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The chemical pressure approach offers a new paradigm for property control in functional materials. In this work, we disclose a correlation between the β → α pressureinduced phase transition in SnMoO4 and the substitution process of Mo6+ by W6+ in SnMo1−xWxO4 solid solutions (x = 0-1). Special attention is paid to discriminating the role of the lone pair Sn2+ cation from the structural distortive effect along the Mo/W substitution process, which is crucial to disentangle the driven force of the transition phase. Furthermore, the reverse α → β transition observed at high temperature in SnWO4 is rationalized on the same basis as a negative pressure effect associated with a decreasing of W6+ percentage in the solid solution. This work opens a versatile chemical approach in which the types of interactions along the formation of solid solutions are clearly differentiated and can also be used to tune their properties, providing opportunities for the development of new materials.

Complex vanadates of tantalum(V), such as ATa2V2O11 (A = Sr, Pb), are rare and underrated materials, which have potential application domains that could be substantially expanded, mitigating the existing controversy on their atomic and electronic organization. Herein, we present a thorough structural examination combining synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction-aided distortion mode analysis with computational methods to study hettotypes of SrTa2V2O11 (STVO) and PbTa2V2O11 (PTVO). Being distinct from the perovskite family due to the presence of [VO4] groups, both compounds are polar dielectric materials with certain similarities to SBT and PBT Aurivillius phases. Applying the model of anions of metallic matrices to the analysis of electron localization functions calculated on top of as-established equilibrium structures helps retrace the effects in the Sr and Pb surroundings on the respective crystal packings of STVO and PTVO., Use of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This research was supported by Spanish MCIU and MINECO through the following projects: PGC2018-094814-B-C2, MCI-21- PID2020-113558RB-C41, and RED2018-102612-T, and Principado de Asturias FICYT Agency (Spain) and EU-FEDER through projects FC-GRUPIN-IDI/2018/000170, FC-GRUPIN-IDI/2018/000177, SV-PA-21-AYUD/2021/51036, and SV-PA-21-AYUD/2021/50997. The authors thank the Institute for Scientific and Technological Resources and the MALTA-Consolider supercomputing center at the University of Oviedo for the technical support and primarily data acquisition

A better understanding of the effects of temperature and pressure on the wide gap SiC semiconductor is necessary for both (i) an improvement of the performance of this compound in a variety of technological applications and (ii) a clarification of controversial issues related to the stability of its cubic polymorphs at high pressure and high temperature. Bearing in mind this double demand, we perform first-principles calculations of the phonon band structures, vibrational density of states, and thermal and mode Grüneisen parameters of the zinc blende (B3) and rock-salt (B1) cubic polymorphs of 3C-SiC covering pressures and temperatures up to 120 GPa and 3000 K, respectively. Under a martensitic description of the B3-B1 transformation, we found that the large hysteresis pressure range observed at room temperature (35-100 GPa) disappears at around 1100 K. The calculated Clapeyron slope of this transformation is slightly negative, with average values of -2.9 MPa K

To advance in the understanding of the Earth's carbon cycle, it is necessary to determine thermodynamic boundaries and kinetic barriers associated with the pressure-induced polymorphic sequence of alkaline-earth carbonates. Following a symmetry-based strategy within the martensitic approximation, we propose a two-step mechanism mediated by a hexagonal

The direct chemical reactivity between phosphorus and nitrogen was induced under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions (9.1 GPa and 2000-2500 K), generated by a laser-heated diamond anvil cell and studied by synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and DFT calculations. α-P

The quest for structure-property relationships in scheelite-type (RE)CrO4 compounds (where RE is a rare earth element) is a difficult task due to the number of exceptions found in RE empirical trends and the uncommon Cr(V) oxidation state. In this work, we experimentally and computationally analyse how the stretching vibrational frequencies ν1(Ag) and ν3(Eg) associated with the [CrO4] tetrahedral units evolve in the (RE)CrO4 crystal family (RE ¼ Nd, Gd, Dy, Ho, and Lu). Since previously reported Cr–O distances and volume changes along with the RE series are not sufficiently accurate to explain the monotonic decrease observed for the ν1(Ag) and ν3(Eg) frequencies, a deeper analysis was performed involving the well-known fact that the bond strength (force constant) decreases as the interatomic distance increases. Our results demonstrates that structural and spectroscopic parameters can be reconciled with classical solid state chemistry ideas when charge effects are considered. This analysis provides a new method for predicting chromium oxidation states from Raman spectroscopy that can be generalised to the study of other crystal families.

