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Structural and electronic properties of (100)-oriented MgSO4 and MgSO4.H2O surfaces and the adsorption of water on the latter are investigated theoretically with a combination of ab initio and semiempirical methods. The molecular adsorption of water on the MgSO4.H2O surface leads to only small shifts of the electronic energy levels.

The interaction of ferrocene-1,1′-dithiol (FDT) with two parallel Ag(111) surfaces has been theoretically studied at density-functional level. The effect of surface defects on the energetic and electronic structure was investigated. The electronic transport properties are studied with the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. The adsorption geometry has a strong effect on the electronic levels and conductivity. The presence of point defects strongly enhances the molecule-surface interaction but has a surprisingly small effect on the density of states near the Fermi energy. The FDT-surface bond is particularly strong near terraces or steps and leads to significant shifts of the molecular orbitals relative to the gas phase. For all considered defect types except the single adatom the electronic conductivity through the FDT molecule is decreased compared to adsorption on perfect surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structure of the organic semiconductor copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc) has been determined by a combination of conventional and resonant photoemission, near-edge x-ray absorption, as well as by the first-principles calculations. The experimentally obtained electronic valence band structure of CuPc is in very good agreement with the calculated density of states results, allowing the derivation of detailed site specific information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using density functional calculations, we show that the adsorption of ferrocene dithiol on the Ag(111) surface is remarkably flexible, i.e., a large number of different configurations have binding energies that differ by less than 0.1 eV per molecule. The thiolate bond is slightly favored over the thiol bond (by less than 0.1 eV) but may not be formed due to considerable activation barriers. Electronically, we found that the thiolate bound molecule is conducting, whereas thiol bonds turn it into semiconducting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metastable bixbyite-type polymorph of vanadium sesquioxide, V2O3, has recently been synthesized, and it transforms to the corundum-type phase at temperatures around 550 °C. The possibility of a paramagnetic to canted antiferromagnetic or even spin-glass-like transition has been discussed. Quantum-chemical calculations on the density-functional theory level including explicit electronic correlation confirm the metastability as well as the semiconducting behavior of the material and predict that the bixbyite-type structure is about 0.1 eV less stable than the well-known corundum-type phase. Nonetheless, quasiharmonic phonon calculations manifest that bixbyite-type vanadium sesquioxide is a dynamically stable compound. Other possible V2O3 polymorphs are shown to be even less suitable candidates for the composition V2O3. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of single crystalline and polycrystalline material is reported in the system ZnO1 – x S x . Substitution of oxygen by sulphur yields hexagonal wurtzite-type mixed crystals in the range 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05. The cubic zincblende structure is observed for oxygen incorporation into ZnS for 0.96 ≤ x ≤ 1. At intermediate compositions, the system is two-phase. For both types of anion substitution, the band gap energies, as determined from optical transmission and remission experiments, are found to decrease from the pure end members. Quantum chemical calculations at density functional level identify local structural changes as the main factor responsible for the reduction of band gap energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anion diffusion was simulated in the system (Y0.2Zr0.8)-(O1.72N0.15) with the molecular dynamics (MD) technique using the program DL_POLY, employing empirical potentials of the Buckingham type. To describe nitrogen migration, nitrogen potentials had to be developed, assuming the interaction of charged nitrogen shells with a mass of 0.15 amu with cores. Comparing experimental and simulated anion diffusivities, the diffusion coefficients were found to be of similar order. However, nitrogen diffuses five times slower than oxygen according to the computer simulation, while experimentally, the difference is reported to be smaller. Calculated activation enthalpies were 1.2 and 1.4 eV, respectively, for the two elements, with pre-exponential factors of 10-5 and 10-4 cm2/s, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ab initio calculations allow to distinguish boron atoms in BO3 and BO4 complexes in lithium borates. On this basis an effective potential model for single crystals of Li2O-B2O3 is suggested. Empirical parameters of the interaction potentials are optimized in order to reproduce the experimental data of lithium tetraborate. The optimized parameters are applied to calculations of the structures of the anhydrous borate single crystals Li3BO3, LiBO2, Li2B4O7, Li3B7O12 and LiB3O5. The range of applicability of the potential model is increased by introducing a dependence of the effective oxygen charges on the Li content. In this way good agreement with experimental data is obtained for calculated structural and elastic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase-pure Ba3TaV5O14N is prepared via a sol-gel based Pechini route by heating (200 °C) a 3:5 molar mixture of BaCl2 and TaCl5 in EtOH/citric acid/ethylene glycol prior to calcination at 400 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Stability of B1 and B2 phases of Mg x Cd1−x O is studied by calculating the formation energy within the framework of density functional theory applying the crystalline-orbital program package. Structural and electronic properties of the two polymorphs are reported for x=0.25, 0.50 and 0.75. The equilibrium lattice constants and bulk moduli are computed. Enthalpy calculations show pressure induced B1→B2 phase transitions at 92GPa, 138GPa and 212GPa, respectively, for Mg0.25Cd0.75O, Mg0.50Cd0.50O and Mg0.75Cd0.25O compositions. Formation energy of ternary oxides in the B1 phase is negative with respect to mixing of B2-MgO with B1-CdO. Mixing B1-MgO with B2-CdO also leads to negative formation energy in Cd rich B1 phase ternary oxides (0≤x≤0.5). Band structure calculations predict direct band gaps in the B1 phase and indirect band gaps in the B2 phase ternary oxides. Mulliken population analysis is performed for the two polymorphs to study the charge transfer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The normal incidence x-ray standing wave (NIXSW) technique is used to determine the adsorption geometry of submonolayer 3,4,9,1 0-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) adsorbed on the Ag( 110) surface. An accurate analysis of both C1s and O1s photoemission (PE) spectra allows the respective adsorption heights of carbon and oxygen atoms in different chemical environments within PTCDA to be distinguished. Due to the intricacy of the PE fitting models, a systematic error analysis of NIXSW structural parameters was developed and employed. Based on the adsorption geometry of PTCDA on Ag( 110) a bonding mechanism is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of novel methods in solid-state quantum chemistry necessitates reliable reference data sets for their assessment. The most fundamental solid-state property of interest is the crystal structure, quantified by the lattice parameters. In the last decade, several studies were conducted to assess theoretical approaches based on the agreement of calculated lattice parameters with respect to experiment as a measure. However, most of these studies used a limited number of reference systems with high symmetry. The present work offers a more comprehensive reference benchmark denoted as Sol337LC, which consists of 337 inorganic compounds with 553 symmetry-inequivalent lattice parameters, representing every element of the periodic table for atomic numbers between 1 and 86, except noble gases, the radioactive elements and lanthanoids. The reference values were taken from earlier benchmarks and from measurements at very low temperature or extrapolation to 0 K. The experimental low-temperature lattice parameters were then corrected for zero-point energy effects via the quasi-harmonic approximation for direct comparison with quantum-chemical optimized structures. A selection of standard density functional approximations was assessed for their deviations from the experimental reference data. The calculations were performed with the crystal orbital program CRYSTAL23, applying optimized atom-centered basis sets of triple-zeta plus polarization quality. The SCAN functional family and the global hybrid functional PW1PW, augmented with the D3 dispersion correction, were found to provide closest agreement with the Sol337LC reference data., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Computational Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

