The aim of the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC) is to establish current and forward looking complementary activities necessary to bring the field of materials modelling closer to the demands of manufacturers (both small and large enterprises) in Europe. The ultimate goal is that materials modelling and simulation will become an integral part of product life cycle management in European industry, thereby making a strong contribution to enhance innovation and competitiveness on a global level. Based on intensive efforts in the past two years within the EMMC, which included numerous consultation and networking actions with representatives of all stakeholders including Modellers, Software Owners, Translators and Manufacturers in Europe, the EMMC identified and proposed a set of underpinning and enabling actions to increase the industrial exploitation of materials modelling in Europe. EMMC will pursue the following overarching objectives in order to bridge the gap between academic innovation and industrial application: enhance the interaction and collaboration between all stakeholders engaged in different types of materials modelling, including modellers, software owners, translators and manufacturers, facilitate integrated materials modelling in Europe building on strong and coherent foundations, coordinate and support actors and mechanisms that enable rapid transfer of materials modelling from academic innovation to the end users and potential beneficiaries in industry, achieve greater awareness and uptake of materials modelling in industry, in particular SMEs, elaborate Roadmaps that (i) identify major obstacles to widening the use of materials modelling and (ii) elaborate strategies to overcome them.
The nature of the hydrophobicity found in rare-earth oxides is intriguing. The CeO2 (100) surface, despite its strongly hydrophilic nature, exhibits hydrophobic behaviour when immersed in water. In order to understand this puzzling and counter-intuitive effect we performed a detailed analysis of the water structure and dynamics. We report here an ab-initio molecular dynamics simulation (AIMD) study which demonstrates that the first water layer, in immediate contact with the hydroxylated CeO2 surface, is responsible for the effect behaving as a hydrophobic interface with respect to the rest of the liquid water. The hydrophobicity is manifested in several ways: a considerable diffusion enhancement of the confined liquid water as compared with bulk water at the same thermodynamic condition, a weak adhesion energy and few H-bonds above the hydrophobic water layer, which may also sustain a water droplet. These findings introduce a new concept in water/rare-earth oxide interfaces: hydrophobicity mediated by specific water patterns on a hydrophilic surface.
We report an ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulation investigating the effect of a fully hydrated surface of TiO2 on the water dynamics. It is found that the universal relation between the rotational and translational diffusion characteristics of bulk water is broken in the water layers near the surface with the rotational diffusion demonstrating progressive retardation relative to the translational diffusion when approaching the surface. This kind of rotation-translation decoupling has so far only been observed in the supercooled liquids approaching glass transition, and its observation in water at a normal liquid temperature is of conceptual interest. This finding is also of interest for the application-significant studies of the water interaction with fully hydrated nanoparticles. We note that this is the first observation of rotation-translation decoupling in an ab initio MD simulation of water.
Zinc plays important roles in structural stabilization of proteins, eniyine catalysis, and signal transduction. Many Zn binding sites are located at the interface between the protein and the cellular fluid. In aqueous solutions, Zn ions adopt an octahedral coordination, while in proteins zinc can have different coordinations, with a tetrahedral conformation found most frequently. The dynainics of Zn binding to proteins and the formation of complexes that involve Zn are dictated by interactions between Zn and its binding partners. We calculated the interaction energies between Zn and its ligands in complexes that mimic protein binding sites and in Zn complexes of water and one or two amino acid moieties, using quantum mechanics (QM) and molecular mechanics (MM). It was found that MM calculations that neglect or only approximate polarizability did not reproduce even the relative order of the QM interaction energies in these complexes. Interaction energies calculated with the CHARMM-Diode polarizable force field agreed better with the ab initio results,:although the deviations between QM and MM were still rather large (40-96 kcallmol). In order to gain further insight into Zn ligand interactions, the free energies of interaction were estimated by QM calculations with continuum solvent representation, and we performed energy decomposition analysis calculations to examine the characteristics of the different complexes. The ligand-types were found to have high impact on the relative strength of polarization and electrostatic interactions. Interestingly, ligand ligand interactions did not play a significant role in the binding of Zn. Finally) analysis of ligand exchange energies suggests that carboxylates could be exchanged with water molecules, which explains the flexibility in Zn:binding dynamics. An exchange between earboxylate (Asp/Glii) and imidazole (His) is less likely.
