiconductor surfaces will greatly aid schemes for the incorporation of organic functionality into existing technologies. In this paper we report on the reaction of acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) with silicon (001) as revealed by a combination of temperature-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments and density functional theory (DFT). We observe that low-coverage exposures at room temperature result almost exclusively in the formation of a single adsorbate species. Conversion of this structure into thermodynamically favored bridge-bonded structures is achieved through temperature anneals between 150–250 °C. We determine the chemical identity of each of the experimentally observed species by comparison with DFT total energy calculations and simulated STM images. Calculations of transition states are used to formulate a full reaction pathway explaining the formation of the observed species. Excellent agreement is found between our experimental measurements and theoretical calculations. The results also present a picture consistent with our previous work on acetone and reveal a general reaction pattern for molecules containing the acetyl COCH3 functional group, where the initial attachment to the surface is mediated by a carbonyl C=O group. This suggests that modification of the residue R will facilitate in binding other electronically active molecules to the surface in a controlled fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper we report a theoretical study on mechanistic photodissociation of acetaldehyde (CH3CHO). Stationary structures for H2 and CO eliminations in the ground state (S0) have been optimized with density functional theory method, which is followed by the intrinsic reaction coordinate and ab initio molecular dynamics calculations to confirm the elimination mechanism. Equilibrium geometries, transition states, and intersection structures for the C–C and C–H dissociations in excited states were determined by the complete-active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method. Based on the CASSCF optimized structures, the potential energy profiles for the dissociations were refined by performing the single-point calculations using the multireference configuration interaction method. Upon the low-energy irradiation of CH3CHO (265 nm≤λ≤318 nm), the T1 C–C bond fission following intersystem crossing from the S1 state is the predominant channel and the minor channel, the ground-state elimination to CH4+CO after internal conversion (IC) from S1 to S0, could not be excluded. With the photon energy increasing, another pathway of IC, achieved via an S1/S0 intersection point resulting from the S1 C–C bond fission, becomes accessible and increases the yield of CH4+CO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent density functional-based calculations, it was found that the conductivity of naphthalene molecular wires can be modulated by altering the linking position of the molecule to the electrode [D. Walter, D. Neuhauser, and R. Baer, Chem. Phys. 299, 139 (2004)]. A quantum interference model was proposed to interpret the observation. In this paper, we further studied the conductance of a series of conjugated molecules containing aromatic rings using density functional theory combined with nonequilibrium Green’s function method. For polyacene systems with different terminal connections, the conductivity is dependent on the substitution position of anchoring groups even with similar electron transport distance. The conductance of trans-substitution can be ten times or more as large as that of the cis-substitution. However, for the biphenyl system with different intramolecular connections, adding more connections between two benzene rings does not change the junction conductance. All these results indicate that the junction conductance is strongly dependent on the particular electron transport pathway. The alternating double-single linkage is the most probable one, since others are impeded by the single bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with a diffusing particle that escapes from a cavity to the outer world through a narrow cylindrical tunnel. We derive expressions for the Laplace transforms of the particle survival probability, its lifetime probability density, and the mean lifetime. These results show how the quantities of interest depend on the geometric parameters (the cavity volume and the tunnel length and radius) and the particle diffusion coefficients in the cavity and in the tunnel. Earlier suggested expressions for the mean lifetime, which correspond to different escape scenarios, are contained in our result as special cases. In contrast to these expressions, our formula predicts correct asymptotic behavior of the mean lifetime in the absence of the cavity or tunnel. To test the accuracy of our approximate theory we compare the mean lifetime, the lifetime probability density, and the survival probability (the latter two are obtained by inverting their Laplace transforms numerically) with corresponding quantities found by solving numerically the three-dimensional diffusion equation, assuming