First-Principles Analysis of the Stability of Water on the Oxidised and Reduced CuO(111) Surface

Author(s):  
Marco Fronzi ◽  
Michael Nolan

<div>We use fi rst-principles Density Functional Theory calculations with inclusion of the Hubbard +U correction (DFT+U) on the Cu 3d states, to investigate the interaction of water with the CuO(111) surface. We compute adsorption energies and the stability of different water coverages, with a particular focus on the interaction of water with oxygen vacancy sites, and how vacancy stabilization occurs. We study energetics, geometry and electronic structure of relevant confi gurations finding that there are only small changes to the local geometry around the water adsorption site(s) and the electronic properties. The inclusion of van der Waals interactions has no signi ficant impact on the stability of water on CuO(111). We extend the analysis to include realistic environmental conditions within the ab-initio atomistic thermodynamics framework, which allows us to assess the stability of the water/copper-oxide system as a function of ambient conditions, and focus on three important surface processes: water adsorption/desorption on the stoichiometric surface, conditions for dissociation, and oxygen vacancy stabilization. </div>

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Julio Gutierrez Moreno ◽  
Marco Fronzi ◽  
Pierre Lovera ◽  
alan O'Riordan ◽  
Mike J Ford ◽  
...  

<p></p><p>Interfacial metal-oxide systems with ultrathin oxide layers are of high interest for their use in catalysis. In this study, we present a density functional theory (DFT) investigation of the structure of ultrathin rutile layers (one and two TiO<sub>2</sub> layers) supported on TiN and the stability of water on these interfacial structures. The rutile layers are stabilized on the TiN surface through the formation of interfacial Ti–O bonds. Charge transfer from the TiN substrate leads to the formation of reduced Ti<sup>3+</sup> cations in TiO<sub>2.</sub> The structure of the one-layer oxide slab is strongly distorted at the interface, while the thicker TiO<sub>2</sub> layer preserves the rutile structure. The energy cost for the formation of a single O vacancy in the one-layer oxide slab is only 0.5 eV with respect to the ideal interface. For the two-layer oxide slab, the introduction of several vacancies in an already non-stoichiometric system becomes progressively more favourable, which indicates the stability of the highly non-stoichiometric interfaces. Isolated water molecules dissociate when adsorbed at the TiO<sub>2</sub> layers. At higher coverages the preference is for molecular water adsorption. Our ab initio thermodynamics calculations show the fully water covered stoichiometric models as the most stable structure at typical ambient conditions. Interfacial models with multiple vacancies are most stable at low (reducing) oxygen chemical potential values. A water monolayer adsorbs dissociatively on the highly distorted 2-layer TiO<sub>1.75</sub>-TiN interface, where the Ti<sup>3+</sup> states lying above the top of the valence band contribute to a significant reduction of the energy gap compared to the stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub>-TiN model. Our results provide a guide for the design of novel interfacial systems containing ultrathin TiO<sub>2</sub> with potential application as photocatalytic water splitting devices.</p><p></p>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Julio Gutierrez Moreno ◽  
Marco Fronzi ◽  
Pierre Lovera ◽  
alan O'Riordan ◽  
Mike J Ford ◽  
...  

<p></p><p>Interfacial metal-oxide systems with ultrathin oxide layers are of high interest for their use in catalysis. In this study, we present a density functional theory (DFT) investigation of the structure of ultrathin rutile layers (one and two TiO<sub>2</sub> layers) supported on TiN and the stability of water on these interfacial structures. The rutile layers are stabilized on the TiN surface through the formation of interfacial Ti–O bonds. Charge transfer from the TiN substrate leads to the formation of reduced Ti<sup>3+</sup> cations in TiO<sub>2.</sub> The structure of the one-layer oxide slab is strongly distorted at the interface, while the thicker TiO<sub>2</sub> layer preserves the rutile structure. The energy cost for the formation of a single O vacancy in the one-layer oxide slab is only 0.5 eV with respect to the ideal interface. For the two-layer oxide slab, the introduction of several vacancies in an already non-stoichiometric system becomes progressively more favourable, which indicates the stability of the highly non-stoichiometric interfaces. Isolated water molecules dissociate when adsorbed at the TiO<sub>2</sub> layers. At higher coverages the preference is for molecular water adsorption. Our ab initio thermodynamics calculations show the fully water covered stoichiometric models as the most stable structure at typical ambient conditions. Interfacial models with multiple vacancies are most stable at low (reducing) oxygen chemical potential values. A water monolayer adsorbs dissociatively on the highly distorted 2-layer TiO<sub>1.75</sub>-TiN interface, where the Ti<sup>3+</sup> states lying above the top of the valence band contribute to a significant reduction of the energy gap compared to the stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub>-TiN model. Our results provide a guide for the design of novel interfacial systems containing ultrathin TiO<sub>2</sub> with potential application as photocatalytic water splitting devices.</p><p></p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 141-145
Author(s):  
Jorge Labella ◽  
Elisa López-Serrano ◽  
Tomás Torres

The great potential of subphthalocyanines (SubPcs) to stabilize boron peroxides has been demonstrated. In particular, a subphthalocyanato boron (III) peroxide has been prepared in good yield via boron triflate. This derivative is remarkably stable under ambient conditions and can be fully characterized. The impact of the peroxide group on the structural and optoelectronic properties of SubPc was examined by NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopies, as well as single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Moreover, density functional theory calculations were performed to explain the experimental results. The reactivity of this peculiar boron peroxide as an oxidant and a Lewis base was also studied.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Julio Gutierrez Moreno ◽  
Marco Fronzi ◽  
Pierre Lovera ◽  
alan O'Riordan ◽  
Mike J Ford ◽  
...  

