Ground State Potential Energy Surface Research Articles

On the Non‐Metallicity of 2.2 nm Au246(SR)80 Nanoclusters

AbstractThe transition from molecular to plasmonic behaviour in metal nanoparticles with increasing size remains a central question in nanoscience. We report that the giant 246‐gold‐atom nanocluster (2.2 nm in gold core diameter) protected by 80 thiolate ligands is surprisingly non‐metallic based on UV/Vis and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy as well as electrochemical measurements. Specifically, the Au246 nanocluster exhibits multiple excitonic peaks in transient absorption spectra and electron dynamics independent of the pump power, which are in contrast to the behaviour of metallic gold nanoparticles. Moreover, a prominent oscillatory feature with frequency of 0.5 THz can be observed in almost all the probe wavelengths. The phase and amplitude analysis of the oscillation suggests that it arises from the wavepacket motion on the ground state potential energy surface, which also indicates the presence of a small band‐gap and thus non‐metallic or molecular‐like behaviour.

On the Non-Metallicity of 2.2 nm Au246 (SR)80 Nanoclusters.

The transition from molecular to plasmonic behaviour in metal nanoparticles with increasing size remains a central question in nanoscience. We report that the giant 246-gold-atom nanocluster (2.2 nm in gold core diameter) protected by 80 thiolate ligands is surprisingly non-metallic based on UV/Vis and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy as well as electrochemical measurements. Specifically, the Au246 nanocluster exhibits multiple excitonic peaks in transient absorption spectra and electron dynamics independent of the pump power, which are in contrast to the behaviour of metallic gold nanoparticles. Moreover, a prominent oscillatory feature with frequency of 0.5 THz can be observed in almost all the probe wavelengths. The phase and amplitude analysis of the oscillation suggests that it arises from the wavepacket motion on the ground state potential energy surface, which also indicates the presence of a small band-gap and thus non-metallic or molecular-like behaviour.

Kinetics studies of the F + HCl → HF + Cl reaction on an accurate potential energy surface

A full-dimensional electronic ground state potential energy surface for the hydrogen abstraction reaction F + HCl → HF + Cl is developed by using the permutation invariant polynomial neural network approach based on 6509 points computed at the level of CCSD(T)-F12a/AVTZ. Spin-orbit correction is also taken into account at the complete active space self-consistent field level. Theoretical thermal rate coefficients determined by the ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) approach agree well with experiment, validating the accuracy of the PES. Kinetic isotope effect is also investigated.

Can Ultrastrong Coupling Change Ground-State Chemical Reactions?

Recent advancements on the fabrication of organic micro- and nanostructures have permitted the strong collective light-matter coupling regime to be reached with molecular materials. Pioneering works in this direction have shown the effects of this regime in the excited state reactivity of molecular systems and at the same time has opened up the question of whether it is possible to introduce any modifications in the electronic ground energy landscape which could affect chemical thermodynamics and/or kinetics. In this work, we use a model system of many molecules coupled to a surface-plasmon field to gain insight on the key parameters which govern the modifications of the ground-state Potential Energy Surface (PES). Our findings confirm that the energetic changes per molecule are determined by single-molecule-light couplings which are essentially local, in contrast with those of the electronically excited states, for which energetic corrections are of a collective nature. Still, we reveal some intriguing quantum-coherent effects associated with pathways of concerted reactions, where two or more molecules undergo reactions simultaneously, and which can be of relevance in low-barrier reactions. Finally, we also explore modifications to nonadiabatic dynamics and conclude that, for this particular model, the presence of a large number of dark states yields negligible changes. Our study reveals new possibilities as well as limitations for the emerging field of polariton chemistry.