Motivated by the quest for experimental procedures capable of controlled manipulation of single atoms on surfaces, we set up a computational strategy that explores the cyclical vertical manipulation of a broad set of single atoms on the GaAs(110) surface. First-principles simulations of atomic force microscope tip-sample interactions were performed considering families of GaAs and Au-terminated tip apexes with varying crystalline termination. We identified a subset of tips capable of both picking up and depositing an adatom (Ga, As, Al, and Au) any number of times via a modify-restore cycle that "resets" the apex of the scanning probe to its original structure at the end of each cycle. Manipulation becomes successful within a certain window of lateral and vertical tip distances that are observed to be different for extracting and depositing each atom. A practical experimental protocol of special utility for potential cyclical manipulation of single atoms on a nonmetallic surface is proposed.

AM2X4 crystalline materials display important technological electronic, optical and magnetic properties that are sensitive to general stress effects. In this paper, the behavior under hydrostatic pressure of the ambient condition rhombohedral phase of MgIn2Se4 is investigated in detail for the first time. We carried out first-principles calculations within the density functional theory framework aimed at determining the pressure-induced polymorphic sequence of this selenide. To accurately evaluate transition pressures at room temperature, thermal corrections have been included after the computation of phonon dispersion curves in potential candidate phases, namely the initial rhombohedral Rm one, inverse and direct spinels, LiTiO2-type and defective I structures. Only the transition from the Rm to the inverse spinel phase was found to fulfill the thermodynamic and mechanical stability criteria. The direct spinel could appear as metastable if kinetic effects hinder the above transition. Additionally, electronic band structures and chemical bonding properties were analyzed from the outcome of our quantum-mechanical solutions reporting band gap values and ionicity and noncovalent interaction indexes. It is shown that the investigated compound keeps behaving as a semiconductor, loses its van der Waals interactions, and becomes more covalent as hydrostatic pressure is applied.

A thorough systematic study of the Electron Localization Function (ELF) in fcc silver metal, the deficient vacant-type Ag

We argue that two distinct points on the potential energy curve (PEC) of a pairwise interaction, the zero‐energy crossing point and the point where the stretching force constant vanishes, allow to anticipate the range of possible distances one can expect between two atoms in diatomic, molecular moieties and crystalline systems. We show that these bond stability boundaries are unambiguously defined and correlate with topological descriptors of electron density‐based scalar fields, and we put forward a practical method to calculate them easily using generic PECs. Chemical databases and quantum‐mechanical calculations are used to analyze a full set of diatomic bonds of atoms from the s‐p main block. Emphasis is placed on the effect of substituents in C‐C covalent bonds, concluding that distances shorter than 1.14 Å or longer than 2.0 Å are unlikely to be achieved, in agreement with ultra‐high‐pressure data and transition state distances, respectively. Presumed exceptions, often due to changes in the reference state or ill‐defined dissociation energies (e.g. O 2 2+ ), are used to place our model in the correct framework and to formulate a conjecture for chained‐interactions, which offers a first explanation for the multimodal histogram of O‐H distances reported for hundreds of chemical systems., This work was supported by the Spanish National Research Agency (AEI) through projects PGC2018-094814-B-C21, PGC2018-094814-B-C22 and RED2018-102612-T, and Principado de Asturias FICYT under Project No. FC-GRUPINIDI/2018/000177.

