New acceptor-bridge-donor strategy for enhancing NLO response with long-range excess electron transfer from the NH2...M/M3O donor (M = Li, Na, K) to inside the electron hole cage C20F19 acceptor through the unusual σ chain bridge (CH2)4

Alkali metals doped cycloparaphenylene nanohoops: Promising nonlinear optical materials with enhanced performance

In the ongoing pursuit of novel and efficient NLO materials, the potential of alkali metal-doped {6}cycloparaphenylene ({6}CPP) and methylene bridged {6} cycloparaphenylene (MB{6}CPP) nanohoops as excellent NLO candidates has been explored. The geometric, electronic, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of designed systems have been investigated theoretically. All the nanohoops demonstrated thermodynamic stability, with remarkable interaction energies reaching up to -1.39 eV (-0.0511 au). Notably, the introduction of alkali metals led to a significant reduction in the HOMO-LUMO energy gaps, with values as low as 2.92 eV, compared to 6.80 eV and 6.06 eV for undoped {6}CPP and MB{6}CPP, respectively. Moreover, the alkali metal-doped nanohoops exhibited exceptional NLO response, with the K@r6-{6}CPP complex achieving the highest first hyperpolarizability of 56,221.7 × 10-30 esu. Additionally, the frequency-dependent first hyperpolarizability values are also computed at two commonly used wavelengths of 1550 nm and 1907 nm, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of designed nanohoops as promising candidates for advanced NLO materials with high-tech applications.

Giant NLO response and deep ultraviolet transparency of dual (alkali/alkaline earth) metals doped C6O6Li6 electrides

The designing of new materials having outstanding nonlinear optical (NLO) response is much needed for use in latest optics. Herein, the geometric, electronic and NLO properties of alkali and alkaline earth metals doped C6O6Li6 (alk-C6O6Li6-alkearth, alkearth = Ca, Mg, Be and alk = K, Na, Li) electrides is studied via quantum chemical approach. The interaction energies (Eint) are examined to illustrate their thermodynamic stability. The strong interaction energy of -39.99 kcal mol-1 is observed for Ca-C6O6Li6-Li electride in comparison to others. Frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) energy gap of considered complexes is changed due to the electronic density shifting between metals and C6O6Li6 surface, which notifies the semi conducting properties of these electrides. The FMOs isodensities and natural bond orbital (NBO) charge analysis are performed to justify charge transfer between dopants and complexant. UV-Visible study also confirmed the application of these electrides as deep ultra-violet laser devices. NLO response is studied through calculation of first hyperpolarizability (βo). The highest βo value of 1.68 × 105 au is calculated for Mg-C6O6Li6-K electride. NLO response is further rationalized by three- and two-level models approach.

Theoretical Study of Alkaline-Earth Metal (Be, Mg, and Ca)-Substituted Aluminum Nitride Nanocages With High Stability and Large Nonlinear Optical Responses

By replacing one Al or N atom of aluminum nitride nanocage Al12N12 with an alkaline-earth metal atom, two series of compounds, namely, M@Al12N11 and M@Al11N12 (M = Be, Mg, and Ca), were constructed and investigated in theory. The substituted effect of alkaline-earth metal on the geometric structure and electronic properties of Al12N12 is studied in detail by density functional theory (DFT) methods. The calculated binding energies, HOMO–LUMO gaps, and VIE values of these compounds reveal that they possess high stability, though the NBO and HOMO analyses show that they are also excess electron compounds. Due to the existence of diffuse excess electrons, these alkaline-earth metal-substituted compounds exhibit larger first hyperpolarizabilities (β0) than pure Al12N12 nanocage. In particular, these considered compounds exhibit satisfactory infrared (IR) (>1800 nm) and ultraviolet (UV) (˂ 250 nm) transparency. Therefore, these proposed excess electron compounds with high stability may be regarded as potential candidates for new UV and IR NLO molecules.

Design a novel type of excess electron compounds with large nonlinear optical responses using group 12 elements (Zn, Cd and Hg)

Based on the interesting Janus-type all-cis1,2,3,4,5,6-hexafluorocyclohexane (1) molecule, a novel type of excess electron compounds MF-1-MH (MF = Li, Na and K, MH = Zn, Cd and Hg) were designed theoretically. The geometric structures, electronic structures and nonlinear optical properties of MF-1-MH compounds were studied by density functional theory. Our results show that in Li-1-MH, the obvious charge transfer between Li and MH can be observed while in Na/K-1-MH, the charge transfer between Na/K and MH is negligible. Particularly, the MF-1-MH exhibit remarkable nonlinear optical (NLO) response and the first hyperpolarizability of the K-1-Zn almost achieve 1.0 × 10⁶ au. We hope this work will further enrich the family of excess electron compounds, so that more experimental interests and efforts can be attracted to propose and synthesize new excellent NLO materials.

