Properties of two-dimensional insulators: A DFT study of bimetallic oxide CrW2O9 clusters adsorption on MgO ultrathin films

Abstract

Periodic density functional theory calculations have been performed to study the electronic properties of bimetallic oxide CrW2O9 clusters adsorbed on MgO/Ag(001) ultrathin films (<1nm). Our results show that after deposition completely different structures, electronic properties and chemical reactivity of dispersed CrW2O9 clusters on ultrathin films are observed compared with that on the thick MgO surface. On the thick MgO(001) surface, adsorbed CrW2O9 clusters are distorted significantly and just a little electron transfer occurs from oxide surface to clusters, which originates from the formation of adsorption dative bonds at interface. Whereas on the MgO/Ag(001) ultrathin films, the resulting CrW2O9 clusters keep the cyclic structures and the geometries are similar to that of gas-phase [CrW2O9]−. Interestingly, we predicted the occurrence of a net transfer of one electron by direct electron tunneling from the MgO/Ag(001) films to CrW2O9 clusters through the thin MgO dielectric barrier. Furthermore, our work reveals a progressive Lewis acid site where spin density preferentially localizes around the Cr atom not the W atoms for CrW2O9/MgO/Ag(001) system, indicating a potentially good bimetallic oxide for better catalytic activities with respect to that of pure W3O9 clusters. As a consequence, present results reveal that the adsorption of bimetallic oxide CrW2O9 clusters on the MgO/Ag(001) ultrathin films provide a new perspective to tune and modify the properties and chemical reactivity of bimetallic oxide adsorbates as a function of the thickness of the oxide films.