A thorough systematic study of the Electron Localization Function (ELF) in fcc silver metal, the deficient vacant-type Ag16□4 structure, and the Ag16B4O10 title compound of the Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 962 edge article leads to a further understanding of the sub-valent characteristics of silver in the silver borate compound. By visualizing the process in three consecutive steps, (fcc)eq-Ag → (fcc)ex-Ag → Ag16□4 → Ag16B4O10, the electron reduction of Ag atoms can be traced to be due to (i) the expansion (ex) of the host metallic array from its equilibrium (eq) geometry and (ii) the vacancy creation and subsequent insertion of guest borate clusters. Our ELF analysis also allows us to identify to what extent metallic features remain in the title compound, providing an alternative explanation of why Ag16B4O10 is not a conductor whereas pure silver is.

AM2X4 crystalline materials display important technological electronic, optical and magnetic properties that are sensitive to general stress effects. In this paper, the behavior under hydrostatic pressure of the ambient condition rhombohedral phase of MgIn2Se4 is investigated in detail for the first time. We carried out first-principles calculations within the density functional theory framework aimed at determining the pressure-induced polymorphic sequence of this selenide. To accurately evaluate transition pressures at room temperature, thermal corrections have been included after the computation of phonon dispersion curves in potential candidate phases, namely the initial rhombohedral R3[combining macron]m one, inverse and direct spinels, LiTiO2-type and defective I4[combining macron] structures. Only the transition from the R3[combining macron]m to the inverse spinel phase was found to fulfill the thermodynamic and mechanical stability criteria. The direct spinel could appear as metastable if kinetic effects hinder the above transition. Additionally, electronic band structures and chemical bonding properties were analyzed from the outcome of our quantum-mechanical solutions reporting band gap values and ionicity and noncovalent interaction indexes. It is shown that the investigated compound keeps behaving as a semiconductor, loses its van der Waals interactions, and becomes more covalent as hydrostatic pressure is applied.

On the basis of results from exhaustive first-principles simulations, we report a thorough description of the recently identified high pressure phase of the CO2 hydrate, and provide an estimation of the transition pressure from the sI low pressure phase to the C0 high pressure (HP) phase around 0.6 GPa. The vibrational properties calculated here for the first time might be useful to detect this HP structure in extraterrestrial environments, such as the Jupiter ice moons. Interestingly, we also find that CO2 gas molecules are quasi-free to diffuse along the helical channels of the structure, thus allowing the interchange of volatiles across a solid icy barrier. Taking into account its density and comparing it with other substances, we can estimate the naturally occurring zone of this CO2@H2O HP phase within a giant ice moon such as Ganymede. Other potential planetary implications that all of the found properties of this hydrate might have are also discussed., With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

The crystal structure of many inorganic compounds can be understood as a metallic matrix playing the role of a host lattice in which the nonmetallic atomic constituents are located, the Anions in Metallic Matrices (AMM) model stated. The power and utility of this model lie in its capacity to anticipate the actual positions of the guest atoms in inorganic crystals using only the information known from the metal lattice structure. As a pertinent test-bed for the AMM model, we choose a set of common metallic phases along with other nonconventional or more complex structures (face-centered cubic (fcc) and simple cubic Ca, CsCl-type BaSn, hP4-K, and fcc-Na) and perform density functional theory electronic structure calculations. Our topological analysis of the chemical pressure (CP) scalar field, easily derived from these standard first-principles electronic computations, reveals that CP minima appear just at the precise positions of the nonmetallic elements in typical inorganic crystals presenting the above metallic subarrays: CaF