<p></p><p>Interfacial metal-oxide systems with ultrathin oxide layers are of high interest for their use in catalysis. In this study, we present a density functional theory (DFT) investigation of the structure of ultrathin rutile layers (one and two TiO<sub>2</sub> layers) supported on TiN and the stability of water on these interfacial structures. The rutile layers are stabilized on the TiN surface through the formation of interfacial Ti–O bonds. Charge transfer from the TiN substrate leads to the formation of reduced Ti<sup>3+</sup> cations in TiO<sub>2.</sub> The structure of the one-layer oxide slab is strongly distorted at the interface, while the thicker TiO<sub>2</sub> layer preserves the rutile structure. The energy cost for the formation of a single O vacancy in the one-layer oxide slab is only 0.5 eV with respect to the ideal interface. For the two-layer oxide slab, the introduction of several vacancies in an already non-stoichiometric system becomes progressively more favourable, which indicates the stability of the highly non-stoichiometric interfaces. Isolated water molecules dissociate when adsorbed at the TiO<sub>2</sub> layers. At higher coverages the preference is for molecular water adsorption. Our ab initio thermodynamics calculations show the fully water covered stoichiometric models as the most stable structure at typical ambient conditions. Interfacial models with multiple vacancies are most stable at low (reducing) oxygen chemical potential values. A water monolayer adsorbs dissociatively on the highly distorted 2-layer TiO<sub>1.75</sub>-TiN interface, where the Ti<sup>3+</sup> states lying above the top of the valence band contribute to a significant reduction of the energy gap compared to the stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub>-TiN model. Our results provide a guide for the design of novel interfacial systems containing ultrathin TiO<sub>2</sub> with potential application as photocatalytic water splitting devices.</p><p></p>


Author(s):  
Javaria Batool ◽  
Syed Muhammad Alay-e-Abbas ◽  
Gustav Johansson ◽  
Waqas Zulfiqar ◽  
Muhammad Arsam Danish ◽  
...  

The thermodynamic, structural, magnetic and electronic properties of pristine and intrinsic vacancy defect containing topological Dirac semimetal Ba3SnO are studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations. The thermodynamic stability of...


RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (61) ◽  
pp. 37142-37152
Author(s):  
Yi X. Wang ◽  
Ying Y. Liu ◽  
Zheng X. Yan ◽  
W. Liu ◽  
Jian B. Gu

The phase stabilities, elastic anisotropies, and thermal conductivities of ReB2 diborides under ambient conditions have been investigated by using density functional theory calculations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (66) ◽  
pp. 9501-9504
Author(s):  
Kristen A. Pace ◽  
Vladislav V. Klepov ◽  
Matthew S. Christian ◽  
Gregory Morrison ◽  
Travis K. Deason ◽  
...  

The stability of the novel Pu(iv) silicate, Cs2PuSi6O15, was predicted from a combination of crystal chemical reasoning and DFT calculations and confirmed by its synthesis via flux crystal growth.


Crystals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Geng ◽  
Tiange Bi ◽  
Niloofar Zarifi ◽  
Yan Yan ◽  
Eva Zurek

Interest in Na-S compounds stems from their use in battery materials at 1 atm, as well as the potential for superconductivity under pressure. Evolutionary structure searches coupled with Density Functional Theory calculations were employed to predict stable and low-lying metastable phases of sodium poor and sodium rich sulfides at 1 atm and within 100–200 GPa. At ambient pressures, four new stable or metastable phases with unbranched sulfur motifs were predicted: Na2S3 with C 2 / c and Imm2 symmetry, C 2 -Na2S5 and C 2 -Na2S8. Van der Waals interactions were shown to affect the energy ordering of various polymorphs. At high pressure, several novel phases that contained a wide variety of zero-, one-, and two-dimensional sulfur motifs were predicted, and their electronic structures and bonding were analyzed. At 200 GPa, P 4 / m m m -Na2S8 was predicted to become superconducting below 15.5 K, which is close to results previously obtained for the β -Po phase of elemental sulfur. The structures of the most stable M3S and M4S, M = Na, phases differed from those previously reported for compounds with M = H, Li, K.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hocine Chorfi ◽  
Álvaro Lobato ◽  
Fahima Boudjada ◽  
Miguel A. Salvadó ◽  
Ruth Franco ◽  
...  

Understanding the stability limit of crystalline materials under variable tensile stress conditions is of capital interest for technological applications. In this study, we present results from first-principles density functional theory calculations that quantitatively account for the response of selected covalent and layered materials to general stress conditions. In particular, we have evaluated the ideal strength along the main crystallographic directions of 3C and 2H polytypes of SiC, hexagonal ABA stacking of graphite and 2H-MoS 2 . Transverse superimposed stress on the tensile stress was taken into account in order to evaluate how the critical strength is affected by these multi-load conditions. In general, increasing transverse stress from negative to positive values leads to the expected decreasing of the critical strength. Few exceptions found in the compressive stress region correlate with the trends in the density of bonds along the directions with the unexpected behavior. In addition, we propose a modified spinodal equation of state able to accurately describe the calculated stress–strain curves. This analytical function is of general use and can also be applied to experimental data anticipating critical strengths and strain values, and for providing information on the energy stored in tensile stress processes.


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