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We discuss proximity effects on the hydrogen uptake in 14 atomic layers of vanadium. The enthalpy and entropy of solution were measured and compared to ab initio density functional calculations. We show that there exists a large difference in the hydrogen uptake of V in Cr/V and Fe/V superlattices, in which the V is under close to identical strain states. The calculations show that neither local strain effects nor charge redistributions can be the cause for the observed effect. This leaves magnetic and long ranged elastic strain fields-neither captured by the current calculations-as possible mechanisms for the observed effects.

We show that the formation of the wetting layer and the experimentally observed continuous shift of the H2O-OH balance toward molecular water at increasing coverage on a TiO2(110) surface can be rationalized on a molecular level. The mechanism is based on the initial formation of stable hydroxyl pairs, a repulsive interaction between these pairs, and an attractive interaction with respect to water molecules. The experimental data are obtained by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy and interpreted with the aid of density functional theory calculations and Monte Carlo simulations., QC 20131004

The dipole force components in nanosized metal hydrides are quantitatively determined with curvature and x-ray diffraction measurements. Ab initio density functional theory is used to calculate the dipole components and the symmetry of the strain field. The hydrogen occupancy in a 100-nm-thick V film is shown to be tetrahedral with a slight asymmetry at low concentration, and a transition to octahedral occupancy is shown to take place at around 0.07 [H/V] at 360 K. When the thickness of the V layer is reduced to 3 nm and biaxially strained, in a Fe0.5V0.5/V superlattice, the hydrogen unequivocally occupies octahedral z-like sites, even at and below concentrations of 0.02 [H/V].

We performed a systematic density functional (DF) study of the adsorption of copper, silver, and gold adatoms on pristine graphene, especially accounting for van der Waals (vdW) interactions by the vdW-DF and PBE + D2 methods. In particular, we analyze the preferred adsorption site (among top, bridge, and hollow positions) together with the corresponding distortion of the graphene sheet and identify diffusion paths. Both vdW schemes show that the coinage metal atoms do bind to the graphene sheet and that in some cases the buckling of the graphene layer can be significant. Only the results for silver are qualitatively at variance with those obtained with the generalized gradient approximation, which gives no binding in this case. However in all three cases, we observe some quantitative differences between the vdW-DF and PBE + D2 methods. For instance the adsorption energies calculated with the PBE + D2 method are systematically higher than the ones obtained with vdW-DF. Moreover, the equilibrium distances computed with PBE + D2 are shorter than those calculated with the vdW-DF method.

Motivated by the experimentally observed high mobility of gold atoms on graphene and their tendency to form nanometer-sized clusters, we present a density functional theory study of the ground state structures of small gold clusters on graphene, their mobility and clustering. Our detailed analysis of the electronic structures identifies the opportunity to form strong gold-gold bonds and the graphene-mediated interaction of the pre-adsorbed fragments as the driving forces behind gold's tendency to aggregate on graphene. While clusters containing up to three gold atoms have one unambiguous ground state structure, both gas phase isomers of a cluster with four gold atoms can be found on graphene. In the gas phase the diamond-shaped Au-4(D) cluster is the ground state structure, whereas the Y-shaped Au-4(Y) becomes the actual ground state when adsorbed on graphene. As we show, both clusters can be produced on graphene by two distinct clustering processes. We also studied in detail the stepwise formation of a gold dimer out of two pre-adsorbed adatoms, as well as the formation of Au-3. All reactions are exothermic and no further activation barriers, apart from the diffusion barriers, were found. The diffusion barriers of all studied clusters range from 4 to 36 meV only, and are substantially exceeded by the adsorption energies of -0.1 to -0.59 eV. This explains the high mobility of Au1-4 on graphene along the C-C bonds.

In order to explain the experimentally found catalytic characteristics of Au1-4 /MgO (100) we have performed a comprehensive density functional study of these systems and their ability to (co)adsorb CO and O2 molecules. Starting from the carefully determined ground-state structures we have analyzed binding mechanisms, the influence of spin-orbit coupling, and charge redistributions in Au1-4 /MgO+CO (O2). Experimentally Au1,2 /MgO were found to be inactive under a mixed atmosphere. We show that O2 strongly binds to Au1 /MgO that prevents coadsorption. Although a catalytic reaction cycle towards CO oxidation, analogous to the gas phase reaction involving Au 2-, is energetically possible for Au2 /MgO, the cluster will get blocked by a strongly bound CO. On the other hand, the catalytic activity of Au3,4 /MgO could be explained by their ability to coadsorb CO and O2, hence indicating the occurrence of a Langmuir- Hinshelwood-type reaction mechanism for these clusters.

