1D/2D C3N4/Graphene Composite as a Preferred Anode Material for Lithium Ion Batteries: Importance of Heterostructure Design via DFT Computation.

Graphene is commonly used to improve the electrochemical performance of electrode materials in rechargeable batteries by forming graphene-based heterostructures. Two-dimensional graphitic carbon nitride (C3N4) is an analogue of graphene, and it is often used to form 1D/2D and 2D/2D C3N4/graphene heterostructures. However, a theoretical understanding of the heterointerface in these heterostructures and how this affects their electrochemical performance is lacking. In this work we study the heterointerface of 1D/2D and 2D/2D C3N4/graphene heterostructures and how the different dimensions influence the lithium ion battery performance of the heterostructure. Our density functional theory (DFT) study showed that the common problem of C-N bond breakage experienced in 2D/2D C3N4/graphene heterostructure does not occur in the 1D/2D heterostructure. Furthermore, the 1D/2D heterostructure showed superior conductivity in comparison to that of the 2D/2D heterostructure of C3N4/graphene. The 1D/2D C3N4/graphene heterostructure also recorded a high theoretical capacity and rapid charge transfer. These results suggest that the properties of a heterostructure are influenced by the dimension of materials at the interface. These discoveries on the relationship between material dimension in heterostructure electrodes and their electrochemical performance will motivate the design of advanced electrode materials for rechargeable batteries.

Doping Effects on the Performance of Paired Metal Catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Metal heteroatoms dispersed in nitrogen-doped graphene display promising catalytic activity for fuel cell reactions such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here we explore the effects of the dopant concentration on the synergistic catalytic behavior of a paired metal atom active site comprising Co and Pt atoms that have been shown to be particularly active catalysts in these materials. The metals are coordinated to six atoms in a vacancy of N-doped graphene. We find that the HER activity is enhanced with increasing N concentration, where the free energy of hydrogen atom adsorption ranges from 0.23 to -0.42 eV as the doping changes from a single N atom doped in the pore to fully doped coordination sites. The results indicate that the effect of N is to make the metal atoms more active toward H adsorption, presenting a means through which transition metals can be modified to make more effective and sustainable fuel cell catalysts.

Coordination of Atomic Co-Pt Coupling Species at Carbon Defects as Active Sites for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Platinum (Pt) is the state-of-the-art catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but its high cost and scarcity limit its large-scale use. However, if the usage of Pt reduces to a sufficiently low level, this critical barrier may be overcome. Atomically dispersed metal catalysts with high activity and high atom efficiency have the possibility to achieve this goal. Herein, we report a locally distributed atomic Pt-Co nitrogen-carbon-based catalyst (denoted as A-CoPt-NC) with high activity and robust durability for ORR (267 times higher than commercial Pt/C in mass activity). The A-CoPt-NC shows a high selectivity for the 4e- pathway in ORR, differing from the reported 2e- pathway characteristic of atomic Pt catalysts. Density functional theory calculations suggest that this high activity originates from the synergistic effect of atomic Pt-Co located on a defected C/N graphene surface. The mechanism is thought to arise from asymmetry in the electron distribution around the Pt/Co metal centers, as well as the metal atoms' coordination with local environments on the carbon surface. This coordination results from N8V4 vacancies (where N8 represents the number of nitrogen atoms and V4 indicates the number of vacant carbon atoms) within the carbon shell, which enhances the oxygen reduction reaction via the so-called synergistic effect.

Interaction of Boron Nitride Nanotubes with Aluminium: A Computational Study.

