Density Functional Theory Approximation Research Articles

First-Principles-Based Machine Learning Models for Phase Behavior and Transport Properties of CO2

In this work, we construct distinct first-principles-based machine-learning models of CO2, reproducing the potential energy surface of the PBE-D3, BLYP-D3, SCAN, and SCAN-rvv10 approximations of density functional theory. We employ the Deep Potential methodology to develop the models and consequently achieve a significant computational efficiency over ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) that allows for larger system sizes and time scales to be explored. Although our models are trained only with liquid-phase configurations, they are able to simulate a stable interfacial system and predict vapor-liquid equilibrium properties, in good agreement with results from the literature. Because of the computational efficiency of the models, we are also able to obtain transport properties, such as viscosity and diffusion coefficients. We find that the SCAN-based model presents a temperature shift in the position of the critical point, while the SCAN-rvv10-based model shows improvement but still exhibits a temperature shift that remains approximately constant for all properties investigated in this work. We find that the BLYP-D3-based model generally performs better for the liquid phase and vapor-liquid equilibrium properties, but the PBE-D3-based model is better suited for predicting transport properties.

On Proton Defects and the Phase Transformation of NiO2

One approach to high-capacity Li-ion battery cathodes is to increase the Ni content. Unfortunately, Ni-rich materials undergo a phase transition and volume collapse at a high state of charge (SOC), which degrades battery performance. At a high SOC, NiO2 undergoes a phase transition from the O3 to the O1 phase. The O1 phase appears to be more thermodynamically stable than the O3 phase. However, density functional theory (DFT) often predicts higher stability for O3, depending on the DFT approximation. The energy difference between the O1 and O3 phases is on the order of 10 meV/atom. We find that proton defects are more stable in the O1 phase than in the O3 phase by about 90 meV per proton. Defects in NiO2 energetically favor the O3–O1 phase transition observed in a high SOC in LixNiO2.

Exploring the experimental study and density functional theory calculations of symmetric and asymmetric chalcogen atoms interacted molybdenum dichalcogenides for lithium-ion batteries

Two-dimensional asymmetric chalcogen atoms attached to Janus nanoparticles have fascinated research attention owing to their distinctive properties and characteristics for various applications. This paper proposed a facile synthesis to produce efficient molybdenum-based symmetric and asymmetric chalcogens bounded by XMoX and TeMoX nanostructures. Subsequently, the fabricated XMoX and TeMoX nanostructures were employed as anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Assembled LIBs using TeMoS and TeMoSe Janus anodes achieved 2610 and 2073 mAh g–1 reversible capacity at 0.1 A g–1, respectively for the half-cell configuration, which is outstanding performance compared with previous reports. Superior rate capability performances at 0.1–20 A g–1 and exceptional cycling solidity confirmed high charge and discharge capacities for TeMoX Janus lithium-ion battery anodes. In addition, the full cell device with TeMoS//LiCoO2 configuration explored the discharge capacity of 1605 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g–1 which suggests their excellent electrochemical characteristics. The density functional theory approximations established the significance of assembled symmetric and asymmetric chalcogen atoms interacted with XMoX and TeMoX anode materials for LIBs. Thus, the present investigation supports a new approach to creating two-dimensional materials based on asymmetric chalcogen atoms with core metal to effectively increase desirable energy storage characteristics.

Towards a universal exchange enhancement factor in density functional theory

A broadly used strategy to go beyond the well-known local-density approximation of density functional theory relies on the choice of a so-called exchange-correlation (xc) enhancement factor ${F}_{\mathrm{xc}}$, defined as the enhancement of a realistic xc energy density over its local exchange-only counterpart. To date, this density functional, ${F}_{\mathrm{xc}}$, has been constructed by following either semiempirical strategies or nonempirical schemes that impose the fulfillment of exact constraints. Here, we follow a totally different route, which is based on an attempt to construct a universal exchange enhancement factor ${F}_{x}$ from the exact exchange energy density of a given family of electron density profiles and which we implement on the basis of jellium-slab exact-exchange self-consistent calculations. We find that such an enhancement factor can, indeed, be built which obeys, within our sample of electron-density profiles, most exact constraints and thus represents a benchmark towards the construction of a universal exchange enhancement factor suitable for all electron densities. We provide, in particular, an analytical parametrization of our ab initio calculations at the level of the generalized gradient approximation.

