Understanding of the activity difference between nanogold and bulk gold by relativistic effects

It is a challenge to thoroughly understand the astonishing difference in catalytic activity between nanogold and bulk gold for some oxidation reactions. In this work,the Au–O interactions in various surroundings were investigated by DFT calculations and compared with the Ag–O interactions. We have found the three points.First,only Au–O bond can be significantly strengthened by the linear O–Au–O structure. Second,the Au–O bond is always stronger than the Ag–O bond when the bonds are embedded in common surroundings. Third,the Au–O bond becomes weaker than the Ag–O bond when the number of neighboring Au atoms becomes large,because the Au–O interactions are suppressed by the presence of neighboring gold atoms. The origin of these three points can be attributed to wider spatial extension of d orbitals of gold,induced by strong relativistic effects. The strong relativistic effects make nanogold with smaller coordinate numbers highly active due to the ease in forming strong Au–O bonds,especially for the O–Au–O bond,whereas gold atoms in bulk with larger coordination numbers chemically inert due to the strong suppression by neighboring gold atoms destabilizing the O–Au–O bond.

Mechanical properties of Fe-rich Si alloy from Hamiltonian

The physical origins of the mechanical properties of Fe-rich Si alloys are investigated by combining electronic structure calculations with statistical mechanics means such as the cluster variation method,molecular dynamics simulation,etc,applied to homogeneous and heterogeneous systems.Firstly,we examined the elastic properties based on electronic structure calculations in a homogeneous system and attributed the physical origin of the loss of ductility with increasing Si content to the combined effects of magneto-volume and D03 ordering.As a typical example of a heterogeneity forming a microstructure,we focus on grain boundaries,and segregation behavior of Si atoms is studied through high-precision electronic structure calculations.Two kinds of segregation sites are identified:looser and tighter sites.Depending on the site,different segregation mechanisms are revealed.Finally,the dislocation behavior in the Fe-Si alloy is investigated mainly by molecular dynamics simulations combined with electronic structure calculations.The solid-solution hardening and softening are interpreted in terms of two kinds of energy barriers for kink nucleation and migration on a screw dislocation line.Furthermore,the clue to the peculiar work hardening behavior is discussed based on kinetic Monte Carlo simulations by focusing on the preferential selection of slip planes triggered by kink nucleation.