Effects of the nanowire length on large second-order nonlinear optical responses: a theoretical investigation of the thinnest doped beryllium nanowires with IR and UV working wavebands

The thinnest beryllium nanowires with high strength and uniformity are theoretically constructed of connected Be₆ octahedron units. Based on this, Ca- and Mg-doped beryllium nanowires are successfully constructed and researched. They are unusual all-metal charge transfer salts Ca²⁺(Be₆)_n^4-Mg²⁺ (n = 1-7), and they surprisingly display considerable second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) responses (β₀^e = 1.05 × 10⁴-1.12 × 10⁵ au). This is because the effect of doping Ca and Mg atoms brings great increase in β₀^e. In addition, more notably, the effect of the nanowire length on β₀^e revealed that the β₀^e value gradually and rapidly increases with the increase in the number of Be₆ octahedron units (n). Thus, these doped beryllium nanowires are a new class of NLO nanowires. Fortunately, these NLO nanowires possess working wavebands in the infrared (IR, >2800 nm) and ultraviolet (UV, <200 nm) regions. Then, these doped beryllium NLO nanowires could also be used as new hot IR and UV NLO materials. Considering the dispersion effect, the frequency-dependent value of the electro-optical Pockels effect (EOPE) β^e(-ω; ω, 0) at ω = 0.005 au is slightly larger than the corresponding value of β₀^e. Significantly, the effect of the nanowire length on β^e(-ω; ω, 0) is also displayed. Obviously, a new design strategy of enhancing NLO responses by increasing n was obtained. Noticeably, the nanowires display Janus electronic properties of both stronger electron-donating and electron-withdrawing behaviors. This work predicts that novel metal nanowires may be applied in new hot IR and UV NLO materials as well as molecular electronic devices.

Superalkali-doped borazine and lithiated borazine complexes: diffuse excess electron and large first-hyperpolarizability

A number of superalkali (M₃O / M₃S; M = Li, Na, K)-doped borazine and hexalithio borazine complexes are considered for the theoretical study of their electronic structure and quadratic polarizability. Electron-rich O/S atom of superalkali species remains very close to one boron atom of the ring through non-covalent interaction. The first-hyperpolarizability increases rather significantly upon superalkali doping. The chosen complexes possess diffuse excess electron which is located on the superpalkali moiety of borazine complexes and at the ring site of lithiated borazines. First-hyperpolarizability of M₃O(S)@B₃N₃Li₆ complexes are significantly larger than that of the corresponding M₃O(S)@B₃N₃H₆ complexes. The magnitude of first-hyperpolarizability of Li₃S@B₃N₃Li₆ is larger than that of Li₃S@B₃N₃H₆ by about three orders of magnitude.

Theoretical study on novel superalkali doped graphdiyne complexes: Unique approach for the enhancement of electronic and nonlinear optical response

Based on DFT calculations, we have explored the changes in geometric, electronic and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of M₃O and M₃S (M = Li, Na and K) doped graphdiyne. The doping of superalkalis not only changes the electronic properties of GDY but also remarkably alters the NLO properties. Stabilities of doped GDY are evaluated through interaction energies. HOMO-LUMO gap, NBO, polarizability and first hyperpolarizability (β_o) calculations at hybrid (B3LYP) and long-range corrected methods (CAM-B3LYP, LC-BLYP and ωB97XD) are performed for studying the NLO properties of doped GDY complexes. Significantly high values of β_o are observed for all doped structures, especially for Na₃S@GDY (1.36×10⁵ au). Reduction in HOMO-LUMO gap concomitant with increase of β_o value is attributed to the strong interaction of Na₃S with GDY. The partial density of states (PDOS) spectra strongly support the existence of excess electrons. To rationalize the trends in first hyperpolarizability of doped GDY, two level model calculations are also performed. This study of super alkalis doped GDY will be advantageous for promoting the potential applications of the nanostructures in designing new types of electronic nanodevices and production of high performance nonlinear optical materials.