Statistical analysis of the performance of a variety of first-principles schemes for accurate prediction of binary semiconductor band gaps.

Standard density functional theory (DFT) approximations tend to strongly underestimate band gaps, while the more accurate GW and hybrid functionals are much more computationally demanding and unsuitable for high-throughput screening. In this work, we have performed an extensive benchmark of several approximations with different computational complexity [G0W0@PBEsol, HSE06, PBEsol, modified Becke-Johnson potential (mBJ), DFT-1/2, and ACBN0] to evaluate and compare their performance in predicting the bandgap of semiconductors. The benchmark is based on 114 binary semiconductors of different compositions and crystal structures, for about half of which experimental band gaps are known. Surprisingly, we find that, compared with G0W0@PBEsol, which exhibits a noticeable underestimation of the band gaps by about 14%, the much computationally cheaper pseudohybrid ACBN0 functional shows a competitive performance in reproducing the experimental data. The mBJ functional also performs well relative to the experiment, even slightly better than G0W0@PBEsol in terms of mean absolute (percentage) error. The HSE06 and DFT-1/2 schemes perform overall worse than ACBN0 and mBJ schemes but much better than PBEsol. Comparing the calculated band gaps on the whole dataset (including the samples with no experimental bandgap), we find that HSE06 and mBJ have excellent agreement with respect to the reference G0W0@PBEsol band gaps. The linear and monotonic correlations between the selected theoretical schemes and experiment are analyzed in terms of the Pearson and Kendall rank coefficients. Our findings strongly suggest the ACBN0 and mBJ methods as very efficient replacements for the costly G0W0 scheme in high-throughput screening of the semiconductor band gaps.

Effective local potentials for density and density-matrix functional approximations with non-negative screening density.

A way to improve the accuracy of the spectral properties in density functional theory (DFT) is to impose constraints on the effective, Kohn-Sham (KS), local potential [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 224109 (2012)]. As illustrated, a convenient variational quantity in that approach is the "screening" or "electron repulsion" density, ρrep, corresponding to the local, KS Hartree, exchange and correlation potential through Poisson's equation. Two constraints, applied to this minimization, largely remove self-interaction errors from the effective potential: (i) ρrep integrates to N - 1, where N is the number of electrons, and (ii) ρrep ≥ 0 everywhere. In this work, we introduce an effective "screening" amplitude, f, as the variational quantity, with the screening density being ρrep = f2. In this way, the positivity condition for ρrep is automatically satisfied, and the minimization problem becomes more efficient and robust. We apply this technique to molecular calculations, employing several approximations in DFT and in reduced density matrix functional theory. We find that the proposed development is an accurate, yet robust, variant of the constrained effective potential method.

Shadow energy functionals and potentials in Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics.

In Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) simulations based on the density functional theory (DFT), the potential energy and the interatomic forces are calculated from an electronic ground state density that is determined by an iterative self-consistent field optimization procedure, which, in practice, never is fully converged. The calculated energies and forces are, therefore, only approximate, which may lead to an unphysical energy drift and instabilities. Here, we discuss an alternative shadow BOMD approach that is based on backward error analysis. Instead of calculating approximate solutions for an underlying exact regular Born-Oppenheimer potential, we do the opposite. Instead, we calculate the exact electron density, energies, and forces, but for an underlying approximate shadow Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface. In this way, the calculated forces are conservative with respect to the approximate shadow potential and generate accurate molecular trajectories with long-term energy stabilities. We show how such shadow Born-Oppenheimer potentials can be constructed at different levels of accuracy as a function of the integration time step, δt, from the constrained minimization of a sequence of systematically improvable, but approximate, shadow energy density functionals. For each energy functional, there is a corresponding ground state Born-Oppenheimer potential. These pairs of shadow energy functionals and potentials are higher-level generalizations of the original "zeroth-level" shadow energy functionals and potentials used in extended Lagrangian BOMD [Niklasson, Eur. Phys. J. B 94, 164 (2021)]. The proposed shadow energy functionals and potentials are useful only within this extended dynamical framework, where also the electronic degrees of freedom are propagated as dynamical field variables together with the atomic positions and velocities. The theory is quite general and can be applied to MD simulations using approximate DFT, Hartree-Fock, or semi-empirical methods, as well as to coarse-grained flexible charge models.

