h-P Finite Element Approximation for Full-Potential Electronic Structure Calculations

The(continuous) finite element approximations of different orders for the computation of the solution to electronic structures were proposed in some papers and the performance of these approaches is becoming appreciable and is now well understood.In this publication,the author proposes to extend this discretization for full-potential electronic structure calculations by combining the refinement of the finite element mesh,where the solution is most singular with the increase of the degree of the polynomial approximations in the regions where the solution is mostly regular.This combination of increase of approximation properties,done in an a priori or a posteriori manner,is well-known to generally produce an optimal exponential type convergence rate with respect to the number of degrees of freedom even when the solution is singular.The analysis performed here sustains this property in the case of Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham problems.

Parallel Mesh Refinement of Higher Order Finite Elements for Electronic Structure Calculations

The finite element method is a promising method for electronic structure calculations.In this paper,a new parallelmesh refinementmethod for electronic structure calculations is presented.Some properties of the method are investigated to make itmore efficient andmore convenient for implementation.Several practical issues such as distributed memory parallel computation,less tetrahedra prototypes,and the assignment of the mesh elements carried out independently in each sub-domain will be discussed.The numerical experiments on the periodic system,cluster and nano-tube are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

QUANTUM CHEMICAL CALCULATIONS ON THE ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE AND SPECTRA OF[Mo_3O_4-nSn]^(4+)(n=O-4)CLUSTER CATIONS

The electronic structure and spectra of [Mo3O4-nSn]^(4+)(n=0-4) cations were calculated by means of INDO/CI quantum chemistry method to account for the experimental data of their spectra in water solutions.

Electronic Structure and Optical Properties in Uranium Dioxide:the First Principle Calculations

We report a study of the electronic structure and optical properties of uranium dioxide （U02） based on the ab-initio density-functional theory and using the generalized gradient approximation. To correctly describe the strong correlation between 5 f electrons of a uranium atom, we employ the on-site Hubbard U correction term and optimize the correlation parameter of the bulk uranium dioxide. Then we give the structural and electronic properties of the ground state of uranium dioxide. Based on the accurate electronic structure, we calculate the complex dielectric function of UO2 and the related optieM properties, such as reflectivity, refractive index, extinction index, energy loss spectra, and absorption coefficient.

Ba_2SbGaS_5 : Solid-state Synthesis, Crystal and Electronic Structures, and Property Characterization

Single crystal of Ba2SbGaSs has been synthesized by the high temperature solidstate reaction method. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma with a = 12.177（4）, b = 8.880（3）, c = 8.982（3） A, V= 971.4（6） A3, Z = 4, De = 4.284 g/cm3,μ = 14.487 mm-1, F（000） - 1096, the final R = 0.0171 and wR = 0.0384 for all data. The structure comprises an infinite one-dimensional 1∞[SbGaS5]4- anionic chain constructed from the GaS4 tetrahedra and the SbS5 polyhedra via sharing edge alternately. The paralleled 1∞[SbGaS5]4anionic chains engage with each other and form the two-dimensional Sb-Ga-S layer perpendicular to a-axis with the isolated Ba2＋ cations arranged between layers. The IR spectrum and the UV-Vis spectrum have been investigated. Also, the first-principles band structure and density of states calculations indicate that the compound belongs to indirect semiconductor with the band gap of 2.1 eV, which is supported by the UV-Vis diffuse reflectance results.

Role of buffer layer in electronic structures of iron phthalocyanine molecules on Au(111)

We investigate the electronic structures of one and two monolayer iron phthalocyanine （FePc） molecules on Au（111） surfaces. The first monolayer FePc is lying flat on the Au（111） substrate, and the second monolayer FePc is tilted at -15° relative to the substrate plane along the nearest neighbour [101] direction with a lobe downward to the central hole of the unit cell in the first layer. The structural information obtained by first-principles calculations is in agreement with the experiment results. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the electronic structures of FePc molecules in one-monolayer FePc/Au（111） system are perturbed significantly, while the electronic structures of FePc molecules in the second monolayer in two-monolayer FePc/Au（111） system remain almost unchanged due to the screening of the buffer layer on Au（111）.