Tuning of hyperpolarizability, and one- and two-photon absorption of donor-acceptor and donor-acceptor-acceptor-type intramolecular charge transfer-based sensors

The present work aims to study the effect of solvent as well as arrangement of donor-acceptor groups on linear and non-linear optical (NLO) response properties of two experimentally studied intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT)-based fluorescent sensors. One of them (molecule 1) is a donor-acceptor (D-A) system with hemicyanine and dimethylanilino as electron withdrawing and donating groups, respectively, while the other one (molecule 3) is molecule 1 fused with a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moiety. BODIPY acts as the electron acceptor group of molecule 2 that as well consists of dimethylanilino as the electron donor. Density functional theory (DFT) as well as time-dependent DFT has been employed to optimize the geometry of the molecules, followed by computation of dipole moment (μ), static first hyperpolarizability (β_total), and one- and two-photon absorption (TPA) strengths. The results reveal that dipole moment as well as total static first hyperpolarizability (β_total) of the studied molecules is dominated by the respective components in the direction of charge transfer. The ratio of vector component of first hyperpolarizability (β_vec) to β_total also supports the unidirectional charge transfer in the studied systems. In molecule 3, which is a donor-acceptor-acceptor (D-A-A)-type system, the BODIPY moiety is found to play a major role in controlling the NLO response over the other acceptor group. Solvents are also found to play an important role in controlling the linear as well as NLO response of the studied systems. A significant increase in the first hyperpolarizability as well as TPA cross-section of the studied molecules is predicted due to an increase in the dielectric constant of the medium. The results presented are expected to provide a clue in tuning the NLO response of many ICT-based chromophores, especially those with D-A-A arrangements.

Recent Progress on the Design, Characterization, and Application of Superalkalis

Superalkalis are clusters or molecules featuring lower ionization energies (IEs) than that of cesium atoms, and thus exhibit excellent reducing properties. Such special species have great potential to be used in the synthesis of unusual charge-transfer salts and cluster-assembled nanomaterials with tailored properties, in the reduction of carbon dioxide, or as hydrogen storage materials and noble-gas-trapping agents, etc. In this regard, ongoing efforts have been devoted to designing and characterizing superalkalis of new types. The recent progress on the study of superalkalis in terms of theoretical design, characterization, and potential application is summarized in this minireview. We hope this review will not only provide a broad overview of this research field, but also highlight the prospect of further extending the experimental synthesis and practical application of superalkalis.

Second-order NLO properties of bis-cyclometalated iridium(Ⅲ) complexes: Substituent effect and redox switch

The iridium(III) complexes could be excellent second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) switch materials due to various advantages including abundant valence states, the diversity of coordination forms and rich electrochemical properties. In this work, the substituent effect and the multi-state switchable response of a series of novel Ir(CˆN)₂ADC complexes (CˆN = cyclometalated ligands and ADC = diaminocarbene), induced by electrochemical behavior, have been calculated by density functional theory. The results show that the introducing strong electron-withdrawing groups on ADC ligands significantly enhanced the static first hyperpolarizabilities (β_tot). Moreover, a distinct improvement of the β_tot values can be found from the neutral complexes to the corresponding redox states. By this way, the remarkable multi-state NLO switch can be achieved. Remarkably, the β_tot values of the one-electron-oxidized complex 1⁺ and the one-electron-reduced complex 1^- are ∼5.4 and ∼12.7 times larger than the corresponding neutral complex 1, respectively. The larger β_tot values are attributed to the lower transition energy and remarkable bathochromic shift of maximal absorption wavelength, which can be further illustrated by the separate distribution of β density. We envision that these studied iridium complexes can be seen as versatile and novel second-order NLO switching materials.

Theoretical study of substituent effects on electride characteristics and the nonlinear optical properties of Li@calix[4]pyrrole

A relationship between the electride characteristics and the NLO properties is found: the more delocalization the excess electron of the electride experiences, the larger the β₀ value is.

Nonlinear optical properties of aluminum nitride nanotubes doped by excess electron: a first principle study

Aluminum nitride nanotubes (AlNNTs) doped by the excess electron, e@AlNNT and M@N-AlNNT (M = Li, Na, K), have been designed and their geometrical, electronic, and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties have been explored theoretically. The results showed that the excess electron narrows the energy gap between HOMO and LUMO values (E_H-L) of the doped systems in the range of 3.42-5.37 eV, which is due to a new energy level HOMO formed for the doped excess electron, with higher energy than the original HOMO of AlNNT. Importantly, the doped excess electron considerably increases the first hyperpolarizability (β₀) from 130 a.u. of the undoped AlNNT to 646 a.u. for e@AlNNT, 2606 a.u. for Li@N-AlNNT, while 1.14 × 10⁵ a.u. for Na@N-AlNNT, and 1.37 × 10⁶ a.u. for K@N-AlNNT. The enormous β₀ values for Na@N-AlNNT and K@N-AlNNT are attributed to the low transition energy. These results demonstrate that AlNNTs are a promising material in high-performance NLO nanomaterials for electronic devices.

