Nonadiabatic couplings from time-dependent density functional theory. II. Successes and challenges of the pseudopotential approximation

Reveal long-lived hot electrons in 2D indium selenide and ferroelectric-regulated carrier dynamics of InSe/α-In2Se3/InSe heterostructure

As typical representatives of group III chalcogenides, InSe, α-In2Se3, and β'-In2Se3 have drawn considerable interest in the domain of photoelectrochemistry. However, the microscopic mechanisms of carrier dynamics in these systems remain largely unexplored. In this work, we first reveal that hot electrons in the three systems have different cooling rate stages and long-lived hot electrons, through the utilization of density functional theory calculations and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations. Furthermore, the ferroelectric polarization of α-In2Se3 weakens the nonadiabatic coupling of the nonradioactive recombination, successfully competing with the narrow bandgap and slow dephasing process, and achieving both high optical absorption efficiency and long carrier lifetime. In addition, we demonstrate that the ferroelectric polarization of α-In2Se3 not only enables the formation of the double type-II band alignment in the InSe/α-In2Se3/InSe heterostructure, with the top and bottom InSe sublayers acting as acceptors and donors, respectively, but also eliminates the hindrance of the built-in electric field at the interface, facilitating an ultrafast interlayer carrier transfer in the heterojunction. This work establishes an atomic mechanism of carrier dynamics in InSe, α-In2Se3, and β'-In2Se3 and the regulatory role of the ferroelectric polarization on the charge carrier dynamics, providing a guideline for the design of photoelectronic materials.

Exact non-adiabatic coupling vectors for the time-dependent density functional based tight-binding method

We report on non-adiabatic coupling vectors between electronic excited states for the time-dependent-density functional theory based tight-binding (TD-DFTB) method. The implementation includes orbital relaxation effects that have been previously neglected and covers also the case of range-separated exchange-correlation functionals. Benchmark calculations with respect to first principles TD-DFT highlight the large dependence of non-adiabatic couplings on the functional. Closer investigations of the topology around a conical intersection between excited states show that TD-DFTB delivers near-exact values of the Berry phase, which paves the way for consistent non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations for large systems.

Superior Limit of Light-Absorption Improvement in Two-Dimensional Haeckelite GaN-ZnO by Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics Simulation

A weak internal electrostatic field is usually required to improve optical performance; however, this is not the case in two-dimensional haeckelite (8|4) GaN-ZnO that has physical properties that are better than those of their binary counterparts. By performing nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations, we ascribe the superior limit of improvement of light absorption to the convergence of the electron-hole recombination time when the thickness of the 8|4 phase exceeds a critical value, which arises from the competition between nonadiabatic coupling and quantum decoherence. We show that nonadiabatic coupling continuously becomes weaker because of the reduced nucleus velocity with an increase in thickness. We further demonstrate that the quantum decoherence is first accelerated and then decelerated because of the thickness-dependent electron-phonon coupling controlled by the peculiar in-plane A' and A″ phonon modes. Our study clarifies the issue with regard to light absorption, which provides useful guidance for improving our understanding of the optical properties in two-dimensional polar semiconductors.

Electronic Structure Methods for the Description of Nonadiabatic Effects and Conical Intersections

Nonadiabatic effects are ubiquitous in photophysics and photochemistry, and therefore, many theoretical developments have been made to properly describe them. Conical intersections are central in nonadiabatic processes, as they promote efficient and ultrafast nonadiabatic transitions between electronic states. A proper theoretical description requires developments in electronic structure and specifically in methods that describe conical intersections between states and nonadiabatic coupling terms. This review focuses on the electronic structure aspects of nonadiabatic processes. We discuss the requirements of electronic structure methods to describe conical intersections and nonadiabatic couplings, how the most common excited state methods perform in describing these effects, and what the recent developments are in expanding the methodology and implementing nonadiabatic couplings.