First-principles calculations of structural and electronic properties of Tl_xGa_(1-x)As alloys

The zincblende ternary alloys Tl_xGa_（1-x） As（0 〈 x 〈 1） are studied by numerical analysis based on the plane wave pseudopotential method within the density functional theory and the local density approximation. To model the alloys,16-atom supercells with the 2 × 2 × 2 dimensions are used and the dependency of the lattice parameter, bulk modulus,electronic structure, energy band gap, and optical bowing on the concentration x are analyzed. The results indicate that the ternary Tl_xGa_（1-x） As alloys have an average band gap bowing parameter of 4.48 eV for semiconductor alloys and 2.412 eV for semimetals. It is found that the band gap bowing strongly depends on composition and alloying a small Tl content with GaAs produces important modifications in the band structures of the alloys.

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,and Optical Property of Zero-dimensional Quaternary Thioborate：Ba9B3GaS15

A new zero-dimensional（0D） thioborate Ba_9B_3GaS_（15） has been discovered by conventional high-temperature solid-state reaction. The compound crystallizes in orthorhombic space group Pbca with a = 8.4759（8）,b = 22.266（2）,c = 31.426（3） ？,V = 5931（2） ？~3,Z = 8,Mr = 1819.11,Dc = 4.075 g/cm3,μ = 13.684 mm^（-1）,F（000） = 6320,S = 1.034,（Δρ）max = 5.039,（Δρ）min = –5.409 e/？~3,the final R = 0.0362 and w R = 0.1053 for 19243 observed reflections with I 〉 2σ（I）. The structure is constructed by discrete [BS_3]^（3–） trigonal planes and isolated [GaS_4]^（5–） tetrahedra with Ba^（2＋） and isolated S^（2–） filled among them. The UV-Vis-near-IR spectrum reveals a wide band gap of 3.15 eV that agrees with the electronic structure calculation.

Surface for methane combustion:O(^3P)+CH4→OH+CH3

Kinetic investigations including quasi-classical trajectory and canonical unified statistical theory method calculations are carried out on a potential energy surface for the hydrogen-abstraction reaction from methane by atom O(^3P).The surface is constructed using a modified Shepard interpolation method.The ab initio calculations are performed at the CCSD(T)level.Taking account of the contribution of inner core electrons to electronic correlation interaction in ab initio electronic structure calculations,modified optimized aug-cc-pCVQZ basis sets are applied to the all-electrons calculations.On this potential energy surface,the triplet oxygen atom attacks methane in a near-collinear H-CH3 direction to form a saddle point with barrier height of 13.55 kcal/mol,which plays a key role in the kinetics of the title reaction.For the temperature range of 298-2500 K,our calculated thermal rate constants for the O(^3P)+CH4→OH+CH3 reaction show good agreement with relevant experimental data.This work provides detailed mechanism of this gas-phase reaction and a theoretical guidance for methane combustion.

Electron-correlation-induced band renormalization and Mott transition in Ca_(1-x)Sr_xVO_3

We present the local density approximate＋Gutzwiller results for the electronic structure of Cal-xSrxVOa. The substitution of Sr2＋ by Ca2＋ reduces the bandwidth, as the V-O-V bond angle decreases from 180° for SrVO3 to about 160° for CaVO3. However, we find that the bandwidth decrease induced by the V-O-V bond angle decrease is smaller as compared to that induced by electron correlation. In correlated electron systems, such as Cal-=Sr=VOa, the correlation effect of 3d electrons plays a leading role in determining the bandwidth. The electron correlation effect and crystal field splitting collaboratively determine whether the compounds will be in a metal state or in a Mort-insulator phase.

