Nonempirical Modeling of Interactions of Fe2O2 and Fe2O4 Clusters with H2 and O2 Molecules

Abstract

Quantum-chemical calculations of the geometric and electronic structures of compounds formed by the interaction of Fe2O2 and Fe2O4 clusters with diatomic H2 and O2 molecules in the gas phase have been performed by the density functional theory method in the generalized gradient approximation using the triple-zeta basis set. The trends in changes in the binding energy of H2 and O2 molecules with Fe2O2 and Fe2O4 clusters depending on the number of oxygen atoms have been found. It has been demonstrated that in two of the four reactions considered, the total spins of the initial reagents and final products do not coincide, that is, spin relaxation occurs. It has been concluded that nanoparticles based on Fe2O4 clusters can be used as sensors for detecting H2 and O2 molecules.