Interactions between the group XII metals Zn2+ and Cd2+ and amino acid residues play an important role in biology due to the prevalence of the first and the toxicity of the second. Estimates of the interaction energies between the ions and relevant residues in proteins are however difficult to obtain. This study reports on calculated interaction energy curves for small complexes of Zn2+ or Cd2+ and amino acid mimics (acetate, methanethiolate, and imidazole) or water. Given that many applications and models (e.g., force fields, solvation models, etc.) begin with and rely on an accurate description of gas-phase interaction energies, this is where our focus lies in this study. Four density functional theory (DFT)-functionals and MP2 were used to calculate the interaction energies not only at the respective equilibrium distances but also at a relevant range of ion–ligand separation distances. The calculated values were compared with those obtained by CCSD(T). All DFT-methods are found to overestimate the magnitude of the interaction energy compared to the CCSD(T) reference values. The deviation was analyzed in terms of energy components from localized molecular orbital energy decomposition analysis scheme and is mostly attributed to overestimation of the polarization energy. MP2 shows good agreement with CCSD(T) [root mean square error (RMSE) = 1.2 kcal/mol] for the eight studied complexes at equilibrium distance. Dispersion energy differences at longer separation give rise to increased deviations between MP2 and CCSD(T) (RMSE = 6.4 kcal/mol at 3.0 Å). Overall, the results call for caution in applying DFT methods to metalloprotein model complexes even with closed-shell metal ions such as Zn2+ and Cd2+, in particular at ion–ligand separations that are longer than the equilibrium distances.
Periodic ab initio calculations of the O-17 and H-2 quadrupole coupling constants (QCC) and their shifts have been performed for ice VIII and ice IX. Cluster calculations were done for smaller water clusters and chains. The ice Vm crystal structure was op
A number of hydrogen-bond related quantities-geometries, interaction energies, dipole moments, dipole moment derivatives, and harmonic vibrational frequencies-were calculated at the Hartree-Fock, MP2, and different DFT levels for the HCN dimer and the pe
This roadmap presents the transformational research ideas proposed by "BATTERY 2030+," the European large-scale research initiative for future battery chemistries. A "chemistry-neutral" roadmap to advance battery research, particularly at low technology readiness levels, is outlined, with a time horizon of more than ten years. The roadmap is centered around six themes: 1) accelerated materials discovery platform, 2) battery interface genome, with the integration of smart functionalities such as 3) sensing and 4) self-healing processes. Beyond chemistry related aspects also include crosscutting research regarding 5) manufacturability and 6) recyclability. This roadmap should be seen as an enabling complement to the global battery roadmaps which focus on expected ultrahigh battery performance, especially for the future of transport. Batteries are used in many applications and are considered to be one technology necessary to reach the climate goals. Currently the market is dominated by lithium-ion batteries, which perform well, but despite new generations coming in the near future, they will soon approach their performance limits. Without major breakthroughs, battery performance and production requirements will not be sufficient to enable the building of a climate-neutral society. Through this "chemistry neutral" approach a generic toolbox transforming the way batteries are developed, designed and manufactured, will be created.
Molecular dynamics simulations of a new flexible water model are presented. The potential function is based on the simple point charge (SPC) model combined with an accurate experimental quartic intramolecular potential (CCL). This potential not only reproduces the key structural, dynamical and thermodynamical properties of liquid water, but also generates the correct values for both the absolute O–H vibrational frequency and the gas-to-liquid frequency shift. Thus, the model yields a value of ca. 3420 cm−1 for the peak maximum of the anharmonic OH stretching band for liquid water (experiment 3400 cm−1) and a corresponding gas-to-liquid downshift of −300 cm−1 (experiment −310 cm−1). The paper also emphasizes the importance of parameterizing correctly both the harmonic and anharmonic force constants in the gas-phase when developing flexible water models to be used in the liquid state.