Evolutionary algorithm based configuration interaction approach

AbstractA new evolutionary algorithm for stochastic configuration interaction (CI) method designed as an affordable approximation to full configuration interaction (FCI) has been described here. The key components of the algorithm are initiation, propagation, and termination steps taking inspiration from the genetic algorithm. The propagation step is performed with cloning (retention of a Slater determinant without change), mutation (single excitation/de‐excitation), and crossover (exchange of α and β strings between two Slater determinants) and termination is selection of few Slater determinants based on certain fitness function (measure of importance of a determinant in the CI space) and rejection of the rest. We find that the absolute value of the CI coefficients is a suitable fitness function when combined with a fixed selection scheme. We have tested its accuracy in 1D Hubbard problem and ground state potential energy surface (PES) has also been constructed for symmetric bond breaking of water molecule, where the errors are found to be around 10 mEh with low non‐parallelity error, when retaining only a small fraction of the total number of Slater determinants in the final population. This shows that this method has the ability to capture both static and dynamic correlation. Performance and convergence properties of the algorithm are also tested for N2 triple bond breaking problem. The algorithm opens up a promising way for stochastic sampling of the important determinants in the full Hilbert space.

Excited state wavepacket dynamics in NO2 probed by strong-field ionization.

We present an experimental femtosecond time-resolved study of the 399 nm excited state dynamics of nitrogen dioxide using channel-resolved above threshold ionization (CRATI) as the probe process. This method relies on photoelectron-photoion coincidence and covariance to correlate the strong-field photoelectron spectrum with ionic fragments, which label the channel. In all ionization channels observed, we report apparent oscillations in the ion and photoelectron yields as a function of pump-probe delay. Further, we observe the presence of a persistent, time-invariant above threshold ionization comb in the photoelectron spectra associated with most ionization channels at long time delays. These observations are interpreted in terms of single-pump-photon excitation to the first excited electronic X̃ 2A1 state and multi-pump-photon excitations to higher-lying states. The short time delay (<100 fs) dynamics in the fragment channels show multi-photon pump signatures of higher-lying neutral state dynamics, in data sets recorded with higher pump intensities. As expected for pumping NO2 at 399 nm, non-adiabatic coupling was seen to rapidly re-populate the ground state following excitation to the first excited electronic state, within 200 fs. Subsequent intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution results in the spreading of the ground state vibrational wavepacket into the asymmetric stretch coordinate, allowing the wavepacket to explore nuclear geometries in the asymptotic region of the ground state potential energy surface. Signatures of the vibrationally "hot" ground state wavepacket were observed in the CRATI spectra at longer time delays. This study highlights the complex and sometimes competing phenomena that can arise in strong-field ionization probing of excited state molecular dynamics.

Potential energy surfaces of quintet and singlet O4.

We present global ground-state potential energy surfaces for the quintet and singlet spin states of the O4 system that are suitable for treating high-energy vibrational-rotational energy transfer and collision-induced dissociation in electronically adiabatic, spin-conserving O2-O2 collisions. The surfaces are based on MS-CASPT2/maug-cc-pVTZ electronic structure calculations with scaled external correlation. The active space has 16 electrons in 12 orbitals. The calculations cover nine kinds of geometrical arrangements corresponding to dissociative diatom-diatom collisions of O2, geometries corresponding to O3-O, geometries identified by running trajectories, and geometries along linear synchronous transit paths. The global ground-state potential energy surfaces were obtained by a many-body approach with an accurate O-O pairwise interaction and a fit of the many-body interaction to 12 684 electronic structure data points for the singlet and 10 543 electronic structure data points for the quintet. The many-body fit is based on permutationally invariant polynomials in terms of bond-order functions of the six interatomic distances; the bond-order functions are mixed exponential-Gaussian functions.

Universality and chaoticity in ultracold K+KRb chemical reactions

A fundamental question in the study of chemical reactions is how reactions proceed at a collision energy close to absolute zero. This question is no longer hypothetical: quantum degenerate gases of atoms and molecules can now be created at temperatures lower than a few tens of nanokelvin. Here we consider the benchmark ultracold reaction between, the most-celebrated ultracold molecule, KRb and K. We map out an accurate ab initio ground-state potential energy surface of the K2Rb complex in full dimensionality and report numerically-exact quantum-mechanical reaction dynamics. The distribution of rotationally resolved rates is shown to be Poissonian. An analysis of the hyperspherical adiabatic potential curves explains this statistical character revealing a chaotic distribution for the short-range collision complex that plays a key role in governing the reaction outcome.