VO2is well known for its reversible transition between two phases with tetragonal rutile and monoclinic structure. In a previous theoretical study (Stahl and Bredow 2022 ChemPhysChem 23 e202200131) we showed that the adsorption energy of CO is different on surfaces of the two Mo-stabilized polymorphs. This can be exploited to promote catalytic reactions by removing CO from the catalyst surface. As proof-of-principle, we investigated the hydrogenation reaction ofCO2. For this purpose, the adsorption energies ofCO2and possible intermediates and productsH2O, HCOOH,H2COand CO were calculated. Significant differences were found for the reaction energies of the hydrogenation ofCO2to formic acid and formaldehyde on the two polymorphs. This shows that it is in principle possible to alter the reaction thermodynamics by applying reaction conditions which stabilize a particular polymorph. In order to investigate the influence of the polymorph on kinetic properties, the reactions barriers of a step-wise reaction ofCO2+2H2→H2CO+H2Owas calculated using the nudged elastic band method.VO2was found to reduce the reaction barriers compared to the gas phase. Additionally, the minimum energy path of the bulk phase transition of undopedVO2was calculated using the distinguished reaction coordinate method. A catalytic cycle exploiting the phase transition is proposed based on the theoretical results., (© 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Merocyanines, as prototypes of highly polar π-conjugated molecules, have been intensively investigated for their self-assembly and optoelectronic properties, both experimentally and theoretically. However, an accurate description of their structural and electronic properties remains challenging for quantum-chemical methods. We assessed several theoretical approaches, TD-DFT, GW-BSE, STEOM-DLPNO-CCSD, and CASSCF/NEVPT2-FIC for their reliability in reproducing optoelectronic properties of a series of donor/acceptor (D/A) merocyanines, focusing on the first excitation energy. Additionally, we tested an all-electron perturbative method based on time-dependent coupled-perturbed density functional theory, denoted as TDCP-DFT. Particular focus was set on direct and indirect solvent effects, which affect excited-state energies by electrostatic interaction and molecular geometry. The molecular configuration space was sampled at the semiempirical tight-binding level. Our results corroborate previous investigations, showing that the S 0 - S 1 excitation energy strongly depends on the merocyanine molecular structure and the dielectric constant of the solvent. We found significant effects of the polar solution environment on the geometry of the merocyanines, which strongly affect the calculated excitation energies. Taking these effects into account, the best agreement between calculated and measured excitation energies was obtained with TDCP-DFT and GW-BSE. We also calculated excitation energies of molecular crystals at the TDCP-DFT level and compared the results to the corresponding monomers.