The solvation shell structure and dynamics of a single Cu2+ ion in a periodic box with 32 water molecules under ambient conditions has been investigated using Car–Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations in a time-window of 18 ps. Five-fold coordination with four equidistant equatorial water molecules at 2.00 and one axial water molecule at 2.45 from the Cu2+ ion is found. A hole without water molecules is found on the opposite side of the axial water. The ion–water bonding character for the equatorial water molecules is different from that of the axial water molecules, as shown by a localized orbital analysis of the electronic structure. Moreover, the calculated OD stretching vibrational band for the equatorial water molecules lies ca. 175 cm–1 below the axial-water band, in good agreement with experimental data. The equatorial-water band lies below, and the axial-water band above, the pure liquid D2O band, also in agreement with experimental data.
The optimized geometry, energetics, and vibrational properties of Al(D2O) clusters, with n=1,2,4, and 6, have been studied using plane waves, different local basis sets, different methodologies [density-functional theory, MP2, CCSD(T)], and different functionals (BLYP, PBE). Moreover, Car-Parrinello molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations using the BLYP functional, plane waves, and the Vanderbilt ultrasoft pseudopotentials have been performed for an aqueous Al3+ solution with 1 ion and 32 D2O molecules in a periodic box at room temperature, studied for 10 ps. The cluster calculations were performed to pinpoint possible shortcomings of the electronic structure description used in the Car-Parinello MD (CPMD) simulation. For the clusters, the hydration structure and interaction energies calculated with the `BLYP/plane-wave' approach agree well with high-level ab initio methods but the exchange-correlation functional introduces errors in the OD stretching frequencies (both in the absolute values and in the ion-induced shifts). For the aqueous solution, the CPMD simulation yields structural properties in good agreement with experimental data. The CPMD-simulated OD stretching vibrational band for the first-shell water molecules around Al3+ is strongly downshifted by the influence of the ion and is compared with experimental data from the literature. To make such a comparison meaningful, the influences of a number of systematic effects have been addressed, such as the exchange-correlation functional, the fictitious electron mass, anharmonicity effects, and the small box size in the simulation. Each of these factors (except the last one) is found to affect the OD frequency by 100 cm–1 or more. The final "corrected" frequencies agree with experiment within ~30 cm–1 for bulk water but are too little downshifted for the first-shell Al3+(aq) water molecules (by ~200 cm–1).
Molecular dynamics simulations of single-ion Fe2+(aq) and Fe3+(aq) solutions have been performed with two rigid-water models (SPC and SPC/E) and a newly constructed SPC-based flexible-water model (SPC+CCL). The SPC+CCL water model in combination with effective Fe2+ and Fe3+ ion-water potentials manages to reproduce many experimental structural and dynamical properties of the solutions. Special attention is given to the large ion-induced frequency shifts of the OH stretching bands, which are also well reproduced by the SPC+CCL model.
The optimized geometry and energetic properties of Fe(D2O)n3+ clusters, with n = 4 and 6, have been studied with density-functional theory calculations and the BLYP functional, and the hydration of a single Fe3+ ion in a periodic box with 32 water molecules at room temperature has been studied with Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics and the same functional. We have compared the results from the CPMD simulation with classical MD simulations, using a flexible SPC-based water model and the same number of water molecules, to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two MD methods. The classical MD simulations and the CPMD simulations both give Fe-water distances in good agreement with experiment, but for the intramolecular vibrations, the classical MD yields considerably better absolute frequencies and ion-induced frequency shifts. On the other hand, the CPMD method performs considerably better than the classical MD in describing the intramolecular geometry of the water molecule in the first hydration shell and the average first shell···second shell hydrogen-bond distance. Differences between the two methods are also found with respect to the second-shell water orientations. The effect of the small box size (32 vs 512 water molecules) was evaluated by comparing results from classical simulations using different box sizes; non-negligible effects are found for the ion-water distance and the tilt angles of the water molecules in the second hydration shell and for the O-D stretching vibrational frequencies of the water molecules in the first hydration shell.
