No Arabic abstract
In this study we investigated by means of density functional theory calculations the adsorption geometry and bonding mechanism of a single thymine (C$_5$H$_6$N$_2$O$_2$) molecule on Cu(110) surface. In the most stable energetic configuration, the molecular plane is oriented perpendicular to substrate along the $[1bar{1}0]$ direction. For this adsorption geometry, the thymine molecule interacts with the surface via a deprotonated nitrogen atom and two oxygen ones such that the bonding mechanism involves a strong hybridization between the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and the d-states of the substrate. In the case of a parallel adsorption geometry, the long-range van der Waals interactions play an important role on both the molecule-surface geometry and adsorption energy. Their specific role was analyzed by means of a semi-empirical and the seamless methods. In particular, for a planar configuration, the inclusion of the dispersion effects dramatically changes the character of the adsorption process from physisorption to chemisorption. Finally, we predict the real-space topography of the molecule-surface interface by simulating scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images. From these simulations we anticipate that only certain adsorption geometries can be imaged in STM experiments.
Detailed physisorption data from experiment for the H_2 molecule on low-index Cu surfaces challenge theory. Recently, density-functional theory (DFT) has been developed to account for nonlocal correlation effects, including van der Waals (dispersion) forces. We show that the functional vdW-DF2 gives a potential-energy curve, potential-well energy levels, and difference in lateral corrugation promisingly close to the results obtained by resonant elastic backscattering-diffraction experiments. The backscattering barrier is found selective for choice of exchange-functional approximation. Further, the DFT-D3 and TS-vdW corrections to traditional DFT formulations are also benchmarked, and deviations are analyzed.
A calculational study of the trihalomethanes chloroform (CHCl_3) and bromoform (CHBr_3) adsorbed on graphene is presented. The study uses the van der Waals density functional method vdW-DF to obtain adsorption energies and adsorption structures for these molecules of environmental concern. In this study chloroform is found to adsorb with the H atom pointing away from graphene, with adsorption energy 357 meV (34.4 kJ/mol). For bromoform the calculated adsorption energy is 404 meV (39.0 kJ/mol). The corrugation of graphene as seen by chloroform is small, the difference in adsorption energy along the graphene plane is less than 6 meV.
Using density functional theory (DFT) methods, we have calculated X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray circular dichroism (XMCD) spectra in bulk and thin films of Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$, CrI$_3$, and CrGeTe$_3$. DFT+$U$ methods are employed for better handling of correlation effects of 3$d$ electrons of transition metals. We discuss relations between the density of states, radial matrix elements, and the corresponding spectra. By comparing the calculated spectra with previously measured spectra, we discuss the reliability of DFT+$U$ methods to describe the electronic structures of these materials and determine the corresponding optimal $U$ and $J$ parameters.
We study adsorption sites of a single Xe adatom on Nb(110) surface using a density functional theory approach: The on-top site is the most favorable position for the adsorption. We compare the binding features of the present study to earlier studies of a Xe adatom on close-packed (111) surface of face-centered cubic metals. The different features are attributed through a microscopic picture to the less than half filled d-states in Nb.
The past few years has brought renewed focus on the physics behind the class of materials characterized by long-range interactions and wide regions of low electron density, sparse matter. There is now much work on developing the appropriate algorithms and codes able to correctly describe this class of materials within a parameter-free quantum physical description. In particular, van der Waals (vdW) forces play a major role in building up material cohesion in sparse matter. This work presents an application to the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) bulk structure of t