Time-Domain Ab Initio Insights into the Reduced Nonradiative Electron-Hole Recombination in ReSe2/MoS2 van der Waals Heterostructure

Two-dimensional (2D) ReSe₂ has attracted considerable interest due to its unique anisotropic mechanical, optical, and exitonic characteristics. Recent transient absorption experiments demonstrated a prolonged lifetime of photoexcited charge carriers by stacking ReSe₂ with MoS₂, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, by combining time-domain density functional theory with nonadiabatic molecular dynamics, we investigate the electronic properties and charge carrier dynamics of 2D ReSe₂/MoS₂ van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure. ReSe₂/MoS₂ has a type II band alignment that exhibits spatially distinguished conduction and valence band edges, and a built-in electric field is formed due to interface charge transfer. Remarkably, in spite of the decreased band gap and increased decoherence time, we demonstrate that the photocarrier lifetime of ReSe₂/MoS₂ is ∼5 times longer than that of ReSe₂, which originates from the greatly reduced nonadiabatic coupling that suppresses electron-hole recombination, perfectly explaining the experimental results. These findings not only provide physical insights into experiments but also shed light on future design and fabrication of functional optoelectronic devices based on 2D vdW heterostructures.

An On-the-Fly Surface-Hopping Program JADE for Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics of Polyatomic Systems: Implementation and Applications

Nonadiabatic dynamics simulations have rapidly become an indispensable tool for understanding ultrafast photochemical processes in complex systems. Here, we present our recently developed on-the-fly nonadiabatic dynamics package, JADE, which allows researchers to perform nonadiabatic excited-state dynamics simulations of polyatomic systems at an all-atomic level. The nonadiabatic dynamics is based on Tully's surface-hopping approach. Currently, several electronic structure methods (CIS, TDHF, TDDFT(RPA/TDA), and ADC(2)) are supported, especially TDDFT, aiming at performing nonadiabatic dynamics on medium- to large-sized molecules. The JADE package has been interfaced with several quantum chemistry codes, including Turbomole, Gaussian, and Gamess (US). To consider environmental effects, the Langevin dynamics was introduced as an easy-to-use scheme into the standard surface-hopping dynamics. The JADE package is mainly written in Fortran for greater numerical performance and Python for flexible interface construction, with the intent of providing open-source, easy-to-use, well-modularized, and intuitive software in the field of simulations of photochemical and photophysical processes. To illustrate the possible applications of the JADE package, we present a few applications of excited-state dynamics for various polyatomic systems, such as the methaniminium cation, fullerene (C20), p-dimethylaminobenzonitrile (DMABN) and its primary amino derivative aminobenzonitrile (ABN), and 10-hydroxybenzo[h]quinoline (10-HBQ).

Analytic derivative couplings in time-dependent density functional theory: Quadratic response theory versus pseudo-wavefunction approach

We revisit the formalism for analytic derivative couplings between excited states in time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). We derive and implement these couplings using quadratic response theory, then numerically compare this response-theory formulation to couplings implemented previously based on a pseudo-wavefunction formalism and direct differentiation of the Kohn-Sham determinant. Numerical results, including comparison to full configuration interaction calculations, suggest that the two approaches perform equally well for many molecular systems, provided that the underlying DFT method affords accurate potential energy surfaces. The response contributions are found to be important for certain systems with high symmetry, but can be calculated with only a moderate increase in computational cost beyond what is required for the pseudo-wavefunction approach. In the case of spin-flip TDDFT, we provide a formal proof that the derivative couplings obtained using response theory are identical to those obtained from the pseudo-wavefunction formulation, which validates our previous implementation based on the latter formalism.

Calculation of atomic excitation energies by time-dependent density functional theory within a modified linear response

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) has become a standard tool for investigation of electronic excited states. However, for certain types of electronic excitations, TDDFT is known to give systematically inaccurate results, which has been attributed to the insufficiency of conventional exchange-correlation functionals, such as the local density approximation (LDA). To improve TDDFT performance within LDA, a modified linear response (MLR) scheme was recently proposed, in which the responses from not only the ground state, but also the intermediate excited states are taken into account. This scheme was shown to greatly improve TDDFT performance on the prediction of Rydberg and charge-transfer excitation energies of molecules. Yet, for a validation of this TDDFT-MLR scheme for excitation energies, there remain issues to be resolved regarding Rydberg transitions of single atoms before going to larger systems. In the present work, we show an adapted algorithm to construct the intermediate excited states for rare-gas atoms. With the technique, Rydberg transition energies can be well decoded from LDA, as will also be shown in the application of the TDDFT-MLR scheme to other types of atoms.