Static second hyperpolarizability of inverse sandwich compounds (M1-C5H5-M2) of alkali (M1 = Li, Na, K) and alkaline earth metals (M2 = Be, Mg, Ca)

In the investigated inverse sandwich complexes, charge transfer from alkali metal (M1) led to aromatically stabilized Cp ring, which prevented further charge transfer from the alkaline earth metal (M2). This electron push effect resulted in diffusion of electron density from the outermost "ns" subshell of alkaline earth metal. The alkaline earth metal is weakly bound to the alkali metal-C5H5 complex. The vertical ionization energy of the chosen M1-Cp-M2 complexes was smaller than that of the corresponding alkaline earth metals. Large second hyperpolarizability (106-108 a.u.) was obtained for the studied molecules. The correction due to the basis set superposition error (BSSE) in the calculated second hyperpolarizability was found to be small for larger systems, while it was rather significant for small systems. The MP4SDQ and CCSD results were in fair agreement, which indicates the necessity of higher order electron correlation treatment in the accurate description of second hyperpolarizability. Calculated dynamic second hyperpolarizabilities at 1064 nm were found to increase considerably for most of the chosen metal complexes.

Successive lithiation of acetylene, ethylene and benzene: a comprehensive computational study of large static second hyperpolarizability

This work is a revisit of the study of the electron correlation effect of lithium substitution on the second hyperpolarizability (10⁶ a.u.) of acetylene, ethylene and benzene. The large quenching of mean second hyperpolarizability has been addressed by CCSD calculations. The inclusion of triple excitation in the MP4 method generally overestimates second hyperpolarizability in comparison to the MP4SDQ method. The present CCSD γ_av value of C₆Li₆: 405 × 10⁴ a.u. obtained with a relatively larger basis set established the earlier prediction of Sadlej et al. [Phys. Chem. Phys. Chem., 2000, 2, 3393-3399] where degenerate non-dipolar transitions in low lying excited states play the crucial role. The successive lithiation results in gradual red shifting of transition energy leading to significant enhancement of second hyperpolarizability. Most of the chosen DFT functionals predict the correct qualitative trend of second hyperpolarizability. The quantitatively different results may be attributed to the case when the ground state wave function cannot be approximated by a single SD.

One-step preparation of a novel SrCO3/g-C3N4 nano-composite and its application in selective adsorption of crystal violet

A novel kind of nanoparticle SrCO₃/g-C₃N₄ was prepared using strontium carbonate (SrCO₃) and melamine (C₃H₆N₆) as raw materials via one-step calcination. The formation of SrCO₃/g-C₃N₄ was confirmed from the X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Its selective adsorption performance was evaluated towards crystal violet (CV), rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB). The results showed that the SrCO₃/g-C₃N₄ had selective adsorption ability of CV. Furthermore, adsorption measurements of CV were conducted to investigate the influences of contact time, initial concentration, initial dye solution pH value and adsorbent dosage. The maximum removal rate of CV was 98.56% when the initial concentration was 1600 mg L⁻¹. The kinetic study indicated the adsorption of CV followed the pseudo-second-second model well. The adsorption efficiency of SrCO₃/g-C₃N₄ was greater (97.46%) than that of g-C₃N₄ (31.30%) and SrCO₃ (17.30%). It could be deduced that the synergistic effect of conjugation interaction of g-C₃N₄ and the electrostatic attraction of SrCO₃ might be the main driving force for the superb adsorption of CV.

A novel kind of nanoparticle SrCO₃/g-C₃N₄ was prepared using strontium carbonate (SrCO₃) and melamine as raw materials via one-step calcination.