Assessment of random phase approximation and second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory for many-body interactions in solid ethane, ethylene, and acetylene.

The relative energies of different phases or polymorphs of molecular solids can be small, less than a kilojoule/mol. A reliable description of such energy differences requires high-quality treatment of electron correlations, typically beyond that achievable by routinely applicable density functional theory (DFT) approximations. At the same time, high-level wave function theory is currently too computationally expensive. Methods employing an intermediate level of approximations, such as Møller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory and the random phase approximation (RPA), are potentially useful. However, their development and application for molecular solids has been impeded by the scarcity of necessary benchmark data for these systems. In this work, we employ the coupled-cluster method with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples to obtain a reference-quality many-body expansion of the binding energy of four crystalline hydrocarbons with a varying π-electron character: ethane, ethene, and cubic and orthorhombic forms of acetylene. The binding energy is resolved into explicit dimer, trimer, and tetramer contributions, which facilitates the analysis of errors in the approximate approaches. With the newly generated benchmark data, we test the accuracy of MP2 and non-self-consistent RPA. We find that both of the methods poorly describe the non-additive many-body interactions in closely packed clusters. Using different DFT input states for RPA leads to similar total binding energies, but the many-body components strongly depend on the choice of the exchange-correlation functional.

Approximating constant potential DFT with canonical DFT and electrostatic corrections.

The complexity of electrochemical interfaces has led to the development of several approximate density functional theory (DFT)-based schemes to study reaction thermodynamics and kinetics as a function of electrode potential. While fixed electrode potential conditions can be simulated with grand canonical ensemble DFT (GCE-DFT), various electrostatic corrections on canonical, constant charge DFT are often applied instead. In this work, we present a systematic derivation and analysis of the different electrostatic corrections on canonical DFT to understand their physical validity, implicit assumptions, and scope of applicability. Our work highlights the need to carefully address the suitability of a given model for the problem under study, especially if physical or chemical insight in addition to reaction energetics is sought. In particular, we analytically show that the different corrections cannot differentiate between electrostatic interactions and covalent or charge-transfer interactions. By numerically testing different models for CO2 adsorption on a single-atom catalyst as a function of the electrode potential, we further show that computed capacitances, dipole moments, and the obtained physical insight depend sensitively on the chosen approximation. These features limit the scope, generality, and physical insight of these corrective schemes despite their proven practicality for specific systems and energetics. Finally, we suggest guidelines for choosing different electrostatic corrections and propose the use of conceptual DFT to develop more general approximations for electrochemical interfaces and reactions using canonical DFT.

Excited State Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics of Hot Electron Addition to Water Clusters in the Ultrafast Femtosecond Regime

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) reactions of water result in the production of hydrogen atoms and hydroxide anions. This has been studied for a long time and is relatively slow in liquid water for thermalized hydrated electrons but much faster with a higher-energy electron. Here, we probe the nonadiabatic molecular dynamics after the addition of a hot electron (6-7 eV) to a neutral water cluster (H2O)n, where n = 2-12, considering the 0-100 fs time scale using the fewest switches surface hopping method, in conjunction with ab initio molecular dynamics and the Tamm-Dancoff approximation density functional theory method. The nonadiabatic DEA occurs within 10-60 fs, and with high probability, giving H + OH- above an energy threshold. This is faster than time scales estimated previously for autoionization or adiabatic DEA. The change in threshold energy with cluster size is modest, ranging from 6.6 to 6.9 eV. Dissociation on a femtosecond time scale is consistent with pulsed radiolysis experiments.

Curing the Divergence in Time-Dependent Density Functional Quadratic Response Theory

The adiabatic approximation in time-dependent density functional theory is known to give an incorrect pole structure in the quadratic response function, leading to unphysical divergences in excited state-to-state transition probabilities and hyperpolarizabilties. We find the form of the exact quadratic response kernel and derive a practical and accurate approximation that cures the divergence. We demonstrate our results on excited state-to-state transition probabilities of a model system and of the LiH molecule.

