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We report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the interaction between a series of transition metals (Ni, Cu, Zn) and acrylonitrile. We demonstrate experimentally that the transition metal has a selective role in the grafting of electropolymerized acrylonitrile. Nickel and copper substrates support the formation of a polyacrylonitrile film, while zinc does not. Quantum chemical calculations indicate that acrylonitrile molecules form π-d bonds with Ni and Cu atoms, but do not react chemically with a Zn atom, in qualitative agreement with the experiment. Computational results also show that the electron affinity is significantly increased upon chemisorption, promoting radical anion species at the metal surface as initiators for polymerization.

We have employed quantum chemical methods, at the local spin density approximation level, to study the interaction between an organic semiconductor, polythiophene, and potential metals for hole injecting contacts in devices: vanadium, chromium, copper, and gold. The results show that there is a strong interaction between vanadium and the thiophene ring, mainly due to covalent bond formation between the metal and the S and Cα atoms of the thiophene. Vanadium is therefore predicted to provide good conditions for chemisorption and mechanical stability at the polymer/contact interface. A similar, but considerably weaker, covalent interaction is found between chromium and all the conjugated atoms of the thiophene molecule. For both these metals, the interactions cause the thiophene ring to lose its aromaticity and planarity which, as a consequence, would interrupt the π‐electron system in a polymer and impair charge transport along the chains. In the case of copper, the metal is found to react only with the su...

The chemical and electronic structure of ultrathin molecular films of trimethylamine alane (TMAA), condensed in UHV at − 100°C, have been studied in the solid state, using both X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The results are analyzed with the help of quantum chemical calculations at the ab initio Hartree-Fock 6-31G ∗ level. Based upon the good agreement between theory and experimental, it is determined that clean, oxygen-free, condensed molecular solid films consist of the 2:1 adduct of TMAA, which was previously uncertain. In addition, based upon the electronic structure results, it is clear that the mechanism of the photodecomposition of TMAA can be explained in terms of the wavefunction of electrons photoexcited into the first unoccupied molecular orbital.

Quantum chemical calculations are performed to theoretically study the interaction between low work function metal atoms and trans‐tetradecaheptaene, an extended model molecule for π‐conjugated polymers. We present characterizations of metal/polyene complexes obtained by the local spin density method. The results show that charge transfer reactions occur for Na and Ca and the formation of a covalent bond for Al. Mg atoms, however, are found not to react significantly with π‐conjugated systems. Differences in the bonding mechanism between the metals are discussed and the theoretical density of valence states are compared to experimental photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) data. The results demonstrate that the local spin density method can be successfully used to interpret valence UPS spectra from early stages of metal/π‐conjugated interface formation.

The interactions between aluminum atoms and model molecules representing trans‐polyacetylene are studied quantum chemically by a local density functional method. We focus on the chemical and electronic structure of the organoaluminum complexes. Special emphasis is put on a comparison between results at the local spin density approximation and ab initio Hartree–Fock levels. In unmetallized polyenes, the density functional method provides a very good description of the carbon–carbon bond lengths of conjugated systems; in the case of hexatriene, it reproduces the bond dimerization in very good agreement with experimental measurements. Upon metallization, a strong covalent interaction between aluminum and carbon is found. The Al–C bond formation induces an interruption of the bond alternation pattern and reduces the π‐conjugation in the oligomer, in qualitative agreement with photoelectron spectroscopy data and previous theoretical results at the Hartree–Fock level. Notably, the π‐electron levels in the organoaluminum complexes maintain delocalization. In contrast to Hartree–Fock results where an aluminum atom binds to a single carbon, the interactions calculated with the local spin density approximation lead to (i) formation of multicenter aluminum–carbon bonding; (ii) near planarity of the polyene molecule; and (iii) a lower degree of charge transfer from the metal atom to the polymer.

The interactions between different low work function metals aluminium,calcium and sodium, and α,ω‐diphenyltetradecaheptaene, a model molecule for certain conjugated polymers, have been investigated using both x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The spectra are interpreted with the help of the results of quantum chemical calculations performed within the local spin density (LSD) approximation methodology. The metals are found to interact with the conjugated system in very different ways. Aluminium forms a covalent bond, which strongly modifies the π‐electronic structure of the conjugated molecule, while both the sodium and the calcium atoms act as doping agents, inducing new states in the otherwise forbidden bandgap. These new gap states can be viewed as a soliton–antisoliton pair for the Na/DP7 and a bipolaronic‐like defect for Ca/DP7.

Molecular model systems are used to quantum chemically investigate the interface between aluminum and trans‐polyacetylene. Modifications to the chemical and electronic structure of trans‐polyacetylene oligomers upon interaction with a submonolayer of aluminum are studied at the semiempirical and ab initio Hartree–Fock levels. An aluminum atom is found to react strongly with a carbon atom of the trans‐polyacetylene chain to form a heteropolar covalent bond. In this process, the binding carbon evolves from an sp2‐ to an sp3‐hybridized electronic structure. Significant contributions from Al 3s and 3p atomic orbitals are found in the frontier molecular orbitals in aluminum/polyene complexes. This results in the fact that despite the presence of sp3 sites due to Al–C bonds, which reduces π conjugation along the chain, a large degree of delocalization in π levels is maintained. Our calculations are discussed in relation to experimental ultraviolet photoelectron spectra (UPS) taken during initial stages of aluminum deposition on oxygen‐free films of trans‐polyacetylene oligomers.

We have performed split valence ab initio Hartree—Fock calculations of the total binding energy, E B , of charged solitons to donor impurities in doped trans-polyacetylene. The total energy is calculated for a system with the soliton pinned to the impurity and for a system where the soliton is isolated from the impurity. E B is taken to be the difference between the optimized total energies of these two systems. For a sodium counterion we obtain a total binding energy of E B = 3.18 eV. This value reduces to 2.25 eV when Moller—Plesset second-order perturbation corrections are included. The energy of the soliton level relative to the valence band edge is found to decrease by 0.22 eV in the presence of a sodium counterion, a result which correlates well with optical absorption data.

The \ensuremath{\pi}-electronic structural changes in a polyene molecule containing seven double bonds, \ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\omega}-diphenyltetradecaheptaene (DP7), have been studied upon gradually doping with sodium, using x-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopies. The spectra are interpreted with the help of detailed quantum chemical calculations. Analysis of the evolution of the XPS and UPS spectra as a function of doping with sodium indicates that the extra charges are stored in the form of two charged solitons on the polyene part of the molecules, which results in two new energy levels in the originally forbidden energy gap.

We have investigated the chemical nature and the electronic structure of the interface between a low work function metal, aluminum, and a conjugated polymer semiconductor, polythiophene. We have studied the initial stages of the interface formation by depositing the metal onto the surface of a polymer film. Charge transfer processes between the metal and the polymer are analyzed using core‐level x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); the evolution upon metallization of the valence electronic levels directly related to the polymer electronic structure is followed with ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). With these techniques, we investigate the deposition of aluminum on two polythiophene systems (i) the alkyl‐substituted poly‐3‐octylthiophene and (ii) the α‐sexithiophene oligomer. The experimental data are compared to the results of a recent quantum chemical study on model systems consisting of thiophene oligomers (up to sexithiophene) interacting with a few Al atoms. The interaction of polythio...