Pseudo-potentiel | EPFL Graph Search

En chimie quantique, les méthodes de description par (ou ) sont un ensemble de méthodes visant à substituer le potentiel d’interaction coulombien du noyau et les effets des électrons dits « de cœur », considérés comme fortement liés, par un potentiel effectif interagissant uniquement avec les électrons dits « de valence ». Cette approximation présente un grand intérêt dans le calcul théorique de la structure électronique de la matière, car elle permet de ne traiter explicitement que les électrons de faible énergie (qui sont constitutifs, par exemple, de liaisons chimiques) et crée ainsi un gain important des ressources informatiques nécessaires aux calculs. Un pseudopotentiel peut être généré pour un élément chimique dans une configuration électronique de référence choisie arbitrairement, selon différentes méthodes (empiriques ou non). Ce pseudopotentiel peut être ensuite spécifiquement utilisé pour un système donné (cas des pseudo-potentiels empiriques) ou pour un ensemble de systè

Properties of Ir4 clusters in the gas phase and on oxide substrates

Vladan Stevanovic

Results of a theoretical study on the properties of Ir4 clusters in the gas–phase and on oxide surfaces are presented. The work is based on density functional theory (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and ultrasoft pseudopotentials. Properties of a small particle such as Ir4 cluster are entirely determined by its geometry. The already known result that the most stable form of Ir4 in the gas–phase is the square structure which is significantly more stable than the butterfly and tetrahedron is confirmed. This result is in contradiction with experiments which indicate that the oxide supported Ir4 adopts a tetrahedral configuration. It is shown in this thesis that the chemical environment has a strong influence on the relative stability of Ir4 clusters. On MgO(100) surface, the square isomer remains the most stable Ir4 structure, well separated in energy from the other two. Moreover, the tetrahedron is heavily distorted by the interaction with the surface oxygen. Presence of point defects (neutral and charged O vacancies) affects the energy ordering making tetrahedron and square very close in energy, but the structural distortion of the tetrahedron is even bigger and the predicted data do not correspond to experiments. On TiO2(110) the tetrahedron and square structures become degenerate and the butterfly becomes the least stable isomer. Moreover, structural distortions are very small, in agreement with experimental data. It is shown that the TiO2 surface influences the relative stability of the three isomers through a particularly strong electrostatic field. Interactions of Ir4 with H, C and O atoms as well as with CO molecules have been studied. Adsorption of a single C atom strongly influences the relative stability of the three isomers. Upon C adsorption, the butterfly becomes the most stable gas–phase isomer while on both surfaces the tetrahedron is the most probable structure. Adsorption of a single H or O atom does not produce the same effect. The interaction with CO molecules is also important given the experimental procedure used for producing supported Ir4 clusters. It is shown that on MgO(100), CO dissociation is as probable as the competing process CO desorption justifying the presence of carbon adatoms on Ir4 clusters which brings theoretical predictions in better agreement with experimental data.

EPFL2009

Efficient DFT+U calculations of ballistic electron transport: Application to Au monatomic chains with a CO impurity

Gabriele Sclauzero

An efficient method for computing the Landauer-Buttiker conductance of an open quantum system within DFT + U is presented. The Hubbard potential is included in electronic-structure and transport calculations as a simple renormalization of the nonlocal pseudopotential coefficients by restricting the integration for the onsite occupations within the cutoff spheres of the pseudopotential. We apply the methodology to the case of an Au monatomic chain in the presence of a CO molecule adsorbed on it. We show that the Hubbard U correction removes the spurious magnetization in the pristine Au chain at the equilibrium spacing, as well as the unphysical contribution of d electrons to the conductance, resulting in a single (spin-degenerate) transmission channel and a more realistic conductance of 1 G(0). We find that the conductance reduction due to CO adsorption is much larger for the atop site than for the bridge site, so that the general picture of electron transport in stretched Au chains given by the local density approximation remains valid at the equilibrium Au-Au spacing within DFT + U. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085108

Amer Physical Soc2013

Electron energy loss spectroscopy of bulk gold with ultrasoft pseudopotentials and the Liouville-Lanczos method

Iurii Timrov

The implementation of ultrasoft pseudopotentials into time-dependent density-functional perturbation theory is detailed for both the Sternheimer approach and the Liouville-Lanczos (LL) method, and equations are presented in the scalar relativistic approximation for periodic solids with finite momentum transfer q. The LL method is applied to calculations of the electron energy loss (EEL) spectrum of face-centered cubic bulk Au both at vanishing and finite q. Our study reveals the richness of the physics underlying the various contributions to the density fluctuation in gold. In particular, our calculations suggest the existence in gold of two quasiseparate 5d and 6s electron gasses, each one oscillating with its own frequency at, respectively, 5.1 eV and 10.2 eV. We find that the contribution near 2.2 eV comes from 5d -> 6s interband transitions modified by the intraband contribution to the real part of the dielectric function, which we call a mixed excitation.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2020

Properties of Ir4 clusters in the gas phase and on oxide substrates

Vladan Stevanovic

EPFL2009