Facile construction of new coronal-like MnCeOx hollow nanosphere for efficiently removing o-dichlorobenzene

Designing unique and ingenious microstructure or morphology of catalysts is critical and still a challenge to obtain high catalytic performance in catalytic combustion reactions under dry air and 5.0 vol% H2O conditions, especially by economic and efficient measures. In pursuit of this goal, a facile strategy was exploited to accurately construct new-coronal like MnCeOx hollow microsphere with different Ce contents. This unique structure can expose more active sites and has excellent redox ability. The simulation results of generalized gradient approximation (GGA) of density functional theory (DFT) indicated that the introduction of a certain amount of Ce can effectively improve the adsorption and activation of o-DCB molecules on Mn3O4. The detailed study showed that the Mn2Ce1Ox hollow nanosphere exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the presence of 5.0 vol% H2O. Ideally, the action of Marse-van Krevelen (Mvk) combine Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism was deduced based on the origin of oxygen species under dry air conditions. In general, the green and facile synthetic strategy provides a new idea for the design of hollow microsphere Mn-based catalyst and the unique structure significantly improves the comprehensive performance of o-DCB catalytic oxidation, which brings great hope for industrial application.

Band alignment at the strontium germanate interface with silicon

Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising strategy for large-scale clean energy production. However, efficient and low-cost solid-state photocatalysts are still lacking. We present here first-principles calculations for investigating the suitability of an epitaxial layer of strontium germanate on a Si(100) single crystal as a photocathode. Conduction and valence band offsets at the interface between these two semiconductors were determined using state-of-the-art approximations of density functional theory for the accurate prediction of band alignments. The resulting band lineup is also confirmed by inspection of the spatially resolved density of states. It is concluded that the conduction band offset of the investigated heterostructure is favorable for photocathodic functionality.

High energy γ-rays inelastic scattering studies and DFT strategies of divalent high-Z perovskites EuTMO3 (TM = Ti and Zr)

Electron momentum densities (EMDs) of divalent high-Z perovskites EuTiO3 and EuZrO3 have been measured using 20 Ci 137Cs Compton spectrometer at 0.34 a.u. (momentum resolution). Theoretical directional and isotropic Compton profiles (CPs) for both the perovskites have been deduced using linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) scheme with density functional theory (DFT). The DFT approximation dependent local density and generalized gradient approximations (GGA) along with second order GGA (SOGGA) and hybrid WC1LYP are considered in the present work. While validating the approximation for exchange and correlation energies using experimental CPs, the WC1LYP scheme has been identified as a better prescription for both the perovskites. To scrutinize the nature of bonding, we have calculated the Mulliken's populations (MP) and also scaled the experimental EMDs on equal-valence-electron-density, which explicitly show that EuTiO3 is more ionic than the EuZrO3. Going beyond the CPs, the electronic properties like energy bands and density of states (DOS) have also been enumerated using full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) with GGA and GGA+Hubbard correction (U). Both the compounds show semiconducting behaviour with FP-LAPW-GGA+U scheme.

Use of DFT+U+J with linear response parameters to predict non-magnetic oxide band gaps with hybrid-functional accuracy

First-principles Hubbard-corrected approximate density-functional theory (DFT+U) is a low-cost, potentially high throughput method of simulating materials, but it has been hampered by empiricism and inconsistent band-gap correction in transition-metal oxides. DFT+U property prediction of non-magnetic systems such as d0 and d10 transition-metal oxides is typically faced with excessively large calculated Hubbard U values, and with difficulty in obtaining acceptable band-gaps and lattice volumes. Meanwhile, Hund's exchange coupling J is an important but often neglected component of DFT+U, and the J parameter has proven challenging to directly calculate by means of linear response. In this work, we provide a revised formula for computing Hund's J using established self-consistent field DFT+U codes. For non-magnetic systems, we introduce a non-approximate technique for calculating U and J simultaneously in such codes, at no additional cost. Using unmodified Quantum ESPRESSO, we assess the resulting values using two different DFT+U functionals incorporating J, namely the widely used DFT+(U-J) and the readily available DFT+U+J. We assess a test set comprising TiO2, ZrO2, HfO2, Cu2O and ZnO, and apply the corrections both to metal and oxygen centered pseudoatomic subspaces. Starting from the PBE functional, we find that DFT+(U-J) is significantly out-performed in band-gap accuracy by DFT+U+J, the RMS band-gap error of which matches that of the hybrid functional HSE06. ZnO, a long-standing challenge case for DFT+U, is addressed by means of Zn 4s instead of Zn 3d correction, in which case the first-principles DFT+U+J band-gap error is half of that reported for HSE06.