Molecular walkers standing on two or more “feet” on an anisotropic periodic potential of a crystal surface may perform a one-dimensional Brownian motion at the surface-vacuum interface along a particular direction in which their mobility is the largest. In thermal equilibrium the molecules move with equal probabilities both ways along this direction, as expected from the detailed balance principle, well-known in chemical reactivity and in the theory of molecular motors. For molecules that possess an asymmetric potential energy surface (PES), we propose a generic method based on the application of a time-periodic external stimulus that would enable the molecules to move preferentially in a single direction thereby performing as Brownian ratchets. To illustrate this method, we consider a prototypical synthetic chiral molecular walker, the 1,3-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-5(1- phenylethyl)benzene, diffusing on the anisotropic Cu(110) surface along the Cu rows. As unveiled by our kinetic Monte Carlo simulations based on the rates calculated using ab initio density functional theory, this molecule moves to the nearest equivalent lattice site via the so-called inchworm mechanism in which it steps first with the rear and then with the front foot. As a result, the molecule diffuses via a two-step mechanism, and due to its inherent asymmetry, the corresponding PES is also spatially asymmetric. Taking advantage of this fact, we show how the external stimulus can be tuned to separate molecules of different chirality, orientation and conformation. The consequences of these findings for molecular machines and the separation of enantiomers are also discussed.

Very recently, we have analyzed the nature of chemical interactions in a wide variety of molecules and materials using the chemical pressure (CP) approach. We have shown how this newly developed formalism can be used to identify and visualize different types of chemical bonds based on the attractive and repulsive forces between the constitutive atoms of molecules and materials. In this article, we illustrate the capability of the CP approach to clearly track the bond formation and rupture processes in crystalline solids. Using the indium phosphide crystal as a model system, the evolution of its chemical bonding network is investigated in two different phenomena: (i) along a pressure-induced phase transition mechanism and (ii) after electron beam irradiation of the unit cell. The CP maps show distinctive features related to the local atomic interactions in the crystal structure, providing insights into the chemical nature of any distorted/defective structure throughout these transformation processes. This ...

The characterization of bonding interactions in molecules and materials is one of the major applications of quantum mechanical calculations. Numerous schemes have been devised to identify and visualize chemical bonds, including the electron localization function, quantum theory of atoms in molecules, and natural bond orbital analysis, whereas the energetics of bond formation are generally analyzed in qualitative terms through various forms of energy partitioning schemes. In this Article, we illustrate how the chemical pressure (CP) approach recently developed for analyzing atomic size effects in solid state compounds provides a basis for merging these two approaches, in which bonds are revealed through the forces of attraction and repulsion acting between the atoms. Using a series of model systems that include simple molecules (H2, CO2, and S8), extended structures (graphene and diamond), and systems exhibiting intermolecular interactions (ice and graphite), as well as simple representatives of metallic a...

Using a toolkit of theoretical techniques comprising ab initio density functional theory calculations, the nudged elastic band method and kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) modeling, we investigate in great detail how para-terphenyl-meta-dicarbonitrile (pTmDC) molecules diffuse and isomerize to self-assemble on the Ag(111) surface. We show that molecules "walk" on the surface via a pivoting mechanism moving each of its two "legs" one at a time. We then identify a peculiar "under-side" isomerization mechanism capable of changing the molecules chirality, and demonstrate that it is fundamental in understanding the growth of hydrogen bonding assembles of ribbons, linkers, clusters and brickwall islands on the Ag(111) surface, as observed in recent scanning tunneling microscopy experiments (ChemPhysChem, 2010, 11, 1446). The discovered underlying atomistic mechanism of self-assembly may be behind the growth of other hydrogen bonding structures of chiral molecules on metal surfaces.

International audience; A detailed theoretical study of the structural properties of the phases involved in the pressure-induced polymorphic sequence of AgCl is reported. As many other binary ionic compounds, AgCl crystallizes in the B1 (NaCl-type) structure at ambient pressure and shows a high-pressure B2 (CsCl-type) structure under pressure. However, unlike alkali halides, there is not a direct transformation from one to the other. The greater polarizability of the silver chloride structure enables the stabilization of two other phases in between B1 and B2: the monoclinic (KOH-type) and the orthorhombic (TlI-type, B33) structures. This polymorphic sequence is specially interesting, since a concerted transition pathway within the monoclinic KOH-type symmetry has also been proposed as a transition pathway in the B1 → B2 transformation. This would point at a connection between symmetries that are thermodynamically and kinetically stabilized, with phases that appear under pressure being good candidates for mechanistic analyses. Our calculations yield cell parameters and structural behavior under pressure in overall good agreement with available experimental data for all these phases and extend the information previously observed for the four polymorphs (e.g., compressibilities). Computed transition pressures confirm the B1→KOH-type→B33 sequence. In order to analyze the occurrence of the KOH-type phase between the B1 and B33 phases, we have resorted to the Atoms In Molecules approach to obtain the evolution of charges with pressure. We find that the descent to the KOH-type symmetry provides a continuous change in ionic charges between B1 and B33 phases, which implies a smaller stress. Thus, coupling group–subgroup relationships to chemical bond analysis can provide microscopic insight into why a given symmetry is favored.

