Analysis of methane-to-methanol conversion on clean and defective Rh surfaces

We investigate by density-functional theory simulations several elementary reactions associated to direct methane-to-methanol conversion on clean Rh(111) surfaces and on Rh adatoms on Rh(111). Energy barriers and reaction paths have been determined by the nudged elastic band method. The rate-limiting step in the process, C-O bond formation, has higher activation energy than the one for complete methane dehydrogenation. Our analysis enables us to understand the effect of defects on the reactivity and rules out Rh as candidate catalyst for methanol synthesis

Beyond the random phase approximation with a local exchange vertex

With the aim of constructing an electronic structure approach that systematically goes beyond the GW and random phase approximation (RPA) we introduce a vertex correction based on the exact-exchange (EXX) potential of time-dependent density functional theory. The EXX vertex function is constrained to be local but is expected to capture similar physics as the Hartree-Fock vertex. With the EXX vertex, we then unify different beyond-RPA approaches such as the various resummations of RPA with exchange and the second-order screened exchange approximation. The theoretical analysis is supported by numerical studies on the hydrogen dimer and the electron gas, and we discuss the role of including the vertex correction in both the screened interaction and the self-energy. Finally, we give details on our implementation within the plane-wave pseudo potential framework and demonstrate the excellent performance of the different RPA with exchange methods in describing the energetics of hydrogen and van der Waals bonds

Substrate doping: A strategy for enhancing reactivity on gold nanocatalysts by tuning sp bands

We suggest that the reactivity of Au nanocatalysts can be greatly increased by doping the oxide substrate on which they are placed with an electron donor. To demonstrate this, we perform density functional theory calculations on a model system consisting of a 20-atom gold cluster placed on a MgO substrate doped with Al atoms. We show that not only does such substrate doping switch the morphology of the nanoparticles from the three-dimensional tetrahedral form to the two-dimensional planar form, but it also significantly lowers the barrier for oxygen dissociation by an amount proportional to the dopant concentration. At a doping level of 2.78%, the dissociation barrier is reduced by more than half, which corresponds to a speeding up of the oxygen dissociation rate by five orders of magnitude at room temperature. This arises from a lowering in energy of the s and p states of Au. The d states are also lowered in energy, however, this by itself would have tended to reduce reactivity. We propose that a suitable measure of the reactivity of Au nanoparticles is the difference in energy of sp and d states

Ag-Cu catalysts for ethylene epoxidation: Selectivity and activity descriptors

Ag-Cu alloy catalysts for ethylene epoxidation have been shown to yield higher selectivity towards ethylene oxide compared to pure Ag, the unique catalyst employed in the industrial process. Previous studies showed that under oxidizing conditions Cu forms oxide layers on top of Ag. Using first-principles atomistic simulations based on density functional theory, we investigate the reaction mechanism on the thin oxide layer structures and establish the reasons for the improved selectivity. We extend the range of applicability of the selectivity descriptor proposed by Kokalj et al. [J. Catal. 254, 304 (2008)], based on binding energies of reactants, intermediates, and products, by refitting its parameters so as to include thin oxide layer catalysts. We show that the selectivity is mainly controlled by the relative strength of the metal-carbon vs. metal-oxygen bonds, while the height of the reaction barriers mostly depend on the binding energy of the common oxametallacycle intermediate. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

Core level shifts of undercoordinated Pt atoms

We present the results of high-energy resolution core level photoelectron spectroscopy experiments paralleled by density functional theory calculations to investigate the electronic structure of highly undercoordinated Pt atoms adsorbed on Pt(111) and its correlation with chemical activity. Pt4f(7/2) core level binding energies corresponding to atoms in different configurations are shown to be very sensitive not only to the local atomic coordination number but also to the interatomic bond lengths. Our results are rationalized by introducing an indicator, the effective coordination, which includes both contributions. The calculated energy center of the valence 5d-band density of states, which is a well known depicter of the surface chemical reactivity, shows a noteworthy correlation with the Pt4f(7/2) core level shifts and with the effective coordination