The interaction of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with Al has been investigated by means of quantum chemical calculations. Two model structures were used: a BNNT adsorbing a four atom Al4 cluster, and a BNNT adsorbed on Al surfaces of different crystallographic orientations. The BNNTs were modeled as: (i) pristine, and (ii) having a boron (B-) or a nitrogen (N-) vacancy defect. The results indicated that the trends in binding energy for Al4 clusters were, similar to those of the adsorption on Al surfaces, while the Al surface orientation has a limited effect. In all cases, the calculations reveal that Al binding to a BNNT was strongly enhanced at a defect site on the BNNT surface. This higher binding was accompanied by a significant distortion of the Al cluster or the Al lattice near the respective vacancy. In case of a B-vacancy, insertion of an Al atom into the defect of the BNNT lattice, was observed. The calculations suggest that in the Al/BNNT metal matrix composites, a defect-free BNNT experiences a weak binding interaction with the Al matrix and tthe commonly observed formation of AlN and AlB2 was due to N- or B-vacancy defects within the BNNTs.

Biphenylene and Phagraphene as Lithium Ion Battery Anode Materials.

We present results of density functional theory calculations on the lithium (Li) ion storage capacity of biphenylene (BP) membrane and phagraphene (PhG) which are two-dimensional defected-graphene-like membranes. Both membranes show a larger capacity than graphene, Li2C6 and Li1.5C6 compared to LiC6. We find that Li is very mobile on these materials and does not interact as strongly with the membranes. In the case of BP we also investigated the possible volume expansion on Li insertion. We find a 11% expansion, which is very similar to the one found in graphite. Our findings show that both membranes are suitable materials for lithium ion battery anodes.

Lithium storage on carbon nitride, graphenylene and inorganic graphenylene.

We present results of density functional theory calculations on the lithium (Li) ion storage capacity of three different two dimensional porous graphene-like membranes. The graphitic carbon nitride membrane, g-CN, is found to have a large Li storage capacity of at least 813 mA h g(-1) (LiCN). However, it is also found that the Li interacts very strongly with the membrane indicating that this is most likely irreversible. According to the calculations, graphenylene or biphenylene carbon (BPC) has a storage capacity of 487 mA h g(-1) (Li1.5C6) which is higher than that for graphite. We also find that Li is very mobile on these materials and does not interact as strongly with the membrane making it a more suitable anode material. Inorganic graphenylene, which is a boron nitride analog of graphenylene, shows very low binding energies, much lower than the cohesive energy of lithium, and it appears to be unsuitable as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. We discuss how charge transfer leads to the very different behaviour observed in these three similar materials.

Modelling carbon membranes for gas and isotope separation.

Molecular modelling has become a useful and widely applied tool to investigate separation and diffusion behavior of gas molecules through nano-porous low dimensional carbon materials, including quasi-1D carbon nanotubes and 2D graphene-like carbon allotropes. These simulations provide detailed, molecular level information about the carbon framework structure as well as dynamics and mechanistic insights, i.e. size sieving, quantum sieving, and chemical affinity sieving. In this perspective, we revisit recent advances in this field and summarize separation mechanisms for multicomponent systems from kinetic and equilibrium molecular simulations, elucidating also anomalous diffusion effects induced by the confining pore structure and outlining perspectives for future directions in this field.

Graphdiyne: a versatile nanomaterial for electronics and hydrogen purification.

We theoretically extend the applications of graphdiyne, an experimentally available one-atom-thin carbon allotrope, to nanoelectronics and superior separation membrane for hydrogen purification on a precise level.

Significant nonadiabatic effects in the C + CH reaction dynamics.

Rigorous quantum nonadiabatic calculations are carried out on the two coupled electronic states (1(2)A' and 2(2)A') for the C + CH reaction. For all calculations, the initial wave packet was started from the entrance channel of the 1(2)A' state and the initial state of the CH reactant was kept in its ground rovibrational state. Reaction probabilities for total angular momenta J from 0 to 160 are calculated to obtain the integral cross section over an energy range from 0.005 to 0.8 eV collision energy. Significant nonadiabatic effects are found in the reaction dynamics. The branching ratio of the ground state and excited state of C(2) produced is around 0.6, varying slightly with the collision energy. Also, a value of 2.52 × 10(-11) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) for the state selected rate constant k (v = 0, j = 0) at 300 K is obtained, which may be seen as a reference in the future chemical models of interstellar clouds.