A comparative theoretical study on the electrical and nonlinear optical properties of Li atom adsorbed on AlN and BN single-walled nanotubes

The geometrical structures, electrical properties, and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of AlNNT-Li and BNNT-Li nanotube systems were investigated by means of the density functional theory (DFT) method. Frontier molecular orbitals and density of states analyses show that adsorption of the Li atom can significantly narrow the wide HOMO-LUMO gaps of pure AlNNT and BNNT. The results reveal that AlNNT-Li and BNNT-Li systems containing diffuse excess electrons can be regarded as inorganic electrides. The formation of diffuse excess electrons leads to a decrease in transition energies, thereby increasing the first hyperpolarizabilities (β ₀) of AlNNT-Li and BNNT-Li. This work may contribute to the development of potential high-performance NLO materials. Graphical abstract The structural characteristics and nonlinear optical properties of the AlNNT-Li and BNNT-Li systems were studied by means of density functional theory. Introduction of Li atoms greatly enhances the static first hyperpolarizabilities of AlNNT-Li and BNNT-Li.

A theoretical study on superalkali-doped nanocages: unique inorganic electrides with high stability, deep-ultraviolet transparency, and a considerable nonlinear optical response

By doping an Al12N12 nanocage with superalkali Li3O, a series of Li3O@Al12N12 compounds were theoretically designed and investigated for the first time. Computational results reveal that these species contain diffuse excess electrons, and thus can be regarded as inorganic electrides of a new type. As expected, these proposed electrides possess considerable first hyperpolarizabilities (β0) up to 1.86 × 10(7) au. In particular, the lowest-energy Li3O@Al12N12 exhibits high stability and excellent deep-ultraviolet transparency. Moreover, the effects of superalkali and nanocage subunits on the NLO responses of M3O@Al12N12 (M = Li, Na, K) and Li3O@X12Y12 (X = B, Al; Y = N, P) are systemically investigated. Results show that the respective substitution of Na3O and B12P12 for Li3O and Al12N12 can bring a larger β0 for such electrides. This study may be significant in terms of providing an effective strategy to design thermally stable inorganic electrides as potential high-performance NLO molecules.

A theoretical investigation on doping superalkali for triggering considerable nonlinear optical properties of Si12 C12 nanostructure

In this work, we designed a series of superalkali-doped Si₁₂ C₁₂ nanocage M₃ O@Si₁₂ C₁₂ (M = Li, Na, K) with donor-acceptor framework. Density functional theory calculations demonstrated that the HOMO-LUMO gap of the complexes conspicuously narrowed with increase of atomic number of the alkali metal, the value decreased from 5.452 eV of pure Si₁₂ C₁₂ nanocage to 3.750, 2.984, and 2.634 eV of Li₃ O@Si₁₂ C₁₂ , Na₃ O@Si₁₂ C₁₂ , and K₃ O@Si₁₂ C₁₂ , respectively. This finding shows that the pristine Si₁₂ C₁₂ cluster could be transformed to n-type semiconductor by introduction of the superalkali M₃ O. We also showed that the superalkali doping remarkably enhanced the first hyperpolarizability of Si₁₂ C₁₂ . Among the studied systems, K₃ O@Si₁₂ C₁₂ not only has the narrowest gap but also has the strongest nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, its first hyperpolarizability reached as high as 21695 a.u. The striking results presented in this work will be beneficial for potential applications of the Si₁₂ C₁₂ -based nanostructure in the electronic nanodevices and high-performance NLO materials. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Remarkable nonlinear optical response of excess electron compounds: theoretically designed alkali-doped aziridine M–(C2NH5)n

Newly theoretically designed alkali-doped aziridine M–(C₂NH₅)₄ shows a remarkable NLO response and its first hyperpolarizability is 10 to 100 times larger than those of M@Calix[4]pyrrole.

Theoretical Study of the Substituent Effects on the Nonlinear Optical Properties of a Room-Temperature-Stable Organic Electride

Excess-electron compounds can be considered as novel candidates for nonlinear optical (NLO) materials because of their large static first hyperpolarizabilities (β₀ ). A room-temperature-stable, excess-electron compound, that is, the organic electride Na@(TriPip222), was successfully synthesized by the Dye group (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 12416). In this work, the β₀ of this electride was first evaluated to be 1.13×10⁶  au, which revealed its potential as a high-performance NLO material. In particular, the substituent effects of different substituents on the structure, electride character, and NLO response of this electride were systemically studied for the first time by density functional theory calculations. The results revealed that the β₀ of Na@(TriPip222) could be further increased to 8.30×10⁶  au by introducing a fluoro substituent, whereas its NLO response completely disappeared if one nitryl group was introduced because the nitro-group substitution deprived the material of its electride identity. Moreover, herein the dependence of the NLO properties on the number of substituents and their relative positions was also detected in multifluoro-substituted Na@(TriPip222) compounds.