The H2O and H2O2 molecules resemble each other in a multitude of ways as has been noted in the literature. Here, we present density functional theory (DFT) calculations for the H2O2(s) and H2O2<middle dot>2H(2)O(s) crystals and make selected comparisons with ice polymorphs. The performance of a number of dispersion-corrected density functionals-both self-consistent and a posteriori ones-are assessed, and we give special attention to the D3 correction and its effects. The D3 correction to the lattice energies is large: for H2O2(s) the D3 correction constitutes about 25% of the lattice energy using PBE, much more for RPBE, much less for SCAN, and it primarily arises from non-H-bonded interactions out to about 5 & Aring;.The large D3 corrections to the lattice energies are likely a consequence of several effects: correction for missing dispersion interaction, the ability of D3 to capture and correct various other kinds of limitations built into the underlying DFT functionals, and finally some degree of cell-contraction-induced polarization enhancement. We find that the overall best-performing functionals of the twelve examined are optPBEvdW and RPBE-D3. Comparisons with DFT assessments for ices in the literature show that where the same methods have been used, the assessments largely agree.
The polymer electrolytes M[N(CF3SO2)(2)](2)PEO(n) for M = Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba have been investigated using infra-red spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and impedance spectroscopy. The effects of varying concentration (n = 6-40) and temperature (25-95 degrees C) on the contact ion pair formation and cation coordination have been studied. Contact ion pairs are only found for the most concentrated samples (n < 9). Ion pairs occur with two types of structures: one type is found far samples containing Mg2+ and the other for samples with Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+. The conductivities of the samples are discussed in terms of radii and coordination numbers of the cations.
Hydrated Al(3+) ions [Al(H(2)O)(n)](3+), n = 1-6, were examined with ab Initio self-consistent field (SCF) calculations. The relative contributions of two-, three-, and higher-body terms to the total interaction energy for an [Al(H(2)O)(6)](3+) complex were calculated The sum of all three-body contributions amounts to - 30% of the sum of all pair-additive contributions and is opposite in sign. The three-body energy contributions were also derived for two types of [Al(H(2)O)(2)](3+) complexes. in the first type, both water molecules reside in the first hydration shell of Al(3+) and in the second type there is one in the first shell and one in the second. Altogether 15,500 triplets were investigated and analytical two- and three-body potential energy functions were derived via a fitting procedure. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Polymer electrolytes based on triblock copolymers of ethylene oxide (EO)/propylene oxide (PO)/ethylene oxide of moderate molecular weight and narrow block-length distributions, doped with M(CF3SO3)(2) and M[N(CF3SO2)(2)](2) (M = Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba), LiCF3SO3 and LiN(CF3SO2)(2) have been investigated using infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and conductivity measurements. The effects of varying the EO/PO block length, composition and temperature on the phase behaviour, ion-pair formation and conductivity of the polymer electrolytes have been studied. A two-phase microstructure has been observed. Ion pairing occurs for the triflate salts and the amount was found to be sensitive to the relative block sizes rather than the molecular weight of the copolymer. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.
The effects of an asymmetric environment on the electronic properties of a water molecule in liquid water are in focus in this paper and were analysed from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water at 300 and 350 K with the BLYP-D3 functional. We make the following observations. (1) The electronic DOS and the net molecular charge are more affected by the asymmetry of the water molecule's H-bond surroundings than by the number of H-bonded neighbours. The reverse is true for the dipole moment. (2) For all three properties, a 3-coordinated water molecule is more perturbed by accepting two H-bonds and donating one than by donating two and accepting one. (3) This order is not maintained in the calculated XES spectrum, which is less straightforward to interpret in terms of structure-property relationships than the DOS spectrum.
The significant cooperative effect between water molecules substantially affects the properties of liquid water. The cooperativity of hydrogen bonds means that the hydrogen bond strength is influenced by the neighboring water molecules. Another descriptor related to cooperativity is degree correlation (or static correlation) describing the probability of hydrogen-bonded molecule pairs participating in additional hydrogen-bonds. Herein we analyze the latter one in liquid water at various temperatures and densities in a series of molecular dynamics simulations with the help of knowledge from network science. We investigated how the applied hydrogen bond criteria (energetic or geometric) influence the obtained results, and showed that the energetic criterion is much more rigorous and reliable, therefore should be used for similar studies. We found that the structure of the subsystems of water molecules with 3 and 4 hydrogen-bonds is distinctly different at low temperature, 3‑hydrogen-bonded water molecules form branched chain structures at all temperature. Deconvolution of the descriptors of the mixing pattern of water molecules according to their donor and acceptor numbers showed that species with complementary hydrogen bonding properties are likely to correlate and form H-bonds with each other, while species with similar H-bond pattern tend to avoid each other. Pearson's coefficient (global descriptor of the local cooperativity) of the studied networks suggests that at normal density the H-bonded network in liquid water can be described by an uncorrelated network.