Kinetic modelling of molecular hydrogen transport in microporous carbon materials.

The proposal of kinetic molecular sieving of hydrogen isotopes is explored by employing statistical rate theory methods to describe the kinetics of molecular hydrogen transport in model microporous carbon structures. A Lennard-Jones atom-atom interaction potential is utilized for the description of the interactions between H(2)/D(2) and the carbon framework, while the requisite partition functions describing the thermal flux of molecules through the transition state are calculated quantum mechanically in view of the low temperatures involved in the proposed kinetic molecular sieving application. Predicted kinetic isotope effects for initial passage from the gas phase into the first pore mouth are consistent with expectations from previous modeling studies, namely, that at sufficiently low temperatures and for sufficiently narrow pore mouths D(2) transport is dramatically favored over H(2). However, in contrast to expectations from previous modeling, the absence of any potential barrier along the minimum energy pathway from the gas phase into the first pore mouth yields a negative temperature dependence in the predicted absolute rate coefficients-implying a negative activation energy. In pursuit of the effective activation barrier, we find that the minimum potential in the cavity is significantly higher than in the pore mouth for nanotube-shaped models, throwing into question the common assumption that passage through the pore mouths should be the rate-determining step. Our results suggest a new mechanism that, depending on the size and shape of the cavity, the thermal activation barrier may lie in the cavity rather than at the pore mouth. As a consequence, design strategies for achieving quantum-mediated kinetic molecular sieving of H(2)/D(2) in a microporous membrane will need, at the very least, to take careful account of cavity shape and size in addition to pore-mouth size in order to ensure that the selective step, namely passage through the pore mouth, is also the rate determining step.

Exact and truncated Coriolis coupling calculations for the S(1D)+HD reaction employing the ground adiabatic electronic state.

We present exact quantum differential cross sections and exact and estimated integral cross sections and branching ratios for the title reaction. We employ a time-dependent wavepacket method as implemented in the DIFFREALWAVE code including all Coriolis couplings and also an adapted DIFFREALWAVE code where the helicity quantum number and with this the Coriolis couplings have been truncated. Our exact differential cross sections at 0.453 eV total energy, one of the experimental energies, show good agreement with the experimental results for one of the product channels. While the truncated calculation present a significant reduction in the computational effort needed they overestimate the exact integral cross sections.

Nonadiabatic effects in the H + H2 exchange reaction: accurate quantum dynamics calculations at a state-to-state level.

Real wave packet propagations were carried out on both a single ground electronic state and two-coupled-electronic states of the title reaction to investigate the extent of nonadiabatic effects on the distinguishable-atom reaction cross sections. The latest diabatic potential matrix of Abrol and Kuppermann [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 1035 (2002)] was employed in the present nonadiabatic quantum state-to-state scattering calculations over a total energy range-from threshold (the zero point of the reagent H(2)) to 3.0 eV. Based on the assumption that the hydrogen atoms are distinguishable in the collisions where the inelastic and elastic ones are excluded, no significant nonadiabatic effects have been found in the calculations of the full state-to-state integral and differential cross sections up to a total energy of 3.0 eV for product vibrational levels v(')=0, 1, 2, 3. Our results therefore confirm the recent and the previous studies of the geometric phase effects in H+H(2) employing a different diabatic double many-body expansion potential matrix or a different BKMP2 potential energy surface.

Quantum mechanical calculation of energy dependence of OCl/OH product branching ratio and product quantum state distributions for the O(1D) + HCl reaction on all three contributing electronic state potential energy surfaces.

