No Arabic abstract
We obtain parameters for non-orthogonal and orthogonal TB models from two-atomic molecules for all combinations of elements of period 1 to 6 and group 3 to 18 of the periodic table. The TB bond parameters for 1711 homoatomic and heteroatomic dimers show clear chemical trends. In particular, using our parameters we compare to the rectangular d-band model, the reduced sp TB model as well as canonical TB models for sp- and d-valent systems which have long been used to gain qualitative insight into the interatomic bond. The transferability of our dimer-based TB bond parameters to bulk systems is discussed exemplarily for the bulk ground-state structures of Mo and Si. Our dimer-based TB bond parameters provide a well-defined and promising starting point for developing refined TB parameterizations and for making the insight of TB available for guiding materials design across the periodic table.
The self-consistent charge density functional tight-binding (DFTB) theory is a useful tool for realizing the electronic structures of large molecular complex systems. In this study, we analyze the electronic structure of C61, formed by fullerene C60 with a carbon adatom, using the fully localized limit and pseudo self-interaction correction methods of DFTB to adjust the Hubbard U parameter (DFTB+U). The results show that both the methods used to adjust U can significantly reduce the molecular orbital energy of occupied states localized on the defect carbon atom and improve the gap between highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO) of C61. This work will provide a methodological reference point for future DFTB calculations of the electronic structures of carbon materials.
The time-dependent density functional based tight-binding (TD-DFTB) approach is generalized to account for fractional occupations. In addition, an on-site correction leads to marked qualitative and quantitative improvements over the original method. Especially, the known failure of TD-DFTB for the description of sigma -> pi* and n -> pi* excitations is overcome. Benchmark calculations on a large set of organic molecules also indicate a better description of triplet states. The accuracy of the revised TD-DFTB method is found to be similar to first principles TD-DFT calculations at a highly reduced computational cost. As a side issue, we also discuss the generalization of the TD-DFTB method to spin-polarized systems. In contrast to an earlier study [Trani et al., JCTC 7 3304 (2011)], we obtain a formalism that is fully consistent with the use of local exchange-correlation functionals in the ground state DFTB method.
An earlier analysis of manganese oxides in various charge states indicated that free-atom term values and universal coupling gave a reasonable account of the cohesion. This approach is here extended to LaxSr(1-x)MnO3 in a perovskite structure, and a wide range of properties, with comparable success, including the cohesion, as a function of x. Magnetic and electronic properties are treated in terms of the same parameters and the cluster orbitals used for cohesion. This includes an estimate of the Neel and Curie-Weiss temperatures for SrMnO3, an antiferromagnetic insulator, and the magnitude of a Jahn-Teller distortion in LaMnO3 which makes it also insulating with (100) ferromagnetic planes (due to a novel double-exchange for the distorted state), antiferromagnetically stacked, as observed. We estimate the Neel temperature and its volume dependence, and the ferromagnetic Curie-Weiss temperature which applies between the Neel and Jahn-Teller temperatures. We expect hopping conductivity when there is doping (0<x<1) and estimate it in the context of small-polaron theory. It is in accord with experiment between the Neel and Jahn-Teller temperatures, but below the Neel temperature the conduction appears to be band-like, for which we estimate a hole mass as enhanced in large-polaron theory. We see that above the Jahn-Teller temperature LaMnO3 should be metallic as observed, and paramagnetic with a ferromagnetic Curie-Weiss constant which we estimate. Many of these predictions are not so accurate, but are sufficiently close to provide a clear understanding of all of these properties in terms of a simple theory and parameters known at the outset. We provide also these parameters for Fe, Co, and Ca so that formulae for the properties can readily be evaluated for similar systems.
Octahedral Fe$^{2+}$ molecules are particularly interesting as they often exhibit a spin-crossover transition. In spite of the many efforts aimed at assessing the performances of density functional theory for such systems, an exchange-correlation functional able to account accurately for the energetic of the various possible spin-states has not been identified yet. Here we critically discuss the issues related to the theoretical description of this class of molecules from first principles. In particular we present a comparison between different density functionals for four ions, namely [Fe(H$_2$O)$_6$]$^{2+}$, [Fe(NH$_3$)$_6$]$^{2+}$, [Fe(NCH)$_6$]$^{2+}$ and [Fe(CO)$_6$]$^{2+}$. These are characterized by different ligand-field splittings and ground state spin multiplicities. Since no experimental data are available for the gas phase, the density functional theory results are benchmarked against those obtained with diffusion Monte Carlo, one of the most accurate methods available to compute ground state total energies of quantum systems. On the one hand, we show that most of the functionals considered provide a good description of the geometry and of the shape of the potential energy surfaces. On the other hand, the same functionals fail badly in predicting the energy differences between the various spin states. In the case of [Fe(H$_2$O)$_6$]$^{2+}$, [Fe(NH$_3$)$_6$]$^{2+}$, [Fe(NCH)$_6$]$^{2+}$, this failure is related to the drastic underestimation of the exchange energy. Therefore quite accurate results can be achieved with hybrid functionals including about 50% of Hartree-Fock exchange. In contrast, in the case of [Fe(CO)$_6$]$^{2+}$, the failure is likely to be caused by the multiconfigurational character of the ground state wave-function and no suitable exchange and correlation functional has been identified.
The electronic structure is found to be understandable in terms of free-atom term values and universal interorbital coupling parameters, since self-consistent tight-binding calculations indicate that Coulomb shifts of the d-state energies are small. Special-point averages over the bands are seen to be equivalent to treatment of local octahedral clusters. The cohesive energy per manganese for MnO, Mn2O3, and MnO2, in which manganese exists in valence states Mn2+, Mn3+, and Mn4+, is very nearly the same and dominated by the transfer of manganese s electrons to oxygen p states. There are small corrections, one eV per Mn in all cases, from couplings of minority-spin states. Transferring one majority-spin electron from an upper cluster state to a nonbonding oxygen state adds 1.67 eV to the cohesion for Mn2O3, and two transfers adds twice that for MnO2 . The electronic and magnetic properties are consistent with this description and appear to be understandable in terms of the same parameters.