Metallo-Anti-aromatic Al4Na4 and Al4Na3- compounds: A theoretical investigation

We propose a theoretical investigation in this paper to understand the bonding and structural properties of neutral Al4Na4 and anion Al4Na3- clusters. We show that the Al4 species in Al4Na4 and Al4Na3- clusters is a rectangular planar structure with alternate pi-bonds and hence satisfying the basic criteria for anti-aromaticity. We prove that the Al4Na4 and Al4Na3- clusters are metallo-anti-aromatic compounds

Structural, electronic and bonding properties of zeolite Sn-Beta: A periodic density functional theory study

The structural, electronic and the bonding properties of the Sn-BEA are investigated by using the periodic density functional theory. Each of the 9 different T-sites in the BEA were substituted by the Sn atom and all the 9 geometries were completely optimized using the plane wave basis set in conjunction with the ultra-soft pseudopotential. On the basis of the structural and the electronic properties, it has been demonstrated that the substitution of the Sn atom in the BEA framework is an endothermic process and hence the incorporation of the Sn in the BEA is limited. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) energies have been used to characterize the Lewis acidity of each T-site. On the basis of the relative cohesive energy and the LUMO energy, T2 site is shown to be the most favorable site for the substitution of Sn atom in the BEA framework.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, 2 Table

Machine-Learned Potential Energy Surfaces for Free Sodium Clusters with Density Functional Accuracy: Applications to Melting

Gaussian Process Regression-based Gaussian Approximation Potential has been used to develop machine-learned interatomic potentials having density-functional accuracy for free sodium clusters. The training data was generated from a large sample of over 100,000 data points computed for clusters in the size range of N = 40 - 200, using the density-functional method as implemented in the VASP package. Two models have been developed, model M1 using data for N=55 only, and model M2 using additional data from larger clusters. The models are intended for computing thermodynamic properties using molecular dynamics. Hence, particular attention has been paid to improve the fitting of the forces. Interestingly, it turns out that the best fit can be obtained by carefully selecting a smaller number of data points viz. 1,900 and 1,300 configurations, respectively, for the two models M1 and M2. Although it was possible to obtain a good fit using the data of Na55 only, additional data points from larger clusters were needed to get better accuracies in energies and forces for larger sizes. Surprisingly, the model M1 could be significantly improved by adding about 50 data points per cluster from the larger sizes. Both models have been deployed to compute the heat capacities of Na55 and Na147 and to obtain about 40 isomers for larger clusters of sizes N = 147, 200, 201, and 252. There is an excellent agreement between the computed and experimentally measured melting temperatures. The geometries of these isomers when further optimized by DFT, the mean absolute error in the energies between DFT results and those of our models is about 7 meV/atom or less. The errors in the interatomic bond lengths are estimated to be below 2% in almost all the cases

On the relative abundances of Cavansite and Pentagonite

Cavansite is a visually stunning blue vanadosilicate mineral with limited occurrences worldwide, whereas Pentagonite is a closely related dimorph with similar physical and chemical properties, yet is extremely rare. The reasons behind Pentagonite's exceptional rarity remain largely unknown. In this study, we utilize density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the electronic structures of Cavansite and Pentagonite at ground state and finite pressures. We then employ the Boltzmann probability model to construct a comprehensive phase diagram that reveals the abundance of each species across a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions. Our analysis reveals the key factors that contribute to the relative scarcity of Pentagonite, including differences in structural arrangement and electronic configurations between the two minerals. Specifically, because of the peculiar arrangements of SiO4 polyhedra, Cavansite forms a compact structure (about 2.7% less in volume) resulting in lower energy. We also show that at a temperature of about 600K only about 1% Pentagonite can be formed. This probability is only slightly enhanced within a pressure range of up to about 3GPa. We also find that vanadium induces a highly localized state in both of these otherwise large band gap insulators resulting in extremely weak magnetic phase that is unlikely to be observed at any reasonable finite temperature. Finally, our dehydration studies reveal that water molecules are loosely bound inside the microporous crystals of Cavansite and Pentagonite, suggesting potential applications of these minerals in various technological fields

Density functional investigations of electronic structure and dehydrogenation reactions of Al- and Si-substituted magnesium hydride

The effect on the hydrogen storage attributes of magnesium hydride (MgH2) of the substitution of Mg by varying fractions of Al and Si is investigated by an ab initio plane-wave pseuodopotential method based on density functional theory. Three supercells, namely, 2×2×2, 3×1×1 and 5×1×1 are used for generating configurations with varying amounts (fractions x=0.0625, 0.1, and 0.167) of impurities. The analyses of band structure and density of states (DOS) show that, when a Mg atom is replaced by Al, the band gap vanishes as the extra electron occupies the conduction band minimum. In the case of Si-substitution, additional states are generated within the band gap of pure MgH2-significantly reducing the gap in the process. The reduced band gaps cause the Mg-H bond to become more susceptible to dissociation. For all the fractions, the calculated reaction energies for the stepwise removal of H2 molecules from Al- and Si-substituted MgH2 are much lower than for H2 removal from pure MgH2. The reduced stability is also reflected in the comparatively smaller heats of formation (ΔHf) of the substituted MgH2 systems. Si causes greater destabilization of MgH2 than Al for each x. For fractions x=0.167 of Al, x=0.1, 0.167 of Si (FCC) and x=0.0625, 0.1 of Si (diamond), ΔHf is much less than that of MgH2 substituted by a fraction x=0.2 of Ti (Y. Song, Z. X. Guo, R. Yang, Mat. Sc. & Eng. A2004, 365, 73). Hence, we suggest the use of Al or Si instead of Ti as an agent for decreasing the dehydrogenation reaction and energy, consequently, the dehydrogenation temperature of MgH2, thereby improving its potential as a hydrogen storage material