OCl/OH product branching ratios are calculated as a function of total energy for the O( (1) D) + HCl reaction using quantum wavepacket methods. The calculations take account of reaction on all the three electronic state potential energy surfaces which correlate with both reactants and products. Our results show that reaction on the excited electronic state surfaces has a large effect on the branching ratio at higher energies and that these surfaces must therefore be fully taken into account. The calculations use the potential energy surfaces of Nanbu and co-workers. Product vibrational and rotational quantum state distributions are also calculated as a function of energy for both product channels. Inclusion of the excited electronic state potential energy surfaces improves the agreement of the predicted product vibrational quantum state distributions with experiment for the OH product channel. For OCl agreement between theory and experiment is retained for the vibrational quantum state distributions when the excited electronic state potential energy surfaces are included in the analysis. For the rotational state distributions good agreement between theory and experiment is maintained for energies at which experimental results are available. At higher energies, above 0.7 eV of total energy, the OCl rotational state distributions predicted using all three electronic state potential energy surfaces shift to markedly smaller rotational quantum numbers.

Study of the H+O2 reaction by means of quantum mechanical and statistical approaches: the dynamics on two different potential energy surfaces.

The possible existence of a complex-forming pathway for the H+O(2) reaction has been investigated by means of both quantum mechanical and statistical techniques. Reaction probabilities, integral cross sections, and differential cross sections have been obtained with a statistical quantum method and the mean potential phase space theory. The statistical predictions are compared to exact results calculated by means of time dependent wave packet methods and a previously reported time independent exact quantum mechanical approach using the double many-body expansion (DMBE IV) potential energy surface (PES) [Pastrana et al., J. Phys. Chem. 94, 8073 (1990)] and the recently developed surface (denoted XXZLG) by Xu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 244305 (2005)]. The statistical approaches are found to reproduce only some of the exact total reaction probabilities for low total angular momenta obtained with the DMBE IV PES and some of the cross sections calculated at energy values close to the reaction threshold for the XXZLG surface. Serious discrepancies with the exact integral cross sections at higher energy put into question the possible statistical nature of the title reaction. However, at a collision energy of 1.6 eV, statistical rotationally resolved cross sections managed to reproduce the experimental cross sections for the H+O(2)(v=0,j=1)-->OH(v(')=1,j('))+O process reasonably well.

Quantum calculation of ro-vibrational states: methodology and DOCl application results.

An improved Lanczos eigenvalue analysis method has been developed to compute the bound ro-vibrational states for the DOCl system at a total angular momentum of J = 0 and J = 30. In this method, the error norm is used to identify all the true eigenvalues, using the Lanczos algorithm without re-orthogonalization. For ro-vibrational spectroscopy calculations, the comparisons among experimental results, the exact quantum mechanical calculations, and the widely used approximate adiabatic rotation method have been made for J = 30. For J = 0, the density of states (DOS) in both the bound and unimolecular dissociation regime have been computed, whereas for the J = 30 case, only the DOS in the lower portion of the bound spectrum has been reported, because of substantial computational tasks.

Quantum dynamical study of the O(1D)+HCl reaction employing three electronic state potential energy surfaces.

Quantum dynamical calculations are reported for the title reaction, for both product arrangement channels and using potential energy surfaces corresponding to the three electronic states, 1 1A', 2 1A', and 1 1A", which correlate with both reactants and products. The calculations have been performed for J=0 using the time-dependent real wavepacket approach by Gray and Balint-Kurti [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 950 (1998)]. Reaction probabilities for both product arrangement channels on all three potential energy surfaces are presented for total energies between 0.1 and 1.1 eV. Product vibrational state distributions at two total energies, 0.522 and 0.722 eV, are also presented for both channels and all three electronic states. Product rotational quantum state distributions are presented for both product arrangement channels and all three electronic states for the first six product vibrational states.

State-to-state reaction probabilities for the H+O2(v,j)-->O+OH(v',j') reaction on three potential energy surfaces.