Defect-induced ferromagnetism in rutile TiO_2 : A first-principles study

Based on first-principles calculations, the electronic and magnetic properties of undoped and Li-doped rutile TiO2 have been studied. The results demonstrate that a cation vacancy can arouse ferromagnetism in TiO2 and the magnetic moment mainly comes from p orbitals of O atoms around the Ti vacancy. However, the Ti vacancy under normal conditions is very difficult to form due to its high formation energy. Our calculations indicate that Li-doped TiO2 can reduce the formation energy while keeping the magnetism. The large magnetization energy indicates that Li-doped TiO2 is a promising room-temperature diluted magnetic semiconductor.

First principles study of structural, electronic, elastic and magnetic properties of cerium and praseodymium hydrogen system REH_x(RE:Ce, Pr and x=2, 3)

The structural, electronic, elastic and magnetic properties of cerium, praseodymium and their hydrides REH x（RE=Ce, Pr and x=2, 3） were investigated by the first principles calculations based on density functional theory using the Vienna ab-initio simulation package. At zero pressure all the hydrides were stable in the ferromagnetic state. The calculated lattice parameters were in good agreement with the experimental results. The bulk modulus decreased with the increase in the hydrogen content for these hydrides. The electronic structure revealed that di-hydrides were metallic whereas trihydrides were half metallic at zero pressure. A pressure-induced structural phase transition from cubic to hexagonal phase was predicted in these hydrides. The computed elastic constants indicated that these hydrides were mechanically stable at zero pressure. The calculated Debye temperature values were in good agreement with experimental and other theoretical results. A half metallic to metallic transition was also observed in REH3 under high pressure. Ferromagnetism was quenched in these hydrides at high pressures.

Investigation of Structural, Electronic and Mechanical Properties of Rubidium Metal Hydrides RbMH_4(M=B, Al, Ga)

Ab initio calculations are performed to investigate the structural stability, electronic structure and mechanical properties of rubidium metal hydrides RbMH4（M = B, Al, Ga） for five different crystal structures, namely hexagonal（P63mc）, tetragonal（P42/nmc）, tetragonal（P421c）, orthorhombic（Pnma） and monoclinic（P21/c）. Among the considered structures, tetragonal（P421c） phase is found to be the most stable one for these metal hydrides at normal pressure. A pressure-induced structural phase transition from tetragonal（P421c） to monoclinic（P21/c） phase is observed in all the three metal hydrides. The electronic structure reveals that these hydrides are wide band gap semiconductors. The calculated elastic constants indicate that these alkali metal tetrahydrides are mechanically stable at normal pressure.

Density functional theory calculations of lithium alloying with Ge_(10)H_(16) atomic cluster

We exploited a hydrogen-passivated germanium atomic cluster（Ge10H16） as a model to study the mechanism of lithium alloying with germanium. Based on the density functional theory, the electronic and crystal structures of lithium-alloyed Ge10H16 were investigated. The theoretical results indicate that the alloying of lithium with Ge10H16 will weaken the germanium-hydrogen bond and repel the closest germanium atom away from the alloyed lithium atom. Based on the maps of the electron density distribution, the nature of the lithium-germanium chemical bond was analyzed. Moreover, the diffusion process of the lithium on the Ge10H16 cluster was detected, which suggested that there is a close relationship between the diffusion barriers and the coordination number around the lithium atom.

ACCELERATED OPTIMIZATION WITH ORTHOGONALITY CONSTRAINTS

We develop a generalization of Nesterov’s accelerated gradient descent method which is designed to deal with orthogonality constraints.To demonstrate the effectiveness of our method,we perform numerical experiments which demonstrate that the number of iterations scales with the square root of the condition number,and also compare with existing state-of-the-art quasi-Newton methods on the Stiefel manifold.Our experiments show that our method outperforms existing state-of-the-art quasi-Newton methods on some large,ill-conditioned problems.

