We present a density-functional theory based Wulff construction of the equilibrium shape of RuO2 particles in an oxygen environment. The obtained intricate variations of the crystal habit with the oxygen chemical potential allow for a detailed discussion of the dependence on the oxidizing pretreatment observed in recent powder catalyst studies. The analysis specifically indicates an incomplete particle shape equilibration in previously employed low temperature calcination. Equilibrated particles could be active CO oxidation catalysts with long-term stability in oxidizing feed and then represent an interesting alternative to the previously suggested core-shell concept.
By means of ab-initio calculations, we have investigated the chemisorption paroperties of ethanol onto segregating binary nanoalloys. We select nanostructures with icosahedral shape of 55 atoms with a Pt outermost layer over a M core with M=Ag,Pd,Ni.
With respect to nanofilms with equivalent composition, there is an increse of the ethanol binding energy. This is not merely due to observed shortening of the Pt-O distance but depends on the nanoparticle distortion after ethanol adsorption. This geometrical distortion within the nanoparticle can be interpreted as a radial breathing, which is sensitive to the adsortion site, identified by the O-anchor point and the relative positions of the ethyl group. More interestingly, being core-dependent -larger in Pd@Pt and smaller in Ni@Pt-, it relates to an effective electron transfer from ethanol and the M-core towards the Pt-shell. On the view of this new analysis, Pd@Pt nanoalloys show the most promissing features for ethanol oxidation.
Wannier tight-binding models are effective models constructed from first-principles calculations. As such, they bridge a gap between the accuracy of first-principles calculations and the computational simplicity of effective models. In this work, we
extend the existing methodology of creating Wannier tight-binding models from first-principles calculations by introducing the symmetrization post-processing step, which enables the production of Wannier-like models that respect the symmetries of the considered crystal. Furthermore, we implement automatic workflows, which allow for producing a large number of tight-binding models for large classes of chemically and structurally similar compounds, or materials subject to external influence such as strain. As a particular illustration, these workflows are applied to strained III-V semiconductor materials. These results can be used for further study of topological phase transitions in III-V quantum wells.
We report first principles calculations of the phonon dispersions of PbTe both for its observed structure and under compression. At the experimental lattice parameter we find a near instability of the optic branch at the zone center, in accord with e
xperimental observations.This hardens quickly towards the zone boundary. There is also a very strong volume dependence of this mode, which is rapidly driven away from an instability by compression. These results are discussed inrelation to the thermal conductivity of the material.
Co-based nanostructures ranging from core-shell to hollow nanoparticles were produced by varying the reaction time and the chemical environment during the thermal decomposition of Co2(CO)8. Both structural characterization and kinetic model simulatio
n illustrate that the diffusivities of Co and oxygen determine the growth ratio and the final morphology of the nanoparticles. Exchange coupling between Co and Co-oxide in core/shell nanoparticles induced a shift of field-cooled hysteresis loops that is proportional to the shell thickness, as verified by numerical studies. The increased nanocomplexity when going from core/shell to hollow particles, also leads to the appearance of hysteresis above 300 K due to an enhancement of the surface anisotropy resulting from the additional spin-disordered surfaces.
The structural evolution and dynamics of silver nanodrops Ag${}_{2896}$ (4.4 nm in diameter) during rapid cooling conditions has been studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations and electronic density of state calculations. The interaction of
silver atoms is modeled by a tight-binding semiempirical interatomic potential proposed by Cleri and Rosato. The pair correlation functions and the pair analysis technique is applied to reveal the structural transition in the process of solidification. It is shown that Ag nanoparticles evolve into different nanostructures under different cooling processes. At a cooling rate of $1.5625times10^{13} Ks^{-1}$ the nanoparticles preserve an amorphous like structure containing a large amount of 1551 and 1541 pairs which correspond to the icosahedral symmetry. For a lower cooling rate ($1.5625times10^{12} Ks^{-1}$), the nanoparticles transform into a crystal-like structure consisting mainly of 1421 and 1422 pairs which correspond to the fcc and hcp structures, respectively. The variations of the electronic density of states for the differently cooled nanoparticles are small but in correspondence with the structural changes.
Tongyu Wang
,Jelena Jelic
,Dirk Rosenthal
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(2013)
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"Exploring Morphology-Activity Relationships: Ab Initio Wulff Construction for RuO2 Nanoparticles under Oxidizing Conditions"
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Tongyu Wang
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