The widespread use of ceria-based materials and the need to design suitable strategies to prepare eco-friendly CeO2 supports for effective catalytic screening induced us to extend our computational multiscale protocol to the modeling of the hybrid organic/oxide interface between prototypical fluorinated linear alkane chains (polyethylene-like oligomers) and low-index ceria surfaces. The combination of quantum chemistry calculations and classical reactive molecular dynamics simulations provides a comprehensive picture of the interface and discloses, at the atomic level, the main causes of typical adsorption modes. The data show that at room temperature. a moderate. percentage` of fluorine atoms (around 25%) can enhance the interaction of the organic chains by anchoring strongly pivotal fluorines to the channels of the underneath ceria (100) surface, whereas an excessive content can remarkably reduce this interaction because of the repulsion between fluorine and the negatively charged oxygen of the surface.
Mean-square displacements (MSDs) and individual-ion square-displacements (ISDs) for the different constituents in Ca-doped CeO2(0 1 1) slabs at 300 K have been studied as a function of depth from the surface. Constant pressure-constant temperature MD simu
Constant stress - constant temperature molecular dynamics simulations are reported for 30 Angstrom thick crystalline MgO (111) slabs with 2-D periodicity in the temperature range 10-1100 K. The 10 K run was 3.75 ps, the 300 K run was 41.25 ps while the others were 11.25 ps. The shell-model potential was used and the long-range interaction was taken into account with the 2-D Ewald summation technique. Two different models have been used in order to achieve the necessary charge compensation for the polar (111) surface. The relaxation of the surface structure and its temperature dependence have been investigated and compared with bulk MgO. The average coordination number in the surface layer and the surface energy are presented. The dynamics in the slab system is presented in terms of atomic mean-square displacements and vibrational density-of-states curves as a function of depth from the surface. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.
BATTERY 2030+ targets the development of a chemistry neutral platform for accelerating the development of new sustainable high-performance batteries. Here, a description is given of how the AI-assisted toolkits and methodologies developed in BATTERY 2030+ can be transferred and applied to representative examples of future battery chemistries, materials, and concepts. This perspective highlights some of the main scientific and technological challenges facing emerging low-technology readiness level (TRL) battery chemistries and concepts, and specifically how the AI-assisted toolkit developed within BIG-MAP and other BATTERY 2030+ projects can be applied to resolve these. The methodological perspectives and challenges in areas like predictive long time- and length-scale simulations of multi-species systems, dynamic processes at battery interfaces, deep learned multi-scaling and explainable AI, as well as AI-assisted materials characterization, self-driving labs, closed-loop optimization, and AI for advanced sensing and self-healing are introduced. A description is given of tools and modules can be transferred to be applied to a select set of emerging low-TRL battery chemistries and concepts covering multivalent anodes, metal-sulfur/oxygen systems, non-crystalline, nano-structured and disordered systems, organic battery materials, and bulk vs. interface-limited batteries.
