Electronic and Structural Properties of Core-Shell Amino-Silica Nanoparticles: DFT And SCC-DFTB Calculation

Abstract

Introduction: Silica nanoparticles (SNP) are extremely promising tools in nanotechnology and nano medicine. In most of applications such as capture and release of bacteriophage viruses the nano-structures of silica are coated by bio-compatible groups such as amine compounds. The presence of amino groups on the surface of the biosensors enables the installation of analyte receptors and antifouling agents such as oligo (ethylene oxide). Therefore, in this study, the electronic and structural properties of Core-Shell amino- Silica Nanoparticles are investigated.Material and Methods: In this investigation, we aim at obtaining the optimized structures and evaluate the geometries of the ground state for (SiO2) n (n=16, 20) nanoclusters. The electronic properties computed by density functional theory with GGA approximation and SCC-DFTB with hybrid Slater-Koster files are investigated and the effect of functionalization on such properties is discussed.Results: Solvolysis of studied structures is examined and it is shown that the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital states shift to obviously higher energy levels, which lead to more stable hydrogenated nanoclusters. The stability of nanoclusters rises by functionalization with amino and methylamine groups. Charge analysis of functionalized systems indicates the reactivity of nanoclusters. The results obtained in this paper are useful for chemical and biochemical applications of silica nanostructures.Conclusion: Results show that the length of amine hydrocarbon chain can control the electronic and magnetic properties of studied silica nanocluster (SNP) with different number of SiO2 unit. Pure ultra-small nanocluster shows the impressive spin splitting around the Fermi level, which is due to the spin splitting of outer silicon atoms. This feature of silica nanoclusters may be notable for applications in electronics.