that the cavity is a sphere and that the particle has the same diffusion coefficient in the cavity and in the tunnel. Comparison shows excellent agreement between the analytical and numerical results over a broad range of the geometric parameters of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a quasirelativistic two-component zeroth order regular approximation (ZORA) density functional theory (DFT) approach to the calculation of parity violating (PV) resonance frequency differences between the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of enantiomers is presented and the systematics of PV NMR shielding constants in C2-symmetric dihydrogen dichalcogenides (H2X2 with X=17O, 33S, 77Se, 125Te, 209Po) are investigated. The typical sin(2α)-like dependence of the PV NMR frequency splittings on the dihedral angle α is observed for the entire series. As for the scaling behavior of the effect with the nuclear charge Z of X, the previously reported Z2.5±0.5 scaling in the nonrelativistic limit is reproduced and a scaling of approximately Z3 for the paramagnetic and Z5 for the spin-orbit coupling contribution to the frequency splitting is observed in the relativistic framework. The paramagnetic and spin-orbit coupling contributions are typically of opposite sign for the molecular structures studied herein and the maximum scaling of the total ZORA frequency splitting (i.e., the sum of the two contributions) is Z3.9 for H2Po2. Thus, an earlier claim for a spin-orbit coupling contribution scaling with up to Z7 for H2Po2 and the erratic dihedral angle dependence obtained for this compound within a four-component Dirac–Hartree–Fock–Coulomb study is not confirmed at the DFT level. The maximum NMR frequency splitting reported here is of the order of 10 mHz for certain clamped conformations of H2Po2 inside a static magnetic field with magnetic flux density of 11.7 T. Frequency splittings of this size have been estimated to be detectable with present day NMR spectrometers. Thus, a NMR route toward molecular PV appears promising once suitable compounds have been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an approach for obtaining accurate interaction energies at the density functional theory level for systems where dispersion interactions are important. This approach combines Becke and Johnson’s [J. Chem. Phys. 127, 154108 (2007)] method for the evaluation of dispersion energy corrections and a Hirshfeld method for partitioning of molecular polarizability tensors into atomic contributions. Due to the availability of atomic polarizability tensors, the method is extended to incorporate anisotropic contributions, which prove to be important for complexes of lower symmetry. The method is validated for a set of 18 complexes, for which interaction energies were obtained with the B3LYP, PBE, and TPSS functionals combined with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set and compared with the values obtained at the CCSD(T) level extrapolated to a complete basis set limit. It is shown that very good quality interaction energies can be obtained by the proposed method for each of the examined functionals, the overall performance of the TPSS functional being the best, which with a slope of 1.00 in the linear regression equation and a constant term of only 0.1 kcal/mol allows to obtain accurate interaction energies without any need of a damping function for complexes close to their exact equilibrium geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of two lowest-energy states of Bu symmetry of trans-stilbene and the accurate calculation of their vertical excitation energy have been the subject of a controversy because time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, in agreement with experimental observations, have questioned the results obtained with multireference perturbation theory (MRPT) in the CASPT2 implementation. This paper aims to solve this controversy. By using a different version of MRPT, the n-electron valence state perturbation theory method, the description provided by TD-DFT is confirmed: the lowest Bu singlet state has a HOMO→LUMO nature and a large oscillator strength (HOMO refers to highest occupied molecular orbital and LUMO refers to lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), while the second Bu singlet state has a mixed HOMO-1→LUMO and HOMO→LUMO+1 nature, has an oscillator strength almost vanishing, and is located at 0.6–0.7 eV higher than the first excited state. The computed vertical excitation energy to the first state (3.8–4.0 eV) is in good agreement with the experimental value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a comprehensive study of (TiO2)n (n=1–3) clusters on their structures, vertical electron affinities (VEA) and adiabatic electron affinities (AEA), and excited states that are further correlated with experimental photoelectron spectra (PES). Local density functional and time-dependent density functional methods (TTDFT) with 6–31G(d) basis set are used. For (TiO2)n with n=1 and 3, the ground-state geometries are found to have C2v and Cs structures, respectively, in both neutral and anionic charge states. For