Molecular dynamics simulations of clusters of Li+ and Be2(+) cations with up to 12 water molecules were performed calculating the particle trajectories using Hartree-Fock-derived forces. It was found that independent of the starting configuration tetrahedral clusters are obtained in less than 1 ps. Only for Li+ clusters, transition states with five and three water molecules are found. We discuss the structures of the clusters and the vibrational dynamics of the water molecules and compare them with other ab initio simulations, with simulations using analytical potential functions, and with static calculations. Water-dissociation (hydrogen transfer) reactions which take place at elevated temperatures were investigated. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
We have developed a reactive force-field of the ReaxFF type for stoichiometric ceria (CeO2) and partially reduced ceria (CeO2-x). We describe the parametrization procedure and provide results validating the parameters in terms of their ability to accurately describe the oxygen chemistry of the bulk, extended surfaces, surface steps, and nanoparticles of the material. By comparison with our reference electronic structure method (PBE+U), we find that the stoichiometric bulk and surface systems are well reproduced in terms of bulk modulus, lattice parameters, and surface energies. For the surfaces, step energies on the (111) surface are also well described. Upon reduction, the force-field is able to capture the bulk and surface vacancy formation energies (E-vac), and in particular, it reproduces the E-vac variation with depth from the (110) and (111) surfaces. The force-field is also able to capture the energy hierarchy of differently shaped stoichiometric nanoparticles (tetrahedra, octahedra, and cubes), and of partially reduced octahedra. For these reasons, we believe that this force-field provides a significant addition to the method repertoire available for simulating redox properties at ceria surfaces.
Atomic and electronic structure of regular and O-deficient SrTiO3 have been studied. Several types of first principles atomistic simulations: Hartree-Fock method, Density Functional Theory, and hybrid HF-DFT functionals, have been applied to periodic models that consider supercells of different sizes (ranging between 40 and 240 atoms). We confirm the ionic character of the Sr-O bonds and the high covalency of the Ti-O2 substructure. For the stoichiometric cubic crystal; the lattice constant and bulk modulus correctly reproduce the experimental data whereas the band gap is only properly obtained by the B3PW functional. The relaxed geometry around the F center shows a large expansion of the two nearest Ti ions. Moreover, the vacancy formation energy is extremely sensitive to the size and the shape of the supercell as well as the calculation method. The electronic density map indicates the redistribution of two electrons of the missing O atom between the vacancy and 3d atomic orbitals of the two nearest Ti ions, in contrast to the F centers in ionic oxides where the charge centroid does not change.
Open access to research data is increasingly important for accelerating research. Grant authorities therefore request detailed plans for how data is managed in the projects they finance. We have recently developed such a plan for the EU H2020 BIG-MAP project-a cross-disciplinary project targeting disruptive battery-material discoveries. Essential for reaching the goal is extensive sharing of research data across scales, disciplines and stakeholders, not limited to BIG-MAP and the European BATTERY 2030+ initiative but within the entire battery community. The key challenges faced in developing the data management plan for such a large and complex project were to generate an overview of the enormous amount of data that will be produced, to build an understanding of the data flow within the project and to agree on a roadmap for making all data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). This paper describes the process we followed and how we structured the plan.
We examine the real space structure and the electronic structure (particularly Ce4f electron localization) of oxygen vacancies in CeO2 (ceria) as a function of U in density functional theory studies with the rotationally invariant forms of the LDA+U and GGA+U functionals. The four nearest neighbor Ce ions always relax outwards, with those not carrying localized Ce4f charge moving furthest. Several quantification schemes show that the charge starts to become localized at U~3 eV and that the degree of localization reaches a maximum at ~6 eV for LDA+U or at ~5.5 eV for GGA+U. For higher U it decreases rapidly as charge is transferred onto second neighbor O ions and beyond. The localization is never into atomic corelike states; at maximum localization about 80-90% of the Ce4f charge is located on the two nearest neighboring Ce ions. However, if we look at the total atomic charge we find that the two ions only make a net gain of (0.2-0.4)e each, so localization is actually very incomplete, with localization of Ce4f electrons coming at the expense of moving other electrons off the Ce ions. We have also revisited some properties of defect-free ceria and find that with LDA+U the crystal structure is actually best described with U=3-4 eV, while the experimental band structure is obtained with U=7-8 eV. (For GGA+U the lattice parameters worsen for U>0 eV, but the band structure is similar to LDA+U.) The best overall choice is U~6 eV with LDA+U and ~5.5 eV for GGA+U, since the localization is most important, but a consistent choice for both CeO2 and Ce2O3, with and without vacancies, is hard to find.
