scholarly journals Theoretical Study on the Lewis Acidity of the Pristine AlF3 and Cl-Doped α-AlF3 Surfaces

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
Christian Becker ◽  
Thomas Braun ◽  
Beate Paulus

In the past two decades, metal fluorides have gained importance in the field of heterogenous catalysis of bond activation reaction, e.g., hydrofluorination. One of the most investigated metal fluorides is AlF3. Together with its chlorine-doped analogon aluminiumchlorofluoride (AlClxF3−x, x = 0.05–0.3; abbreviated ACF), it has attracted much attention due to its application in catalysis. Various surface models for α-AlF3 and their chlorinated analogues (as representatives of amorphous ACF) are investigated with respect to their Lewis acidity of the active centres. First-principle density functional theory (DFT) methods with dispersion correction are used to determine the adsorption structure and energy of the probe molecules CO and NH3. The corresponding vibrational frequency shift agrees well with the measured values. With this insight we predict the local structure of the active sites and can clarify the importance of secondary interactions to the local anionic surrounding of the catalytic site.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Anderson ◽  
Thomas Cundari

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} <p>Density functional theory and ab initio calculations indicate that nucleophiles can significantly reduce enthalpic barriers to methane C–H bond activation. Different pieces of evidence point to an electrostatic origin for the nucleophile effect such as the sensitivity of the C–H activation barriers to the external nucleophile and to continuum solvent polarity. The data further imply a transition state with significant charge build-up on the active hydrogen of the hydrocarbon substrate. From the present modeling studies, one may propose proteins with hydrophobic active sites, available nucleophiles, and hydrogen bond donors as attractive targets for the engineering of novel methane functionalizing enzymes.</p>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Anderson ◽  
Thomas Cundari

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} <p>Density functional theory and ab initio calculations indicate that nucleophiles can significantly reduce enthalpic barriers to methane C–H bond activation. Different pieces of evidence point to an electrostatic origin for the nucleophile effect such as the sensitivity of the C–H activation barriers to the external nucleophile and to continuum solvent polarity. The data further imply a transition state with significant charge build-up on the active hydrogen of the hydrocarbon substrate. From the present modeling studies, one may propose proteins with hydrophobic active sites, available nucleophiles, and hydrogen bond donors as attractive targets for the engineering of novel methane functionalizing enzymes.</p>


Inorganics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riddhish Pandharkar ◽  
Christian Becker ◽  
Johannes Budau ◽  
Zeinab Kaawar ◽  
Beate Paulus

By applying first principles density functional theory (DFT) methods, different metal fluorides and their surfaces have been characterized. One of the most investigated metal fluorides is AlF3 in different polymorphs. Its chloride-doped analogon AlClxF3−x (ACF) has recently attracted much attention due to its application in catalysis. After presenting a summary of different first-principle studies on the bulk and surface properties of different main group fluorides, we will revisit the problem of the stability of different α -AlF3 surfaces and extend the investigation to chloride-doped counterparts to simulate the surface properties of amorphous ACF. For each material, we have considered ten different surface cuts with their respective terminations. We found that terminations of ( 01 1 ¯ 0 ) and ( 11 2 ¯ 0 ) yield the most stable surfaces for α -AlF3 and for the chlorine substituted surfaces. A potential equilibrium shape of the crystal for both α -AlF3 and ACF is visualized by a Wulff construction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Lin ◽  
Linwei Yao ◽  
Shaofei Li ◽  
Zhengguang Shi ◽  
Kun Xie ◽  
...  

AbstractFinding the active sites of suitable metal oxides is a key prerequisite for detecting CH$$_4$$ 4 . The purpose of the paper is to investigate the adsorption of CH$$_4$$ 4 on intrinsic and oxygen-vacancies CuO (111) and (110) surfaces using density functional theory calculations. The results show that CH$$_4$$ 4 has a strong adsorption energy of −0.370 to 0.391 eV at all site on the CuO (110) surface. The adsorption capacity of CH$$_4$$ 4 on CuO (111) surface is weak, ranging from −0.156 to −0.325 eV. In the surface containing oxygen vacancies, the adsorption capacity of CuO surface to CH$$_4$$ 4 is significantly stronger than that of intrinsic CuO surface. The results indicate that CuO (110) has strong adsorption and charge transfer capacity for CH$$_4$$ 4 , which may provide experimental guidance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongrong Li ◽  
Xinzheng Yang

Density functional theory computations revealed a pivalic acid assisted C−H bond activation mechanism for rhodium catalyzed formation of α-branched amines with C−C and C−N bond couplings. The reaction energies of...