Quantum reaction dynamics of C(1D) + HD → CH(CD) + D(H) on the ground state potential energy surface

We present accurate quantum dynamic calculations of the reaction C(1D) + HD on the latest version of the potential energy surface [Zhang et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 234301 (2014)]. Using a Chebyshev real wave packet method with full Coriolis coupling, we obtain the initial state-specified ( ) reaction probabilities, integral cross sections, and rate constants. The resulting probabilities display oscillatory structures due to numerous long-lived resonances supported by the deep potential well. The calculated rate constants and CD/CH product branching ratio at room temperature are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental measurements.

Coherent singlet fission activated by symmetry breaking.

Singlet fission, in which a singlet exciton is converted to two triplet excitons, is a process that could be beneficial in photovoltaic applications. A full understanding of the dynamics of singlet fission in molecular systems requires detailed knowledge of the relevant potential energy surfaces and their (conical) intersections. However, obtaining such information is a nontrivial task, particularly for molecular aggregates. Here we investigate singlet fission in rubrene crystals using transient absorption spectroscopy and state-of-the-art quantum chemical calculations. We observe a coherent and ultrafast singlet-fission channel as well as the well-known and conventional thermally assisted incoherent channel. This coherent channel is accessible because the conical intersection for singlet fission on the excited-state potential energy surface is located very close to the equilibrium position of the ground-state potential energy surface and also because of the excitation of an intermolecular symmetry-breaking mode, which activates the electronic coupling necessary for singlet fission.

Isotopic Effects on Stereodynamics of the C+ + H2 → CH+ + H Reaction**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11474141, 11274149, 11544015, the Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University under Grant No. LJQ2015040, and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry (2014-1685)

The effects of isotope substitution on stereodynamic properties for the reactions have been studied applying a quasi classical trajectory method occurring on the new ground state potential energy surface [J. Chem. Phys. 142 (2015) 124302]. In the center of mass coordinates applying the quasi classical trajectory method to investigate the orientation and the alignment of the product molecule. Differential cross section and three angle distribution functions P(θr), P(ϕr), P() on the potential energy surface that fixed the collision energy with a value is 40 kcal/mol have been studied. The isotope effect becomes more and more important with the reagent molecules H2 changing into HD and HT. P() as the joint probability density function of both polar angles θr and ϕr, which can illustrate more detailed dynamics information. The isotope effect is obvious influence on the properties of stereodynamics in the reactions of .

Cavity Born-Oppenheimer Approximation for Correlated Electron-Nuclear-Photon Systems.

In this work, we illustrate the recently introduced concept of the cavity Born–Oppenheimer approximation [Flick et al. PNAS2017, 10.1073/pnas.1615509114] for correlated electron–nuclear-photon problems in detail. We demonstrate how an expansion in terms of conditional electronic and photon-nuclear wave functions accurately describes eigenstates of strongly correlated light-matter systems. For a GaAs quantum ring model in resonance with a photon mode we highlight how the ground-state electronic potential-energy surface changes the usual harmonic potential of the free photon mode to a dressed mode with a double-well structure. This change is accompanied by a splitting of the electronic ground-state density. For a model where the photon mode is in resonance with a vibrational transition, we observe in the excited-state electronic potential-energy surface a splitting from a single minimum to a double minimum. Furthermore, for a time-dependent setup, we show how the dynamics in correlated light-matter systems can be understood in terms of population transfer between potential energy surfaces. This work at the interface of quantum chemistry and quantum optics paves the way for the full ab initio description of matter-photon systems.

Communication: On the first ionization threshold of the C2H radical.

