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The viability of sequestering gas molecules (CO, NO, CO2 , NO2 , N2 O, O2 , O3 , H2 O, NH3 , H2 , CH3 OH, CH3 F, C2 H5 F, C2 H2 , C2 H4 , HCN, and SO2 ) on the Al12 Be cluster is investigated by carrying out density functional theory based computations. Thermochemical as well as energetic considerations suggest that Al12 Be cluster adsorbs the chosen gas molecules in a favorable fashion. The gas molecules attain an activated state on getting adsorbed on the metal cluster as vindicated by Atoms-in-Molecule analysis. The possibility of CO oxidation, dissociative addition of CH3 F and C2 H5 F, NH bond decomposition in NH3 , dissociation of NO, and hydrogenation of C2 H2 reactions on Al12 Be cluster has been investigated. Results indicate that all the reactions take place in a thermodynamically favorable way at 298.15 K and one atmospheric pressure. The first five reactions aforementioned are kinetically favorable also and therefore are amenable to ambient temperature and pressure conditions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The possibility of sequestrating gas molecules (H2, CO, NO, O3, H2O, and O2) through pristine as well as metal oxide molecule (MO, M = Cu, Ag, Au) supported boron nitride flakes (BNF) has been investigated through density functional theory (DFT) based computations. Thermodynamic (at 298 K) as well as energetic criteria reveal reasonable stability of the MO@BNF moieties. Orbital and electrostatic interactions play crucial roles in stabilizing these systems. MO@BNF moieties, in general, can sequestrate some representative gas molecules, viz., H2, CO, NO, O3, H2O, and O2 in a thermodynamically as well as energetically more facile way as compared to that on pristine BNF. In particular, reversible H2 storage might be feasible at ambient temperature and pressure through MO@BNF. NBO as well as AIM results indicate that the chosen gas molecules, in general, attain an “active” state upon getting adsorbed on MO@BNF moieties as compared to their respective free counterparts.

The possibility of functionalizing boron nitride flakes (BNFs) with some selected main group metal clusters, viz. OLi4, NLi5, CLi6, BLI7 and Al12Be, has been analyzed with the aid of density functional theory (DFT) based computations. Thermochemical as well as energetic considerations suggest that all the metal clusters interact with the BNF moiety in a favorable fashion. As a result of functionalization, the static (first) hyperpolarizability () values of the metal cluster supported BNF moieties increase quite significantly as compared to that in the case of pristine BNF. Time dependent DFT analysis reveals that the metal clusters can lower the transition energies associated with the dominant electronic transitions quite significantly thereby enabling the metal cluster supported BNF moieties to exhibit significant non-linear optical activity. Moreover, the studied systems demonstrate broad band absorption capability spanning the UV–visible as well as infra-red domains. Energy decomposition analysis reveals that the electrostatic interactions principally stabilize the metal cluster supported BNF moieties.

The nature of host-guest interaction in between octa acid cavitand (OA) and some representative cationic guests (Li+ , Na+ , K+ , Be+2 , Mg+2 , Ca+2 , Li3 O+ , Na3 O+ , K3 O+ ) as well as heterocyclic moieties like [adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T), uracil (U), and tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)] has been examined with the aid of density functional theory (DFT)-based computations. Thermochemical results indicate that all the guests bind with OA in a thermodynamically favorable fashion at 298.15 K temperature and one atmospheric pressure. OA exhibits high selectivity in binding the lighter cations/metal cluster cations as compared to the heavier congeners along each given series. Moreover, OA exhibits enhanced affinity as well as selectivity in binding A/G/TTF molecules as compared to C/T/U. Noncovalent interaction and energy decomposition analyses reveal that in addition to the van der Waals interaction, significant contribution from electrostatic as well as orbital interactions dictate the outcome in all the host-guest complexes. Time dependent DFT calculations have been carried out to assess the role of the guests in tuning the electronic properties as well as absorption spectrum of OA. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The feasibility of having MF3 (where M = Rh, Ir, Pd, Pt, Ag, Au) supported AlN nanoflakes (AlNF) was investigated through density functional theory based calculations. The thermodynamic analysis reveals that the superhalogen MF3 molecules can bind with the host AlNF in a thermodynamically favorable way. The nature of interaction in between the metal centers and the host is of partly covalent type whereas the F centers bind with the host in a non-covalent fashion as vindicated by natural bond orbital and atoms-in a-molecule analyses. An ab initio molecular dynamics study carried out at 298 K temperature confirms the stability of the MF3@AlNF moieties in a dynamical context. The MF3 guests can reduce the HOMO-LUMO gaps of the host nanoflakes. In general, the MF3@AlNF complexes can sequestrate polar adsorbates such as CO, NO, and H2O in a thermodynamically favorable way in most of the cases. An ab initio molecular dynamics calculation illustrates that the MF3@AlNF can adsorb the chosen representative polar molecules in a more favorable way as compared to the corresponding adsorption scenario in the case of pristine AlNF.

The possibility of obtaining metal cluster (M3O(+), M = Li, Na, K) supported pristine, B-doped and BN-doped graphene nanoflakes (GR, BGR and BNGR, respectively) has been investigated by carrying out density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. Thermochemical analysis reveals the good stability of M3O(+)@GR/BGR/BNGR moieties. The dynamic stability of M3O(+)@GR/BGR/BNGR moieties is confirmed through an atom-centered density matrix propagation simulation at 298 K up to 500 fs. Orbital and electrostatic interactions play pivotal roles in stabilizing the metal-cluster supported graphene nanoflakes. The metal clusters lower the Fermi levels of the host nanoflakes and enable them to exhibit reasonably good optical response properties such as polarizability and static first hyperpolarizability. In particular, Na3O(+)/K3O(+)@BGR complexes exhibit very large first hyperpolarizability values at the static field limit. All the M3O(+)@BGR/BNGR moieties demonstrate broadband optical absorption encompassing the ultraviolet, visible as well as infrared domains. The metal-cluster supported graphene nanoflakes, in general, can sequestrate polar molecules, viz. CO, NO and CH3OH, in a thermodynamically more favorable way than GR, BGR and BNGR. In the adsorbed state, the CO, NO and CH3OH molecules, in general, attain an 'active' state as compared to their free counterparts.

The potential for gas storage (C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CO2, CO, H2, N2, NO2, NO) molecules and rare gas (Rg) atoms (He n –Xe n , where n = 1, 2) within the recently synthesized octa acid (OA) moiety is assessed through density functional theory-based computations. It is shown that C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, N2, Kr, and Xe atoms/molecules bind with octa acid in a thermodynamically favorable way. Wiberg bond indices, non-covalent interaction indices, and energy decomposition analyses are used to explore the nature of the interaction between guest atoms and octa acid. The nature of the interaction in between either two guest atoms (in the cases of Rg atoms) or guest and cage atoms is mostly of non-covalent type in nature. An ab initio molecular dynamics simulation carried out at 50 and 298 K temperatures reveal that many of the studied systems particularly concerning polar and π electron cloud containing guest molecules show good dynamical stability at both temperature regimes. Except for the case of Ne-encapsulated octa acid, all other rare gases tend to get liberated from the host at room temperature although they remain inside the host at low temperature, thereby showing good dynamical stability of the Rg-encapsulated octa acid complexes up to 500 fs. In order to reaffirm the dynamical stability, Ne2@OA and CO@OA are studied at 50 and 298 K up to 600 fs as test cases.