neutral (TiO2)2, the most stable structure corresponds to a C2h conformation. For anionic (TiO2)2-, two isomers with C2h and C2v symmetries are identified to be nearly isoenergetic. This conclusion is supported by reoptimization at CCSD/6–31G(d) level and single-point calculation at CCSD(T)/6-311+G(d) level. Hence, they are competitive candidates for the ground-state structure of (TiO2)2-. For TiO2 and (TiO2)3, the calculated VEA and AEA values agree well with the experimental data. For (TiO2)2, the VEA and AEA obtained with the C2v structure agree well with the experimental data while those with the C2h structure do not. The subsequent assignment of PES indicates that it is the C2v isomer of (TiO2)2- that represents the structure from which the photoexcitation in experimental PES takes place. TDDFT is used to determine the excited states of (TiO2)n (n=1–3) and the calculated excitation energies are in good agreement with PES experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experiments have shown convincing evidence for nonadiabatic energy transfer from adsorbate degrees of freedom to surface electrons during the interaction of molecules with metal surfaces. In this paper, we propose an independent-electron surface hopping algorithm for the simulation of nonadiabatic gas-surface dynamics. The transfer of energy to electron-hole pair excitations of the metal is successfully captured by hops between electronic adiabats. The algorithm is able to account for the creation of multiple electron-hole pairs in the metal due to nonadiabatic transitions. Detailed simulations of the vibrational relaxation of nitric oxide on a gold surface, employing a multistate potential energy surface fit to density functional theory calculations, confirm that our algorithm can capture the underlying physics of the inelastic scattering process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we found the most stable structures of silicon-oxide clusters of Si6Om (m=1–11) by using the genetic algorithm. In this work the genetic algorithm uses a semiempirical energy function, MSINDO, to find the best cluster structures of Si6Om (m=1–11). The best structures found were further optimized using the density functional theory. We report the stable geometries, binding energies, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital-highest occupied molecular orbital gap, dissociation energies for the most favorable fragmentation channels and polarizabilities of Si6Om (m=1–11). For most of the clusters studied here we report structures not previously found using limited search approaches on common structural motifs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonlocal van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) captures the essential physics of the dispersion interaction not only in the asymptotic regime but also for a general case of overlapping fragment densities. A balanced treatment of other energetic contributions, such as exchange, is crucial if we aim for accurate description of various properties of weakly bound systems. In this paper, the vdW-DF correlation functional is modified to make it better compatible with accurate exchange functionals. We suggest a slightly simplified construction of the nonlocal correlation, yielding more accurate asymptotic C6 coefficients. We also derive a gradient correction, containing a parameter that can be adjusted to suit an exchange functional of choice. We devise a particularly apt combination of exchange and correlation terms, which satisfies many important constraints and performs well for our benchmark tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed theoretical analysis of the electronic structure of the CsFe[Cr(CN)6] prussian blue analog with emphasis on the structural origin of the experimentally observed spin crossover transition in this material. Periodic density functional calculations using generalized gradient approximation (GGA)+U and nonlocal hybrid exchange-correlation potentials show that, for the experimental low temperature crystal structure, the t2g6eg0 low spin configuration of FeII is the most stable and CrIII (S=3/2, t2g3eg0) remains the same in all cases. This is also found to be the case for the low spin GGA+U fully relaxed structure with the optimized unit cell. A completely different situation emerges when calculations are carried out using the experimental high temperature structure. Here, GGA+U and hybrid density functional theory calculations consistently predict that the t2g4eg2 FeII high spin configuration is the ground state. However, the two spin configurations appear to be nearly degenerate when calculations are carried out for the geometries arising from a GGA+U full relaxation of the atomic structure carried out at experimental high temperature lattice constant. A detailed analysis of the energy difference between the two spin configurations as a function of the lattice constant strongly suggests that the observed spin crossover transition has a structural origin with non-negligible entropic contributions of the high spin state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a number of dynamical