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3496
Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Kolosov ◽  
Olga E. Glukhova

In this work, using the first-principle density functional theory (DFT) method, we study the properties of a new material based on pillared graphene and the icosahedral clusters of boron B12 as a supercapacitor electrode material. The new composite material demonstrates a high specific quantum capacitance, specific charge density, and a negative value of heat of formation, which indicates its efficiency. It is shown that the density of electronic states increases during the addition of clusters, which predictably leads to an increase in the electrode conductivity. We predict that the use of a composite based on pillared graphene and boron will increase the efficiency of existing supercapacitors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl E. Belle ◽  
Vural Aksakalli ◽  
Salvy P. Russo

AbstractFor photovoltaic materials, properties such as band gap $$E_{g}$$ E g are critical indicators of the material’s suitability to perform a desired function. Calculating $$E_{g}$$ E g is often performed using Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods, although more accurate calculation are performed using methods such as the GW approximation. DFT software often used to compute electronic properties includes applications such as VASP, CRYSTAL, CASTEP or Quantum Espresso. Depending on the unit cell size and symmetry of the material, these calculations can be computationally expensive. In this study, we present a new machine learning platform for the accurate prediction of properties such as $$E_{g}$$ E g of a wide range of materials.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 3631
Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Deghady ◽  
Rageh K. Hussein ◽  
Abdulrahman G. Alhamzani ◽  
Abeer Mera

The present investigation informs a descriptive study of 1-(4-Hydroxyphenyl) -3-phenylprop-2-en-1-one compound, by using density functional theory at B3LYP method with 6-311G** basis set. The oxygen atoms and π-system revealed a high chemical reactivity for the title compound as electron donor spots and active sites for an electrophilic attack. Quantum chemical parameters such as hardness (η), softness (S), electronegativity (χ), and electrophilicity (ω) were yielded as descriptors for the molecule’s chemical behavior. The optimized molecular structure was obtained, and the experimental data were matched with geometrical analysis values describing the molecule’s stable structure. The computed FT-IR and Raman vibrational frequencies were in good agreement with those observed experimentally. In a molecular docking study, the inhibitory potential of the studied molecule was evaluated against the penicillin-binding proteins of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The carbonyl group in the molecule was shown to play a significant role in antibacterial activity, four bonds were formed by the carbonyl group with the key protein of the bacteria (three favorable hydrogen bonds plus one van der Waals bond) out of six interactions. The strong antibacterial activity was also indicated by the calculated high binding energy (−7.40 kcal/mol).


Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Shimada ◽  
Koichiro Minaguro ◽  
Tao Xu ◽  
Jie Wang ◽  
Takayuki Kitamura

Beyond a ferroelectric critical thickness of several nanometers existed in conventional ferroelectric perovskite oxides, ferroelectricity in ultimately thin dimensions was recently discovered in SnTe monolayers. This discovery suggests the possibility that SnTe can sustain ferroelectricity during further low-dimensional miniaturization. Here, we investigate a ferroelectric critical size of low-dimensional SnTe nanostructures such as nanoribbons (1D) and nanoflakes (0D) using first-principle density-functional theory calculations. We demonstrate that the smallest (one-unit-cell width) SnTe nanoribbon can sustain ferroelectricity and there is no ferroelectric critical size in the SnTe nanoribbons. On the other hand, the SnTe nanoflakes form a vortex of polarization and lose their toroidal ferroelectricity below the surface area of 4 × 4 unit cells (about 25 Å on one side). We also reveal the atomic and electronic mechanism of the absence or presence of critical size in SnTe low-dimensional nanostructures. Our result provides an insight into intrinsic ferroelectric critical size for low-dimensional chalcogenide layered materials.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2150154
Author(s):  
Wenchao Tian ◽  
Jiahao Niu ◽  
Wenhua Li ◽  
Xiaohan Liu

The two-dimensional (2D) plane of graphene has many active sites for gas adsorption. It has broad application prospects in the field of MEMS gas sensors. At present, there are many experimental studies on graphene gas sensors, but it is difficult to accurately control various influencing factors in the experiments. Therefore, this paper applies the first principle based on density functional theory to study the adsorption and detection characteristics of graphene on CO and CO2. The first-principles analysis method was used to study the adsorption characteristics and sensitivity of graphene. The results show that the inductive graphene has a sensitivity of 1.55% and 0.77% for CO and CO2, respectively. The Stone–Wales defects and multi-vacancy defects have greatly improved the sensitivity of graphene to CO, which is 35.25% and 4.14%, respectively. Introduction of defects increases the sensitivity of detection of CO and CO2, but also improves the selective gas detection material of these two gases. Thus, the control and selectively introducing defects may improve the detection accuracy of the graphene CO and CO2.


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