Ionization and Dissociation of Nitrosyl Chloride Molecule in the Intense Femtosecond Laser Field

Ionization and dissociation of nitrosyl chloride CINO were studied using femtosecond laser mass spectra technique. Strong fragmental ions NO^＋ and Cl^＋ were observed with the laser intensity varied from 3.2× 10^14 to 2.5×10^15 W/cm^2. These fragmental ions were attributed to the direct dissociation of the parent ions. Electronic structure calculations were also carried out with Hartree-Fock, density functional and correlated levels of theory to understand the possible fragmentation pathways. The very low N-Cl bond energy in the parent ion of nitrosyl chloride is a clear reason for the absence of CINO^＋ and CIN^＋ ion peaks from the femtosecond laser mass spectrum.

Monolayer NbF:a 4d-analogue of cuprates

The electronic structure and possible electronic orders in monolayer NbF4 are investigated by density functional theory and functional renormalization group.Because of the niobium-centered octahedra,the energy band near the Fermi level is found to derive from the 4 dxyorbital,well separated from the other bands.Local Coulomb interaction drives the undoped system into an antiferromagnetic insulator.Upon suitable electron/hole doping,the system is found to develop dx2à-y2 wave superconductivity with sizable transition temperature.Therefore,the monolayer NbF4 may be an exciting 4d1 analogue of cuprates,providing a new two-dimensional platform for high-Tc superconductivity.

Optical and Electrical Properties of Triphenylamine Derivatives for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells and Designing of Novel Molecule

With density functional theory（DFT） method, the optimization of molecular configurations and the calcu- lation of frontier molecular orbitals were achieved for triphenylamine（TPA）-based dye-sensitized solar cell materials at the B3LYP/6-31G（d, p） level. Time-dependent density functional theory（TD-DFT） was applied to calculating the probability of the transition from the ground state to the excited state. And UV-Vis absorption spectra were derived with Franck-Condon approximation. The conjugation length, substitution groups and spatial effects show a slight influence on the dihedral angle of the TPA group. The increase of conjugation length may cause a smaller energy gap as well as a higher highest occupied molecular orbital（HOMO） and a lower lowest unoccupied molecular orbital （LUMO）. The introduction of methoxyl group and TPA group could lower the energy gap while the HOMO and LUMO were elevated in energy.

Enhanced photochemical performance of hexagonal WO_3 by metal-assisted S–O coupling for solar-driven water splitting

Hybrid density functional calculations was used to comprehensively study the electronic structure of S-,Snand Pb-monodoped and（Sn,S）-and（Pb,S）-codoped hexagonal WO_3（h-WO_3）in order to improve their visible light photocatalytic activity.Results indicate that the（Sn,S）-and（Pb,S）-codoped h-WO_3 can realize a significant band gap reduction and prevent the formation of empty states in the valence band of h-WO_3,while Sn/Pb-monodoped h-WO_3 cannot,because in（Sn,S）-and（Pb,S）-codoping,the S-doping introduces the fully occupied S 3p states in the forbidden band gap of h-WO_3 and the acceptor metals（Sn and Pb）would assist the coupling of the introduced S with its nearest O.In particular,the（Sn,S）-codoped h-WO_3 has the narrowest band gap of 1.85 eV and highest reducing ability among the doped case.Moreover,the calculated optical absorption spectra show that（Sn,S）-codoping can improve the visible light absorption.In short,these results indicate that the（Sn,S）-codoped h-WO_3 is a promising material in solar-driven water splitting.

First Principles Study of Structural Stability and Magnetic Property of Non-equilibrium Co–Mo Alloys

First principles calculations are carried out to investigate the structural stability of several non-equilibrium intermetallic phases in the cobalt（Co）–Mo system using spin polarized projected augmented-wave potentials. It is revealed that the Co3Mo, CoMo, and CoMo3 alloys are energetically favored to be in D019, B11, and A15 structures, respectively,and that the magnetic moments of Co atoms would decrease rapidly with an increasing percentage of Mo content and would most probably disappear when the content of Mo is no less than 50 at%. Generally, the calculated results in the present work match well with the available experimental observations.