The ability to control the structural properties of molecular layers is a key for the design and preparation of organic electronic devices. While microscopic growth studies of planar, rigid and symmetric π-conjugated molecules have been performed to a larger extent, this is less the case for elongated donor-acceptor molecules with flexible functional groups, which are particularly interesting due to their high dipole moments. Prototypical molecules of this type are merocyanines (MCs), which have been widely studied for the use as efficient absorbers in organic photodetectors. For maximized light absorption and optimized electronic properties the molecular arrangement which is affected by the initial assembly of the films at the supporting substrate interface is decisive. The situation deserves special attention, when the surface nucleation leads to so far not known and bulk-unlike aggregates. Here, we report on the growth of a typical MC ( HB238 ) on the Ag(100) surface, serving as the substrate. In the energetically preferred phase, the molecules adsorb in a face-on geometry and organize in tetramers with a circular dipole arrangement. The tetramers further self-order in large, enantiopure domains with a periodicity that is commensurate to the Ag(100) surface, likely due to a specific bonding of the thiophene and thiazol rings to the Ag surface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) in combination with low energy electron diffraction we derive the detailed structure of the tetramers. The center of the tetramer, which is most prominent in STM images, consists of four upward pointing tert -butyl groups from four molecules. It is encircled by a ring of four hydrogen bonds between terminal CN-groups and thiophene rings on neighboring molecules. In parallel, the surface interaction modifies the intramolecular dipole, which is revealed from photoemission spectroscopy. Hence, this example shows how the surface template effect leads to an unforeseen molecular organization which is considerably more complex compared to that in the bulk phases of HB238 , which feature paired dipoles.

Consistent basis sets of triple-zeta valence quality for the elements La-Lu were derived for periodic quantum-chemical solid-state calculations. They are an extension of the pob-TZVP-rev2 [D. Vilela Oliveira, et al., J. Comput. Chem. 2019, 40(27), 2364-2376], [J. Laun and T. Bredow, J. Comput. Chem. 2021, 42(15), 1064-1072], [J. Laun and T. Bredow, J. Comput. Chem. 2022, 43(12), 839-846] basis sets and are based on the fully relativistic effective core potentials of the Stuttgart/Cologne group and on the def2-TZVP valence basis of the Ahlrichs group. The basis sets are constructed to minimize the basis set superposition error in crystalline systems. The contraction scheme, orbital exponents, and contraction coefficients were optimized in order to ensure robust and stable self-consistent-field convergence for a set of compounds and metals. For the applied PW1PW hybrid functional, the average deviations of the calculated lattice constants from experimental references are smaller with pob-TZV-rev2 than with standard basis sets available from the CRYSTAL basis set database. After augmentation with single diffuse s- and p-functions, reference plane-wave band structures of metals can be accurately reproduced., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Computational Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

VO 2 is well known for its low-temperature metal-insulator transition between two phases with tetragonal rutile and monoclinic structure. The adsorption of CO on the two polymorphs of Mo-doped VO 2 is calculated to investigate the effect of a substrate phase change on the adsorption energy. The system is investigated theoretically at density-functional theory level using a hybrid functional with London dispersion correction. We establish a computational protocol applicable for the study of physisorption on open-shell transition metal oxides. The main task is to control the spin state of open-shell slab models used to model adsorption of closed-shell molecules in order to obtain numerically stable adsorption energies and to reduce spin contamination within the broken-symmetry unrestricted Kohn-Sham approximation. Applying this procedure, it is possible to identify the most stable adsorption positions of CO on both phases of VO 2 . CO adsorbs vertically with the C atom on a surface V atom in the monoclinic phase with an adsorption energy of -56 kJ/mol. The same adsorption position has an adsorption energy of only -46 kJ/mol on the rutile phase. Similar differences were obtained with multireference methods using an embedded cluster model. This effect may inspire experimental strategies exploiting the rutile ↔ ${ \leftrightarrow }$ monoclinic VO 2 phase transition in catalytic processes where CO is formed as product or as an intermediate., (© 2022 The Authors. ChemPhysChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Zinc ferrite ZnFe[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] belongs to the spinel-type ferrites that have been proposed as photocatalysts for water splitting. The electronic band gap and the band edge positions are of utmost importance for the efficiency of the photocatalytic processes. We, therefore, calculated the absolute band energies of the most stable surface of ZnFe[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text], the Zn-terminated (100) surface at self-consistent hybrid density functional theory level. The effect of Fe- and Zn-rich environments, cation exchange as antisite defects and implicit solvation on the band positions is investigated. Calculated flat band potentials of the pristine surface model ranges from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] V against SHE in vacuum. For Zn-rich (Fe-rich) models this changes 0.3-0.9 (0.0-0.7) V against SHE. Fe-rich models are closest to the experimental range of reported flat band potentials. Solvent effects lower the calculated flat band potentials by up to 1.8 eV. The calculated band gaps range from 1.5 to 2.9 eV in agreement with previous theoretical work and experiment. Overall, our calculations confirm the experimentally observed low activity of ZnFe[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] and its dependence on preparation conditions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)