The present density functional theory study addresses the question whether the presence of H2O influences the catalytic activity of small gold clusters, Au1-4/MgO(100), towards the oxidation of carbon monoxide. To this end, we studied the (co-)adsorption of H2O and CO/O2 on these gold clusters. The ground state structures in the presence of all three molecular species, that we found, are Au1O2/MgO and Au2-4CO/MgO with H2O adsorbed on the surface in the proximity of the clusters-molecule complex. In this configuration the catalytic activity of Au1-4/MgO is indifferent to the presence of H2O. We also found that a stable, highly activated hydroperoxyl-hydroxyl complex, O2H ·· OH, can be formed on Au1,3/MgO. For the catalytic active system Au8/MgO, it has been predicted that this complex opens an alternative catalytic reaction pathway towards CO oxidation. Our results suggest that this water mediated catalytic cycle is unlikely to occur on Au1,3/MgO. In the case of Au1/MgO the cycle is interrupted by the dissociation of the remaining (OH)2 complex after forming the first CO2 molecule. On Au3 /MgO the O2H ·· OH complex is likely to decompose upon the impact of a CO molecule, since three of its bond dissociation energies are comparable to the reaction barrier of the CO to CO2 oxidation.

Spontaneous, collective ordering of electronic degrees of freedom leads to second-order phase transitions that are characterized by an order parameter driving the transition. The notion of a 'hidden order' has recently been used for a variety of materials where a clear phase transition occurs without a known order parameter. The prototype example is the heavy-fermion compound URu2Si2, where a mysterious hidden-order transition occurs at 17.5 K. For more than twenty years this system has been studied theoretically and experimentally without a firm grasp of the underlying physics. Here, we provide a microscopic explanation of the hidden order using density-functional theory calculations. We identify the Fermi surface 'hot spots' where degeneracy induces a Fermi surface instability and quantify how symmetry breaking lifts the degeneracy, causing a surprisingly large Fermi surface gapping. As the mechanism for the hidden order, we deduce spontaneous symmetry breaking through a dynamic mode of antiferromagnetic moment excitations.

We present a first-principles density-functional investigation of the optical and magneto-optical properties of MnGa1-xAs (with x = 0,0.0625, and 1) systems. Our calculated dielectric function, magneto-optical Kerr effect, and magnetic circular dichroism spectra agree reasonably well with existing experimental results. A comparison of the optical and magneto-optical spectra of MnAs in the naturally occurring hexagonal phase and in the cubic zinc-blende structure is made. The differences in the spectral properties of these two phases could aid detection of MnAs in the zinc-blende structure. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We report the observation of magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in two-photon photoemission (2PPE). The Heusler alloys Ni2MnGa and Co2FeSi were investigated by excitation with femtosecond laser light, showing MCD asymmetries of A = (3.5 +/- 0.5) x 10(-3) for Ni2MnGa and of A = (2.1 +/- 1.0) x 10(-3) for Co2FeSi, respectively. A theoretical explanation is provided based on local spin-density calculations for the magnetic dichroic response; the computed 2PPE MCD agrees well with the experiment. The observed 2PPE magnetic contrast represents an interesting alternative for future time-resolved photoemission studies on surface magnetism practicable in the laboratory.

The ferromagnetic ground states of the half-Heusler compounds AuMnX (X ≤ In, Sn, Sb) have been calculated in the framework of the local spin-density approximation (LSDA) to density functional theory (DFT). AuMnSn is computed to be a half-metallic ferromagnet, whereas AuMnIn and AuMnSb are not half-metallic, due to their different band filling. The computed relativistic electronic structures served as inputs to calculate the magneto-optical Kerr rotations and ellipticities for all three materials. In the case of AuMnSn the largest, zero-temperature, polar Kerr rotation has been found to be -0.45° at about 1eV photon energy. The computed MOKE spectra of AuMnSn are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments. The largest Kerr rotations of AuMnIn and AuMnSb have been calculated to be +0.64° at 4.3eV and -0.85° at 0.9eV, respectively.