The effect of heterocyclic π bridges on second order nonlinear optical properties of compounds formed between ferrocenyl and corannulenyl

Among D–π–A type compounds, when imidazole acts as a π bridge (endo/exo-3), the β_tot values are almost 2 times as large as when the phenyl acts as a π bridge (endo/exo-2).

All-metal electride molecules CuAg@Ca7M (M = Be, Mg, and Ca) with multi-excess electrons and all-metal polyanions: molecular structures and bonding modes as well as large infrared nonlinear optical responses

All-metal electride molecules, CuAg@Ca₇M (M = Be, Mg and Ca), have been designed and researched in theory for the first time.

Second hyperpolarizability of multimetallocenes [Cp–Mn–Cp] of Be, Mg and Ca

Multimetallocene complexes ( Cp – M n– Cp ) of Be , Mg and Ca have been considered for the theoretical study of static second hyperpolarizability using a number of DFT functionals. Owing to the cooperative effect in bonding, beryllium forms multiberyllocene complexes ( Cp – Be n– Cp ) which have sufficient thermal stability with respect to dissociation into neutral fragments up to n = 10. On the other hand, multimetallocene complexes of Mg and Ca are found to be stable for n ≤ 5 which may be due to the weaker covalent bonding interaction between the larger metal atoms. The rather small variation of linear and cubic polarizabilities of Cp – Be n– Cp complexes beyond n = 5 arises from the rather weaker charge transfer transitions. The difference in NLO property among the investigated metal complexes arises from the extent of charge transfer from the terminal metal atoms and the distance between them. The charge transfer at longer distances in the ground state of Mg and Ca complexes leads to more intense electronic transition — the spectroscopic parameters of which strongly favors the enhancement of second hyperpolarizability.

Role of Excess Electrons in Nonlinear Optical Response

The excess electron is a kind of special anion with dispersivity, loosely bounding and with other fascinating features, which plays a pivotal role (promote to about 10(6) times in (H2O)3{e}) in the large first hyperpolarizabilities (β0) of dipole-bound electron clusters. This discovery opens a new perspective on the design of novel nonlinear optical (NLO) molecular materials for electro-optic device application. Significantly, doping alkali metal atoms in suitable complexants was proposed as an effective approach to obtain electride and alkalide molecules with excess electron and large NLO responses. The first hyperpolarizability is related to the characteristics of complexants and the excess electron binding states. Subsequently, a series of new strategies for enhancing NLO response and electronic stability of electride and alkalide molecules are exhibited by using various complexants. These strategies include not only the behaviors of pushed and pulled electron, size, shape, and number of coordination sites of complexants but also the number and spin state of excess electrons in these unusual NLO molecules.

A new strategy for simultaneously enhancing nonlinear optical response and electron stability in novel cup–saucer+–cage−-shaped sandwich electride molecules with an excess electron protected inside the cage

A new strategy of utilizing the cage size effect for simultaneously enhancing the β₀ and the VIP.

Structure and NLO properties of halogen (F, Cl) substituted formic acid dimers

In this work, using ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) methods halogen substituted formic acid (FA) dimer is studied. The dimer stability is due to the hydrogen bonds, either conventional (OH⋯O, OH⋯F, OH⋯Cl) or non-conventional (CH⋯O, CH⋯F, CH⋯Cl). Among all the dimers, trans-trans form is more stable than the trans-cis, and cis-cis form. Basis set extrapolated counterpoise corrected interaction energy results for the FA dimer are in excellent agreement with BSSE corrected MP2 interaction energy. Symmetry Adopted Perturbation Theory (SAPT) analysis reveals that the electrostatic effect plays a dominant role in stabilization among the dimers with maximum interaction energy. Chlorine substituted FA dimer has high hyperpolarizability, which makes them excellent candidate for nonlinear optical materials (NLO). The halogen substituted formic acid dimers have higher stability and polarizability value than the unsubstituted formic acid dimer. The hyperpolarizability values depend on the geometrical structures of halogenated formic acid dimers than the type of hydrogen bonds. The small excitation energy and HOMO-LUMO gap in the halogenated formic acid dimer has led to the strong nonlinear optical response. The depolarization ratio and Rayleigh scattering increases in formic acid dimer after the halogen atom substitution.

Hybrid photocatalysts using graphitic carbon nitride/cadmium sulfide/reduced graphene oxide (g-C3N4/CdS/RGO) for superior photodegradation of organic pollutants under UV and visible light

Schematic of the electron transport from g-C₃N₄ to the CdS nanoparticles and RGO sheets during RhB photodegradation.