density functional theories (DDFTs) have been developed for describing the dynamics of the one-body density of both colloidal and atomic fluids. In the colloidal case, the particles are assumed to have stochastic equations of motion and theories exist for both the case when the particle motion is overdamped and also in the regime where inertial effects are relevant. In this paper, we extend the theory and explore the connections between the microscopic DDFT and the equations of motion from continuum fluid mechanics. In particular, starting from the Kramers equation, which governs the dynamics of the phase space probability distribution function for the system, we show that one may obtain an approximate DDFT that is a generalization of the Euler equation. This DDFT is capable of describing the dynamics of the fluid density profile down to the scale of the individual particles. As with previous DDFTs, the dynamical equations require as input the Helmholtz free energy functional from equilibrium density functional theory (DFT). For an equilibrium system, the theory predicts the same fluid one-body density profile as one would obtain from DFT. Making further approximations, we show that the theory may be used to obtain the mode coupling theory that is widely used for describing the transition from a liquid to a glassy state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present results of density functional theory calculations on the configurations, band structures, and optical properties of halides MCl (M=K,Ag) intercalated single-wall SiC nanotubes. The results show that the M–Cl distances perpendicular to the tube axis are slightly smaller than the ones parallel to the tube axis, which could be due to the axial strain of MCl. The electronic and optical properties of the resulting MCl@SiCNT composite are modified with respect to both the bulk halide and the empty nanotube. It is shown that AgCl affects the structures and properties of SiC nanotubes more significantly than KCl, and that the interaction between the nanotube and the encapsulated halide is stronger for narrower SiC nanotube. The AgCl encapsulation into SiCNTs results in band gap narrowing of AgCl@SiCNTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of the B3LYP localized orbital correction model which improves the accuracy of the B3LYP thermochemical predictions for compounds containing transition metals. The development of this model employs a large data set containing 36 experimental atomic energies and 71 bond dissociation energies. B3LYP calculations were carried out on these systems with different basis sets. Based on an electronic structure analysis and physical arguments, we built a set of 10 parameters to correct atomic data and a set of 21 parameters to correct bond dissociation energies. Using the results from our biggest basis set, the model was shown to reduce the mean absolute deviation from 7.7 to 0.4 kcal/mol for the atomic data and from 5.3 to 1.7 kcal/mol for the bond dissociation energies. The model was also tested using a second basis set and was shown to give relatively accurate results too. The model was also able to predict an outlier in the experimental data that was further investigated with high level coupled-cluster calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypyrrole is a conjugated polymer prototype of conducting polymers. The energetically preferred spatial conformation of n-pyrrole oligomers (n=1–24) in both the reduced and oxidized phases is obtained and analyzed in this paper within the hybrid density functional theory. Binding energies, gap energies, radius of gyration, end-to-end distance, and vibrational frequencies are reported as functions of oligomer length. Reduced n-pyrrole are bent chains for all sizes showing a dramatic departure from planarity. Vibrational spectra of n-pyrrole oligomers indicate the presence of two fairly size-insensitive frequency regions, which increase in intensity with increasing oligomer size. Several oxidation levels were analyzed for n-pyrrole through the distribution of the carbon-carbon bond orders and single/double bond lengths. It is shown that the oxidation level is directly related to the way positive charge localizes along the n-pyrrole oligomer chain. If charge/n<1/3, the oligomers are bent and charge is delocalized; if charge/n>=1/3, the oligomers are planar and charge notoriously localizes in n/charge regions along the backbone. Calculations with electronegative dopants show that charge localizes in the neighborhood of the dopant. It is demonstrated that one localized state in the gap between the highest occupied and lowest-unoccupied states appears for every +2e in the oxidation level. The band structure of infinite reduced polypyrrole gives a band gap energy in excellent agreement with experiment. The evolution of the band gap and the charge-localized band as a function of polypyrrole oxidation level is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the reactivity of elemental carbon films deposited from the vapor phase with Fe and Ni substrates at room temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements are presented as a method for evaluating kinetic reaction data. Carbon films are deposited on different surface orientations representing geometries from a dense atom packing as in fcc (111) to an open surface structure as in fcc (100). During annealing experiments several reactions are observed (carbon subsurface diffusion, carbide formation, carbide decomposition, and graphite ordering). These reactions and the respective kinetic parameters are analyzed and quantified by XPS measurements performed while annealing at elevated temperatures (620–820 K). The resulting activation barriers for carbon subsurface diffusion are compared with calculated values using the density functional theory. The determined kinetic parameters are used to reproduce the thermal behavior of carbon films on nickel surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method called adaptive force matching (AFM) has been developed that is capable of producing high quality force fields for condensed phase simulations. This procedure involves the parametrization of force fields to reproduce ab initio forces obtained from condensed phase quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) calculations. During the procedure, the MM part of the QM/MM is iteratively improved so as to approach ab initio quality. In this work, the AFM method has been tested to parametrize force fields for liquid water so that the resulting force fields reproduce forces calculated using the ab initio MP2 and the Kohn–Sham density functional theory with the Becke–Lee–Yang–Parr (BLYP) and Becke three-parameter LYP (B3LYP) exchange correlation functionals. The AFM force fields generated in this work are very simple to evaluate and are supported by most molecular dynamics (MD) codes. At the same time, the quality of the forces predicted by the AFM force fields rivals that of very expensive ab initio calculations and are found to successfully reproduce many experimental properties. The site-site radial distribution functions (RDFs) obtained from MD simulations using the force field generated from the BLYP functional through AFM compare favorably with the previously published RDFs from Car–Parrinello MD simulations with the same functional. Technical aspects of AFM such as the optimal QM cluster size, optimal basis set, and optimal QM method to be used with the AFM procedure are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method to compute the Fermi function of the Hamiltonian for a system of independent fermions based on an exact decomposition of the grand-canonical potential. This scheme does not rely on the localization of the orbitals and is insensitive to ill-conditioned Hamiltonians. It lends itself naturally to linear scaling as soon as the sparsity of the system’s density matrix is exploited. By using a combination of polynomial expansion and Newton-like iterative techniques, an arbitrarily large number of terms can be employed in the expansion, overcoming some of the difficulties encountered in previous papers. Moreover, this hybrid approach allows us to obtain a very favorable scaling of the computational cost with increasing inverse temperature, which makes the method competitive with other Fermi operator expansion techniques. After performing an in-depth theoretical analysis of computational cost and accuracy, we test our approach on the density functional theory Hamiltonian for the metallic phase of the LiAl alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we solve quantum many-body problem by propagating ensembles of trajectories and guiding waves in physical space. We introduce the “effective potential” correction within the recently proposed time-dependent quantum Monte Carlo methodology to incorporate the nonlocal quantum correlation effects between the electrons. The associated correlation length is calculated by adaptive kernel density estimation over the walker distribution. The general formalism is developed and tested on one-dimensional helium atom in laser field of different intensities and carrier frequencies. Good agreement with exact results for the atomic ionization is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper supersedes previous theoretical approaches to conceptual DFT because it provides a unified and systematic approach to all of the commonly considered formulations of conceptual DFT, and even provides the essential mathematical framework for new formulations. Global, local, and nonlocal chemical reactivity indicators associated with the “closed-system representation” ([Nα,Nβ,να(r),νβ(r)]) of spin-polarized density functional theory (SP-DFT) are derived. The links between these indicators and the ones associated with the “open-system representation” ([μα,μβ,να(r),νβ(r)]) are derived, including the spin-resolved Berkowitz–Parr identity. The Legendre transform to the “density representation” ([ρα(r),ρβ(r)]) is performed, and the spin-resolved Harbola–Chattaraj–Cedillo–Parr identities linking the density representation to the closed-system and open-system representations are derived. Taken together, these results provide the framework for understanding chemical reactions from both the