Ab initio density functional calculations are reported for Rh adlayers on MgO(001) at coverages of 1, 1/2 and 1/8 monolayers. It is shown that charge is transferred from oxide surface to the Rh adatoms. The transfer ranges from 0.06 e to 0.27 e, depending upon adsorption site and coverage. In comparison, transfers of 0.08 e from adatom to surface and 0.32 e surface to adatom are found for monolayer coverages of Mg and O, respectively. With the Rh adatoms, significant charge polarization of both Rh and the surface are also seen, but it is never-the-less found that the adhesion energy is linearly related to the charge transfer, with the most stable adsorption site at any particular coverage being the one at which the charge transfer is a maximum.
We present the results of first principles calculations for the magnetism of Rh adlayers on MgO(0 0 1), at three different adsorption sites and three different coverages, corresponding to 1, 1/2 and 1/8 monolayers. Finite magnetization is found in all cases except that of one Rh monolayer above the oxygen site, which is also the most stable. We examine how the magnetization changes as a function of the Rh–surface distance and relate this to changes in the real-space charge density and in the density of states (DOS) as the Rh adlayer interacts with the surface. We find that increasing either the Rh–Rh interaction strength or the Rh–surface interaction strength leads to reduced magnetization, while increasing the former drives a crossover from localized (atomic) to itinerant magnetism. Neither the magnetic transition itself, nor the localized-to-itinerant magnetism crossover, is found to be directly related to the formation of Rh–surface bonds. From a practical point of view, we predict that magnetism in the Rh–MgO(0 0 1) system is most likely to be found experimentally at reduced coverages and at low temperatures.
On the basis of first-principles calculations, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ru, Rh, Ag, Ir, Pt, and Au decorated Mo2CO2-delta monolayers are investigated as potential single-atom catalyst (SAC) candidates for low-temperature CO oxidation reaction. From a first screening based on intuitive criteria concerning metal sintering, CO poisoning, and O-2 adsorption strength, the Zn/Mo2CO2-delta system is selected for further scrutiny by means of reactivity calculations for different CO concentrations. A lower barrier is found for Eley-Rideal reaction mechanism than for the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. The low Eley-Rideal barrier (0.15 eV) is attributed to the fact that the Zn atom weakens the O-O bond considerably and the electrophilic attack of CO weakens it further. The main conclusion is that this system is a promising low-temperature SAC candidate with a lower energy barrier for CO oxidation than noble metal and other 2D SAC systems investigated.
Herein, we present the first paper-based device for facing one of the worldwide concerns of the Modern age: the corrosion-induced deterioration of reinforced concrete. Indeed, the monitoring of corrosion extent in reinforced concrete constructions has been acknowledged as a priority for public safety. In this work, the porosity properties of a paper-based screen-printed Ag/AgCl electrode were exploited for realising a smart analytical tool to be directly applied on the solid surface of concrete for the evaluation of corrosion. The analysis was carried out by measuring the electrochemical potential between the metallic reinforcement and the sensor, needing only 70 mu L of electrolyte solution. The sensor was firstly tested in the laboratory using reinforced concrete samples and then applied on the real outdoor artwork Music Collection Session by Arman (Milan, Italy). A summary of the main available non-destructive techniques for corrosion monitoring is reported to provide a critic overview.
Reinforced concrete has been employed worldwide as a leading building material for public and private structures as well as in modern sculptural art. Although the unrivalled mechanical strength and modelling versatility of this material, several interrelated processes are responsible for its progressive degradation (e.g., carbonation, penetration of aging-promoting agents), decreasing its long-last durability and representing a risk for the public security or the cultural heritage. With the aim to tackle this issue, the present work reports a novel configuration of a screen-printed sensor, obtained by the combination of flexible and robust polyester support and wax-printed filter paper device for the direct application on the concrete surface. Our sensor consists of a polyester-printed three-electrochemical cell that allows dual measurements on reinforced concrete, namely (i) the evaluation of corrosion probability of the metallic reinforcements (which outperforms the half-cell potential standard method) and (ii) the employment of a pH-sensitive iridium oxide film for the measurement of the pH of concrete. The paper was used as a porous material capable of ensuring the electrochemical connection between the Ag/AgCl printed electrode and the concrete solid matrix, acting also as a protective envelope for the electrode. After the laboratory tests, which revealed the noteworthy performances of the sensors in distinguishing among different levels of corrosion as well as measuring the pH of concrete, the developed sensor was applied for on-site measurement at the Giacomo Manzu Museum (Ardea, Italy), demonstrating its suitability for the real application to cultural heritage conservation. Overall, this easy-to-handle and non-invasive diagnostic device provides an innovative analytical approach for the on-site and prompt multiparametric monitoring of the physico-chemical phenomena that endanger the long-lasting preservation of reinforced concrete structures.
