Energy band alignment and electronic states of amorphous carbon surfaces in vacuo and in aqueous environment

Abstract

In this paper, we obtain the energy band positions of amorphous carbon (a–C) surfaces in vacuum and in aqueous environment. The calculations are performed using a combination of (i) classical molecular dynamics (MD), (ii) Kohn-Sham density functional theory with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange-correlation functional, and (iii) the screened-exchange hybrid functional of Heyd, Scuseria, and Ernzerhof (HSE). PBE allows an accurate generation of a-C and the evaluation of the local electrostatic potential in the a-C/water system, HSE yields an improved description of energetic positions which is critical in this case, and classical MD enables a computationally affordable description of water. Our explicit calculation shows that, both in vacuo and in aqueous environment, the a-C electronic states available in the region comprised between the H2/H2O and O2/H2O levels of water correspond to both occupied and unoccupied states within the a-C pseudogap region. These are localized states associated to sp2 sites in a-C. The band realignment induces a shift of approximately 300 meV of the a-C energy band positions with respect to the redox levels of water.