The slow photoelectron spectrum of the ethynyl radical has been recorded for the first time by using the DESIRS beamline of the SOLEIL synchrotron facility. Ethynyl was generated using a microwave discharge flow tube. The observation of the X+Π3←XΣ+2 transition allowed the first direct measurement of the adiabatic ionization threshold of this radical (EI = 11.641(5) eV). The experimental results are supported by ab initio calculations. Our preliminary investigation of the cationic ground state potential energy surfaces predicts a non-negligible Renner-Teller effect which has not been discussed previously.

A ground state potential energy surface for HONO based on a neural network with exponential fitting functions.

The minimum energy structures, i.e., trans-HONO, cis-HONO, HNO2, and OH + NO, as well as the corresponding transition states, i.e., TStrans↔cis, TS1,2H-shift, and TS1,3H-shift, on the ground state potential energy surface (PES) of HONO have been characterized at the CCSD(T)-F12/cc-pVTZ-F12 level of theory. Using the same level of theory, a six-dimensional (6D) PES, encompassing the trans- and cis-isomers as well as the associated transition state, is fit in a sum-of-products form using neural network exponential fitting functions. A second PES is developed based on ab initio data from CCSD(T) computations extrapolated to the complete basis set (CBS) limit. The PES fits, based on 90 neurons, are accurate (RMSEs ≈ 10 cm-1) up to 10 000 cm-1 above the energy minimum. The PESs are validated by computing vibrational energies using block improved relaxation with the multi configuration time dependent Hartree (MCTDH) approach. The vibrational frequencies obtained on the PESs are compared to available experimental measurements, previous theoretical computations based on a CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ(-g functions) PES, and anharmonic frequencies at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ and CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ levels of theory obtained using second-order vibrational perturbation theory. The results suggest that these are the best available PESs for HONO, and thus, should be suitable for a variety of dynamics studies, including quantum dynamics with MCTDH where the sum-of-products form can be exploited for computational efficiency.

A computational study on how structure influences the optical properties in model crystal structures of amyloid fibrils.

Amyloid fibrils have been shown to have peculiar optical properties since they can exhibit fluorescence in the absence of aromatic residues. In a recent study, we have shown that proton transfer (PT) events along hydrogen bonds (HBs) are coupled to absorption in the near UV range. Here, we gain more insights into the different types of hydrogen bonding interactions that occur in our model systems and the molecular factors that control the susceptibility of the protons to undergo PT and how this couples to the optical properties. In the case of the strong N-C termini interactions, a nearby methionine residue stabilizes the non-zwitterionic NH2-COOH pair, while zwitterionic NH3+-COO- is stabilized by the proximity of nearby crystallographic water molecules. Proton motion along the hydrogen bonds in the fibril is intimately coupled to the compression of the heavier atoms, similar to what is observed in bulk water. Small changes in the compression of the hydrogen bonds in the protein can lead to significant changes in both the ground and excited state potential energy surfaces associated with PT. Finally, we also reinforce the importance of nuclear quantum fluctuations of protons in the HBs of the amyloid proteins.

On the Origins of Nonradiative Excited State Relaxation in Aryl Sulfoxides Relevant to Fluorescent Chemosensing.

We provide herein a mechanistic analysis of aryl sulfoxide excited state processes, inspired by our recent report of aryl sulfoxide based fluorescent chemosensors. The use of aryl sulfoxides as reporting elements in chemosensor development is a significant deviation from previous approaches, and thus warrants closer examination. We demonstrate that metal ion binding suppresses nonradiative excited state decay by blocking formation of a previously unrecognized charge transfer excited state, leading to fluorescence enhancement. This charge transfer state derives from the initially formed locally excited state followed by intramolecular charge transfer to form a sulfoxide radical cation/aryl radical anion pair. With the aid of computational studies, we map out ground and excited state potential energy surface details for aryl sulfoxides, and conclude that fluorescence enhancement is almost entirely the result of excited state effects. This work expands previous proposals that excited state pyramidal inversion is the major nonradiative decay pathway for aryl sulfoxides. We show that pyramidal inversion is indeed relevant, but that an additional and dominant nonradiative pathway must also exist. These conclusions have implications for the design of next generation sulfoxide based fluorescent chemosensors.

