Benchmark calculations on the adiabatic ionization potentials of M–NH3 (M=Na,Al,Ga,In,Cu,Ag)

Fabrication of hierarchical β-Bi2O3/AuAg microspheres for sensitive, selective and rapid detection of environment pollutants by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

In this paper, we report a novel surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate based on hierarchical β-Bi2O3/Au2Ag2 microspheres for rapid, sensitive and selective detection of environment pollutants including o-dianisidine (o-diASD) and Hg2+ in environmental samples. The sheet-like β-Bi2O3 not only provides large specific surface areas for adsorption of molecules and AuAg, but also emerges as semiconductor matrix with chemical enhancement combined with AuAg with electromagnetic enhancement, making promising SERS activity. Particularly, the β-Bi2O3/Au2Ag2 shows high SERS performance for 4-mercaptobenzoic acid and TMB with minimum detectable concentration of 0.1 μg/L with enhancement factor of 3.1 × 107 and 6.3 × 107, respectively. The density functional theory simulations were further adopted to explain the high SERS activity and selectivity for o-diASD and TMB. Finally, the β-Bi2O3/Au2Ag2 was applied to direct detection of o-diASD, and indirect detection of Hg2+ by TMB marking in environmental samples. The linearity range of 0.5-200.0 and 0.2-500.0 μg/L with limit of detection of 0.2 and 0.07 μg/L for o-diASD and Hg2+ ions can be achieved, respectively. This method provides a novel strategy in designing and fabricating SERS substrates with high performance for rapid, sensitive and accurate analysis of environmental pollutants.

Computational Study on the Nature of Bonding between Silver Ions and Nitrogen Ligands

In this paper, the nature of silver ion-nitrogen atom bonding in the complexation with ammonia, azomethine, pyridine, and hydrogen cyanide from one to four coordinations is studied at the B97-1 level of density functional theory. The results indicate that the two-coordinated complex of the silver ion with different nitrogen ligands representing sp, sp², and sp³ orbital hybridizations is the most stable form having the shortest Ag⁺-N bond distance, highest vibrational frequencies, largest bond order, and favorable Gibbs free energy of formation. Natural bond orbital analyses further show that σ-donation from the nitrogen lone pair to the silver empty 5s orbital is dominant in the dative metal-ligand bonding character with N-sp³ having the largest contribution among the different N atomic orbital hybridizations. Natural energy decomposition analyses further show that the two-coordinated complexes have enhanced electrostatic interaction and charge transfer energies over other coordination types leading them to be more stable. For this reason, the two-coordinated complexes would be a better representation for studying bonding and interaction in silver ion complexes.

Accurate Ionization Potentials and Electron Affinities of Acceptor Molecules I. Reference Data at the CCSD(T) Complete Basis Set Limit

In designing organic materials for electronics applications, particularly for organic photovoltaics (OPV), the ionization potential (IP) of the donor and the electron affinity (EA) of the acceptor play key roles. This makes OPV design an appealing application for computational chemistry since IPs and EAs are readily calculable from most electronic structure methods. Unfortunately reliable, high-accuracy wave function methods, such as coupled cluster theory with single, double, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] in the complete basis set (CBS) limit are too expensive for routine applications to this problem for any but the smallest of systems. One solution is to calibrate approximate, less computationally expensive methods against a database of high-accuracy IP/EA values; however, to our knowledge, no such database exists for systems related to OPV design. The present work is the first of a multipart study whose overarching goal is to determine which computational methods can be used to reliably compute IPs and EAs of electron acceptors. This part introduces a database of 24 known organic electron acceptors and provides high-accuracy vertical IP and EA values expected to be within ±0.03 eV of the true non-relativistic, vertical CCSD(T)/CBS limit. Convergence of IP and EA values toward the CBS limit is studied systematically for the Hartree-Fock, MP2 correlation, and beyond-MP2 coupled cluster contributions to the focal point estimates.

Structures and heats of formation of simple alkali metal compounds: hydrides, chlorides, fluorides, hydroxides, and oxides for Li, Na, and K

Geometry parameters, frequencies, heats of formation, and bond dissociation energies are predicted for simple alkali metal compounds (hydrides, chlorides, fluorides, hydroxides and oxides) of Li, Na, and K from coupled cluster theory [CCSD(T)] calculations including core-valence correlation with the aug-cc-pwCVnZ basis set (n = D, T, Q, and 5). To accurately calculate the heats of formation, the following additional correction were included: scalar relativistic effects, atomic spin-orbit effects, and vibrational zero-point energies. For calibration purposes, the properties of some of the lithium compounds were predicted with iterative triple and quadruple excitations via CCSDT and CCSDTQ. The calculated geometry parameters, frequencies, heats of formation, and bond dissociation energies were compared with all available experimental measurements and are in excellent agreement with high-quality experimental data. High-level calculations are required to correctly predict that K(2)O is linear and that the ground state of KO is (2)Sigma(+), not (2)Pi, as in LiO and NaO. This reliable and consistent set of calculated thermodynamic data is appropriate for use in combustion and atmospheric simulations.

Assessment of the CCSD and CCSD(T) coupled-cluster methods in calculating heats of formation for Zn complexes

Heats of formation were calculated using coupled-cluster methods for a series of zinc complexes. The calculated values were evaluated against previously conducted computational studies using density functional methods as well as experimental values. Heats of formation for nine neutral ZnX(n) complexes [X = -Zn, -H, -O, -F2, -S, -Cl, -Cl2, -CH3, (-CH3)2] were determined at the CCSD and CCSD(T) levels using the 6-31G** and TZVP basis sets as well as the LANL2DZ-6-31G** (LACVP**) and LANL2DZ-TZVP hybrid basis sets. The CCSD(T)/6-31G** level of theory was found to predict the heat of formation for the nonalkyl Zn complexes most accurately. The alkyl Zn species were problematic in that none of the methods that were tested accurately predicted the heat of formation for these complexes. In instances where experimental geometric parameters were available, these were most accurately predicted by the CCSD/6-31G** level of theory; going to CCSD(T) did not improve agreement with the experimental values. Coupled-cluster methods did not offer a systemic improvement over DFT calculations for a given functional/basis set combination. With the exceptions of ZnH and ZnF2, there are multiple density functionals that outperform coupled-cluster calculations with the 6-31G** basis set.

Assessment of the CCSD and CCSD(T) Coupled-Cluster Methods in Calculating Heats of Formation for Cu Complexes

Heats of formation for nine complexes of the form CuX(n) (X = Cu, H, O, OH, S, F, F(2), Cl, Cl(2)) were calculated using the CCSD and CCSD(T) coupled cluster methods with the 6-31G** and TZVP basis sets as well as the LANL2DZ basis set/pseudopotential on Cu with both the 6-31G** and TZVP basis sets applied to the nonmetal atoms. These values were compared with literature heat of formation values. A second order Douglas-Kroll-Hess relativistic correction was applied at the CCSD/TZVP and CCSD(T)/TZVP levels of theory. Overall, the CCSD(T)/TZVP level of theory with the relativistic correction was most suited for the heat of formation calculations possessing low absolute average error and RMSD and the ability to analyze each copper complex, except for the problematic case of copper(II) fluoride. Finally, experimental geometric parameters were compared with the calculated structures in such cases where these data were available. None of the investigated levels of theory predicted bond lengths consistently better than other methods, and it was determined that the most accurate bond length does not necessarily result in the most accurate calculated heat of formation value for a given complex.