Role of defects in the electronic properties of amorphous/crystalline Si interface

The mechanism determining the band alignment of the amorphous/crystalline Si heterostructures is addressed with direct atomistic simulations of the interface performed using a hierarchical combination of various computational schemes ranging from classical model-potential molecular dynamics to ab-initio methods. We found that in coordination defect-free samples the band alignment is almost vanishing and independent on interface details. In defect-rich samples, instead, the band alignment is sizeably different with respect to the defect-free case, but, remarkably, almost independent on the concentration of defects. We rationalize these findings within the theory of semiconductor interfaces.Comment: 4 pages in two-column format, 2 postscript figures include

Lattice dynamics of metals from density-functional perturbation theory

The density-functional perturbation theory approach to lattice-dynamical calculations is extended to metallic systems. The smearing technique is used to deal with the Fermi surface and its variational formulation is restated. First-principles phonon dispersions of Al, Pb and of the transition metal Nb are in good agreement with available experimental data. In particular an accurate description of the anomalies observed in lead and niobium is obtained

Phonons in Si-Ge systems: An ab initio interatomic-force-constant approach

The vibrational properties of Si-Ge systems are studied theoretically with ab initio techniques. Full dispersion relations for pure silicon and germanium crystals under several (homogeneous and epitaxial) strain conditions are obtained from interatomic force constants (IFC's). High-symmetry vibrations for a few short-period ordered superlattices (SL's) are studied from first principles as well. In order to study conveniently more complicated systems, such as partially disordered SL's or homogeneous SixGe1-x alloys, higher-order IFC's have been obtained that account for the first-order change in the IFC's of a reference system because of chemical disorder and lattice relaxation. With our scheme we can easily handle quite large supercells while keeping the same accuracy as a complete first-principles calculation, which we demonstrate for the homogeneous alloy

Ab initio phonon dispersions of Fe and Ni

We present the ab initio phonon dispersions of magnetic bcc Fe and fee Ni. Our calculations are carried out in the framework of density functional perturbation theory (DFPT), using ultrasoft pseudopotentials, spin-polarized generalized gradient approximations, and nonlinear core; corrections. The implementation of the above techniques within DFPT is discussed. We find that these approximations, together, provide phonon dispersions which are in good agreement with experiment, while the local spin density approximation systematically overestimates the experimental frequencies

Adsorption of chlorine on Ag(111): no subsurface Cl at low coverage

The adsorption of molecular and atomic chlorine on perfect Ag(111) surface has been studied and characterized by means of extensive density-functional-theory calculations. For the molecular adsorption, we find that the dissociation of Cl(2) proceeds with an almost vanishing barrier. As for the adsorption of atomic Cl, on-surface, subsurface, and substitutional adsorptions are considered as a function of the coverage. At coverage lower than 1/2 ML, the on-surface adsorption displays the most exothermic chemisorption energies, whereas the mixed on-surface+subsurface and on-surface+substitutional adsorption modes become competitive with pure on-surface adsorption at about 1/2 ML of coverage and at higher coverages even preferred. The analysis of the adsorption free energy as a function of chlorine chemical potential reveals that the on-surface (root 3x root 3)R30 degrees adsorption phase is thermodynamically the most stable over a very broad range of Cl chemical potential. The mixed adsorption modes become thermodynamically more stable at high coverage for values of the Cl chemical potential that are substantially larger than those needed to form silver chloride. This finding seems to indicate that the formation of mixed adsorption phases, if they would ever occur, cannot be due to thermodynamic equilibrium but can only result from kinetic effects. We also find that the presence of open surface steps does not stabilize the subsurface Cl adsorption at low coverage. However due to the stronger Cl-surface interaction near steps, the mixed on-surface+subsurface adsorption on Ag(210) at high coverage becomes thermodynamically the most stable phase at Cl chemical potential close to that needed for the formation of bulk AgCl