Structural, thermodynamic and electronic properties of CdGeAs2 with chalcopyrite structure are investigated in the framework of density functional theory. We employ the linear combination of atomic orbitals method with the Gaussian basis sets and present the results for the equation of state, the Grconstant, the electronic band structure and the pressure coefficients of the valence and conduction levels in CdGeAs2.

Unrestricted Hartree–Fock calcuations coupled with second-order Moller–Plesset correlation correction were performed to study the structures and energetics of microlusters. For (BN)2, linear and rhombus forms are almost isoenergetic, whereas cyclic forms are preferable for (BN)3 and (BN)4 clusters. As a general trend, linear isomers prefer the triplet spin state, whereas cyclic isomers prefer the singlet spin state. Total charge density plots show a strong dominace of the BN bond, indicating that the extent of its polar character becomes stronger with the increase in the cluster size. The loss of a BN monomer is shown to be the most likely fragmentation channel for both neutral and single-ionized clusters. We find that neutral (BN)n clusters have the same structural configurations as those of their corresponding C2n counterparts. This similarity follows the isoelectronic principle and is of importance due to recent interest in the investigations of BN fullerene analogs. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

We report ab initio molecular orbital calculations on neutral and single‐ionized stoichiometric clusters of MgO containing up to 26 atoms. Geometrical parameters of the neutral clusters are optimized at the Hartree–Fock level, whereas for the ionized clusters we have applied the vertical approximation. Correlation corrections in the clusters with 2–12 atoms are included at the equilibrium geometries by means of second order Moller–Plesset calculations. We have found that the structures based on the (MgO)3 subunit are preferred in comparison to cubelike configurations, although the energy difference decreases with the increase in cluster size. The relative stability of neutral and single‐ionized clusters has been studied by means of the fragmentation path involving the loss of a neutral MgO molecule. The calculated ‘‘magic numbers’’ for the charged clusters, (MgO)n+, are in complete agreement with the abundance maxima observed in the mass spectra. Finally, we explore the size dependence of structural, ener...

The main features of a new computational code aimed at the topological analysis of the electron localization function (ELF) in crystals are hereby presented. Besides the complete localization of all critical points, the code is able to determine the limiting surfaces that define the chemical regions associated with the so-found maxima (or attractors) of the ELF. Hence, integrations of density operators within these basins provide charges and volumes to cores, bonds and lone pairs. Two illustrative applications have been selected. Firstly, we examine the Z dependence of basin compressibilities in the elements of the first two rows of the periodic table, and secondly, we focus our attention on the chemical changes across the pathway of the zinc blende–rocksalt phase transition in BeO.

We introduce and discuss an interpretative model of the structure and bonding of inorganic crystals containing metallic elements. The central idea is the conception of the crystal structure of such an inorganic compound as a metallic matrix whose geometric and electronic structures govern the formation and localization of the anions in the lattice. This is the reason for labelling the model anions in metallic matrices (AMM). Taking the AlX3 crystal family (X = F, Cl, OH) as a suitable test-bed class of compounds, we illustrate how this approach gives a direct interpretation of the crystalline structures and explains the variable coordination that Al exhibits in crystalline materials. An exhaustive analysis of the topology of the electron density allows us to provide a quantum-mechanical assessment of the main hypotheses of the AMM model and to uncover, using microscopic arguments, the behavior of anions as chemical pressure agents.