First-principles study of structural and electronic properties of ZnSe with wurtzite structure

Using Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA) the structural and electronic properties of pure ZnSe wurtzite compound were theoretically investigated. The Hubbard U semiempirical correction has also been used to improve the underestimated DFT calculated band gap. From the DFT+LSDA+U method obtained that the wide of band gap is 2.7 eV and this result is closer to the available experimental results. Current studies reveal that the maximum of valence band and the minimum of conduction band located at the Γ (0, 0, 0) symmetry point on the Brillouin zone. Accurate investigation of the electronic structure of studied material is helpful for the technical applications.

Mechanical properties of zeolite-templated carbons from approximate density functional theory calculations

Mechanical properties of zeolite-templated carbons from approximate density functional theory calculations

Steering Selectivity in the Four-Electron and Two-Electron Oxygen Reduction Reactions: On the Importance of the Volcano Slope.

In the last decade, trends for competing electrocatalytic processes have been largely captured by volcano plots, which can be constructed by the analysis of adsorption free energies as derived from electronic structure theory in the density functional theory approximation. One prototypical example refers to the four-electron and two-electron oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs), resulting in the formation of water and hydrogen peroxide, respectively. The conventional thermodynamic volcano curve illustrates that the four-electron and two-electron ORRs reveal the same slopes at the volcano legs. This finding is related to two facts, namely, that only a single mechanistic description is considered in the model, and electrocatalytic activity is assessed by the concept of the limiting potential, a simple thermodynamic descriptor evaluated at the equilibrium potential. In the present contribution, the selectivity challenge of the four-electron and two-electron ORRs is analyzed, thereby accounting for two major expansions. First, different reaction mechanisms are included into the analysis, and second, G max(U), a potential-dependent activity measure that factors overpotential and kinetic effects into the evaluation of adsorption free energies, is applied for approximation of electrocatalytic activity. It is illustrated that the slope of the four-electron ORR is not constant at the volcano legs but rather is prone to change as soon as another mechanistic pathway is energetically preferred or another elementary step becomes the limiting one. Due to the varying slope of the four-electron ORR volcano, a trade-off between activity and selectivity for hydrogen peroxide formation is observed. It is demonstrated that the two-electron ORR is energetically preferred at the left and right volcano legs, thus opening a new strategy for the selective formation of H2O2 by an environmentally benign route.

First-principles calculations to investigate electronic band structure, optical and mechanical properties of new CaFCl monolayer

Two-dimensional materials present new opportunities to venture into largely unexplored areas of material property space. They are appropriate for several electronic powers, photonics, and sunlight device applications. In this framework, leveraging density functional theory and even beyond, we investigate the structural, vibrational, electronic, optical, and elastic properties of novel CaFCl thin film. We have found that the CaFCl sheet is dynamically stable because its spectrum contains no imaginary frequencies. The direct band gap energy value of our GW findings is around 9.10 eV, which really is higher than the band gaps of ScOI and InOF oxyhalides thin films. We have found that the external electric fields immediately affect the structure of the layer. The band gap of the CaFCl structure is reduced rapidly by increasing the strength of the electric field. Additionally, our Bethe–Salpeter theory calculations demonstrate that when the excitation light rate is greater than the resonance frequency (8.00 eV), the substance becomes translucent. We have also used the method of homogeneous deformation, which is coupled with density functional theory and random phase approximation total-energy computations to produce a comprehensive scheme for studying the second-and third-order elastic constants for the CaFCl layer. A polynomial fit to the estimated energy-strain connection yielded these constants. Our results reveal that this 2D monolayer is a promising material for nanophotonics and optoelectronics.

Electronic Structure of NdFeCoB Oxide Magnetic Particles Studied by DFT Calculations and XPS.

Neodymium-iron-boron magnetic oxide powders synthesized by sol-gel Pechini method were studied by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and quantum chemical modeling. The powder structure was examined by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and modeled by using density functional theory (DFT) approximation. The electronic structures of the core and valent regions were determined experimentally by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and modeled by using quantum chemical methods. This study provides important insights into the electronic structure and chemical bonding of atoms of NdFeCoB oxide particles with the partial substitution of Fe by Co atoms.