Corrosion occurring in reinforced concrete has turned into a primary concern of the current century, concrete being the most ubiquitous and predominant material used in the construction industry. Among the many interrelated processes that trigger corrosion of metallic reinforcements, the penetration of chloride ions into the concrete matrix is the most insidious threat. Herein, we developed the first electrochemical device entirely made of paper that allows for the direct, prompt, and noninvasive evaluation of free chloride ion contamination in concrete-based constructions. Our device is based on a three-layer wax-modified filter paper, consisting of two Ag/AgCl screen-printed electrodes that are interfaced by a junction pad in a sandwich-like configuration. Filter paper allows for generating a vertical-flow potentiometric device capable of measuring the electrochemical potential between two solutions containing different concentrations of chloride ions, which are separately drop-cast on the top and bottom layers. After demonstrating the analytical performance of the device, the same principle was applied to the evaluation of the chloride contents in different concrete samples, exploiting paper as a suitable interfacing material for potentiometric measurements on the cement solid surface. Laboratory-prepared concrete samples with known chloride contents were first assessed, and then, the paper-based vertical-flow device was applied to real concrete structures at the Giacomo Manzu Museum (Ardea, Italy) for the evaluation of chloride contamination caused by the proximity to the seaside. The capability of our device to provide timely warning of the risk conditions of concrete-based artifacts was demonstrated.
Doping CeO2 with for example, Ca gives an enhanced reactivity toward reduction of SO2 by CO, and total combustion of methane. Theoretical modeling using static minimizations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the doped (110) face in combination with ab initio quantum chemical cluster models shows large effects on the Ce(IV)/Ce(III) balance due to the doping. Computed oxygen-to-cerium charge-transfer energies are strongly reduced as a result of the introduction of defects and oxygen vacancies, but not sufficiently to explain the observed reactivities. The structures resulting from the MD simulations for both the doped and undoped material are in good agreement with recent experimental pulsed neutron scattering results.
Several studies have reported a dramatically increased oxygen storage capacity (OSC) for small ceria nanoparticles (∼5 nm). Both experiments and theory have correlated this effect with superoxide ion formation. In previous studies, density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the PBE+U density functional have been used, and the obtained results were only in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations. One severe problem is the underbinding of the O2 molecule upon superoxide ion formation, which suggests that such species should not exist above room temperature. In this work, we use hybrid DFT functional to resolve this problem. We find that the discrepancy between theory and experiment originates from an incorrect estimate of the energy associated with the localized f-electrons with respect to the oxygen p-levels. By using average O2 adsorption energies from hybrid DFT calculations, extrapolated to large nanoparticles (3−10 nm), in conjunction with first-order desorption kinetics, we find that superoxide ions are indeed stable on nanosized ceria well above room temperature, in accordance with experiments.
Density functional theory calculations (DFT), coupled with microkinetic modelling, have been used to simulate Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD) experiments for calcined ceria nanopowders with the aim to gain insight into the chemistry governing their high redox activity. Our simulations consider two main nanoparticle models. One is a perfect ceria octahedron supercharged with adsorbed oxygen molecules turned into superoxide ions, as has previously been used to explain the enhanced oxygen storage capacity (OSC) in nanoceria. The other model is a variant where we have introduced oxygen vacancies under ridge Ce ions, thereby reducing their coordination numbers to five. The results from our microkinetic modelling suggest that including such five-coordinated Ce adsorption sites results in a TPD spectrum that better matches the experimental counterpart in terms of both peak position and width. In addition, this new structural model allows for the co-existence of Ce3+ ions, superoxide ions and O-2 molecules, as seen in experiments in the literature.