electron-following perspective (using either the closed-system or the open-system representation) and electron-preceding perspective (density representation). A powerful matrix-vector notation is developed; with this notation, identities in conceptual DFT become universal. Specifically, this notation allows the fundamental identities in conventional (spin-free) conceptual DFT, the [Nα,Nβ] representation, and the [N=Nα+Nβ,NS=Nα-Nβ] representation to be written in exactly the same forms. In cases where spin transfer and electron transfer are coupled (e.g., radical+molecule reactions), we believe that the [Nα,Nβ] representation may be more useful than the more common [N,NS] representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding the underlying mechanism from the statistical properties of an experimental two-state trajectory generated from dynamics in a complex on-off multisubstate kinetic scheme (KS) is the aim of many experiments. Since the data explicitly shows only transitions between substates of different states, information about the KS is lost, resulting in equivalence of KSs, i.e., the occurrence of different KSs that lead to the same data, in a statistical sense. In order to deal with this phenomenon, a canonical (unique) form of reduced dimensions (RD) is built from the data. RD forms are on-off networks with connections only between substates of different states, where the connections usually have nonexponential waiting time probability density functions. In this paper, we give a list of (about 50) relationships between properties of the data, the topology of reduced dimension forms, and features of KSs. Many of these relationships involve symmetries in RD forms, KSs, and the data and irreversible transitions in KSs. These relationships are useful both in theoretical analysis of on-off KSs and in the analysis of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, double ionization energies (DIEs) of gas-phase atoms and molecules are calculated by energy difference method with density functional theory. To determine the best functional for double ionization energies, we first study 24 main group atoms in the second, third, and fourth periods. An approximation is used in which the electron density is first obtained from a density functional computation with the exchange-correlation potential Vxc known as statistical average of orbital potentials, after which the energy is computed from that density with 59 different exchange-correlation energy functionals Exc. For the 24 atoms, the two best Exc functional providing DIEs with average absolute deviation (AAD) of only 0.25 eV are the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof functional modified by Hammer et al. [Phys. Rev. B 59, 6413 (1999)] and one known as the Krieger–Chen–Iafrate–Savin functional modified by Krieger et al. (unpublished). Surprisingly, none of the 20 available hybrid functionals is among the top 15 functionals for the DIEs of the 24 atoms. A similar procedure is then applied to molecules, with opposite results: Only hybrid functionals are among the top 15 functionals for a selection of 29 molecules. The best Exc functional for the 29 molecules is found to be the Becke 1997 functional modified by Wilson et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 9233 (2001)]. With that functional, the AAD from experiment for DIEs of 29 molecules is just under 0.5 eV. If the two suspected values for C2H2 and Fe(CO)5 are excluded, the AAD improves to 0.32 eV. Many other hybrid functionals perform almost as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphology control is important for practical applications of composite materials that consist of functional polymers and nanoparticles. Toward that end, block copolymers provide useful templates to arrange nanoparticles in the scaffold of self-organized polymer microdomains. This paper reports theoretical predictions for the distribution of nanoparticles in the lamellar structures of symmetric diblock copolymers on the basis of a polymer density functional theory (DFT) and the potential distribution theorem (PDT). The DFT predicts periodic spacing of lamellar structures in good agreement with molecular dynamics simulations. With the polymer structure from DFT as the input, the PDT is used to examine the effects of particle size, surface energy, polymer chain length, and compressibility on the distribution of nanoparticles in the limit of low particle density. It is found that the nanoparticle distribution depends not only on the particle size and surface energy but also on the local structure of the microdomain interface, polymer chain length, and compressibility. The theoretical predictions are compared well with experiments and simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid functionals are responsible for much of the utility of modern Kohn-Sham density functional theory. When rigorously applied to solid-state metallic and small band gap systems, however, the slow decay of their nonlocal Hartree-Fock-type exchange makes hybrids computationally challenging and introduces unphysical effects. This can be remedied by using a range-separated hybrid