Detection of the Excited-State NH2 (Ã 2A1) in the Ultraviolet Photodissociation of Methylamine.

Ion-imaging and dispersed fluorescence spectroscopy are employed for the photodissociation dynamics study of methylamine in the photolysis wavelength range 205-213 nm. The methyl radical product is found to populate a wide range of ro-vibrational states, among which the CH3 fragment generated in the v = 0 state shows a bimodal kinetic energy distribution. The internal energy analysis of the NH2 counterproduct indicates that a lower kinetic energy component, which was observed only with the CH3(v=0) fragment, energetically matches the electronically excited Ã2A1 state. The dispersed fluorescence spectrum, whose band structure is assigned to the Ã2A1 → X̃2B1 transition, provides evidence of the CH3(v=0) + NH2(Ã2A1) pathway. The branching mechanism of the product pathway is discussed in terms of nuclear dynamics in the long-range region, where the conical intersection between the excited- and ground-state potential energy surfaces can play a significant role.

Lifetimes and wave functions of ozone metastable vibrational states near the dissociation limit in a full-symmetry approach

Energies and lifetimes (widths) of vibrational states above the lowest dissociation limit of $^{16}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ were determined using a previously developed efficient approach, which combines hyperspherical coordinates and a complex absorbing potential. The calculations are based on a recently computed potential energy surface of ozone determined with a spectroscopic accuracy [Tyuterev et al., J. Chem. Phys. 139, 134307 (2013)]. The effect of permutational symmetry on rovibrational dynamics and the density of resonance states in ${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ is discussed in detail. Correspondence between quantum numbers appropriate for short- and long-range parts of wave functions of the rovibrational continuum is established. It is shown, by symmetry arguments, that the allowed purely vibrational ($J=0$) levels of $^{16}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ and $^{18}\mathrm{O}_{3}$, both made of bosons with zero nuclear spin, cannot dissociate on the ground-state potential energy surface. Energies and wave functions of bound states of the ozone isotopologue $^{16}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ with rotational angular momentum $J=0$ and 1 up to the dissociation threshold were also computed. For bound levels, good agreement with experimental energies is found: The rms deviation between observed and calculated vibrational energies is 1 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. Rotational constants were determined and used for a simple identification of vibrational modes of calculated levels.

Infrared Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy of OH-CO: The entrance channel complex along the OH + CO → trans-HOCO reaction pathway.

Sequential capture of OH and CO by superfluid helium droplets leads exclusively to the formation of the linear, entrance-channel complex, OH-CO. This species is characterized by infrared laser Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy via measurements of the fundamental OH stretching vibration. Experimental dipole moments are in disagreement with ab initio calculations at the equilibrium geometry, indicating large-amplitude motion on the ground state potential energy surface. Vibrational averaging along the hydroxyl bending coordinate recovers 80% of the observed deviation from the equilibrium dipole moment. Inhomogeneous line broadening in the zero-field spectrum is modeled with an effective Hamiltonian approach that aims to account for the anisotropic molecule-helium interaction potential that arises as the OH-CO complex is displaced from the center of the droplet.

A QTAIM and stress tensor investigation of the torsion path of a light-driven fluorene molecular rotary motor.

The utility of the QTAIM/stress tensor analysis method for characterizing the photoisomerization of light driven molecular rotary machines is investigated on the example of the torsion path in fluorene molecular motor. The scalar and vector descriptors of QTAIM/stress tensor reveal additional information on the bonding interactions between the rotating units of the motor, which cannot be obtained from the analysis of the ground and excited state potential energy surfaces. The topological features of the fluorene motor molecular graph display that, upon the photoexcitation a certain increase in the torsional stiffness of the rotating bond can be attributed to the increasing topological stability of the rotor carbon atom attached to the rotation axle. The established variations in the torsional stiffness of the rotating bond may cause transfer of certain fraction of the torsional energy to other internal degrees of freedom, such as the pyramidalization distortion. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.