which only keeps short-range nonlocal exchange, as in the functional of Heyd et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 118, 8207 (2003)]. On the other hand, many molecular properties require full long-range nonlocal exchange, which can also be included by means of a range-separated hybrid such as the recently introduced LC-ωPBE functional [O. A. Vydrov and G. E. Scuseria, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 234109 (2006)]. In this paper, we show that a three-range hybrid which mainly includes middle-range Hartree-Fock-type exchange and neglects long- and short-range Hartree-Fock-type exchange yields excellent accuracy for thermochemistry, barrier heights, and band gaps, emphasizing that the middle-range part of the 1/r potential seems crucial to accurately model these properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part I [R. E. Beckham and M. A. Bevan, J. Chem. Phys. 127, 164708 (2007)], results were presented for the sedimentation equilibrium of concentrated colloidal dispersions using confocal scanning laser microscopy experiments, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, and a local density approximation perturbation theory. In this paper, we extended the modeling effort on those systems to include nonlocal density functional theory (DFT), which is capable of predicting the microstructure of the sediment at length scales comparable to the colloidal particle dimension. Specifically, we use a closure-based DFT formulation to predict interfacial colloidal sedimentation equilibrium density profiles. The colloid-colloid and colloid-surface interactions were modeled with DLVO screened electrostatic potentials using parameters taken directly from the experimental work. The DFT profiles were compared to the experimental and MC results from Part I. Good agreement was found for relatively dilute interfacial colloidal fluids, but agreement was less satisfactory as interfacial layering became more pronounced for conditions approaching the onset of interfacial crystallization. We also applied DFT in an inverse sense using the measured colloid density profile to extract the underlying colloid-surface potential; this can be thought of as a microscopic analog to the well-known procedure of using the macroscopic (coarse-grained) density profile to extract the osmotic equation of state. For the dilute interfacial fluid, the inverse DFT calculations reproduced the true colloid-surface potential to within 0.5kT at all elevations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we employ all-electron ab initio time-dependent density functional theory based method to calculate the long range dipole-dipole dispersion coefficient (van der Waals coefficient) C6 of sodium atom clusters containing even number of atoms ranging from 2 to 20 atoms. The dispersion coefficients are obtained via Casimir-Polder relation [Phys. Rev. 3, 360 (1948)]. The calculations are carried out with two different exchange-correlation potentials: (i) the asymptotically correct statistical average of orbital potential (SAOP) and (ii) Vosko-Wilk-Nusair representation [Can. J. Phys. 58, 1200 (1980)] of exchange-correlation potential within local density approximation. A comparison with the other theoretical results has been performed. We also present the results for the static polarizabilities of sodium clusters and also compare them with other theoretical and experimental results. These comparisons reveal that the SAOP results for C6 and static polarizability are quite accurate and very close to the experimental results. We examine the relationship between volume of the cluster and van der Waals coefficient, and find that to a very high degree of correlation C6 scales as the square of the volume. We also present the results for van der Waals coefficient corresponding to cluster–Ar atom and cluster–N2 molecule interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents response theory based on a spin-restricted Kohn-Sham formalism for computation of time-dependent and time-independent nonlinear properties of molecules with a high spin ground state. The developed approach is capable to handle arbitrary perturbations and constitutes an efficient procedure for evaluation of electric, magnetic, and mixed properties. Apart from presenting the derivation of the proposed approach, we show results from illustrating calculations of static and dynamic hyperpolarizabilities of small Si(3n+1)H(6n+3) (n=0,1,2) clusters which mimic Si(111) surfaces with dangling bond defects. The results indicate that the first hyperpolarizability tensor components of Si(3n+1)H(6n+3) have an ordering compatible with the measurements of second harmonic generation in SiO2/Si(111) interfaces and, therefore, support the hypothesis that silicon surface defects with dangling bonds are responsible for this phenomenon. The results exhibit a strong dependence on the quality of basis set and exchange-correlation functional, showing that an appropriate set of diffuse functions is required for reliable predictions of the first hyperpolarizability of open-shell compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]