We report state-to-state and total reaction probabilities for J=0 and total reaction probabilities for J=2 and 4 for the title reaction, both for ground-state and initially rovibrationally excited reactants. The results for three different potential energy surfaces are compared and contrasted. The potential energy surfaces employed are the DMBE IV surface by Pastrana et al. [J. Phys. Chem. 94, 8073 (1990)], the surface by Troe and Ushakov (TU) [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 3621 (2001)], and the new XXZLG ab initio surface by Xu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 244305 (2005)]. Our results show that the total reaction probabilities from both the TU and XXZLG surfaces are much smaller in magnitude for collision energies above 1.2 eV compared to the DMBE IV surface. The three surfaces also show different behavior with regards to the effect of initial state excitation. The reactivity is increased on the XXZLG and the TU surfaces and decreased on the DMBE IV surface. Vibrational and rotational product state distributions for the XXZLG and the DMBE IV surface show different behaviors for both types of distributions. Our results show that for energies above 1.25 eV the dynamics on the DMBE IV surface are not statistical. However, there is also evidence that the dynamics on the XXZLG surface are not purely statistical for energies above the onset of the first excited product vibrational state v'=1. The magnitude of the total reaction probability is decreased for J>0 for the DMBE IV and the XXZLG surfaces for ground-state reactants. However, for initially rovibrationally excited reactants, the total reaction probability does not decrease as expected for both surfaces. As a result the total cross section averaged over all Boltzmann accessible rotational states may well be larger than the cross section reported in the literature for j=1.

Coriolis coupling effects in the calculation of state-to-state integral and differential cross sections for the H+D2 reaction.

The quantum wavepacket parallel computational code DIFFREALWAVE is used to calculate state-to-state integral and differential cross sections for the title reaction on the BKMP2 surface in the total energy range of 0.4-1.2 eV with D2 initially in its ground vibrational-rotational state. The role of Coriolis couplings in the state-to-state quantum calculations is examined in detail. Comparison of the results from calculations including the full Coriolis coupling and those using the centrifugal sudden approximation demonstrates that both the energy dependence and the angular dependence of the calculated cross sections are extremely sensitive to the Coriolis coupling, thus emphasizing the importance of including it correctly in an accurate state-to-state calculation.

State-to-state reactive differential cross sections for the H+H2-->H2+H reaction on five different potential energy surfaces employing a new quantum wavepacket computer code: DIFFREALWAVE.

State-to-state differential cross sections have been calculated for the hydrogen exchange reaction, H+H2-->H2+H, using five different high quality potential energy surfaces with the objective of examining the sensitivity of these detailed cross sections to the underlying potential energy surfaces. The calculations were performed using a new parallel computer code, DIFFREALWAVE. The code is based on the real wavepacket approach of Gray and Balint-Kurti [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 950 (1998)]. The calculations are parallelized over the helicity quantum number Omega' (i.e., the quantum number for the body-fixed z component of the total angular momentum) and wavepackets for each J,Omega' set are assigned to different processors, similar in spirit to the Coriolis-coupled processors approach of Goldfield and Gray [Comput. Phys. Commun. 84, 1 (1996)]. Calculations for J=0-24 have been performed to obtain converged state-to-state differential cross sections in the energy range from 0.4 to 1.2 eV. The calculations employ five different potential energy surfaces, the BKMP2 surface and a hierarchical family of four new ab initio surfaces [S. L. Mielke, et al., J. Chem. Phys. 116, 4142 (2002)]. This family of four surfaces has been calculated using three different hierarchical sets of basis functions and also an extrapolation to the complete basis set limit, the so called CCI surface. The CCI surface is the most accurate surface for the H3 system reported to date. Our calculations of differential cross sections are the first to be reported for the A2, A3, A4, and CCI surfaces. They show that there are some small differences in the cross sections obtained from the five different surfaces, particularly at higher energies. The calculations also show that the BKMP2 performs well and gives cross sections in very good agreement with the results from the CCI surface, displaying only small divergences at higher energies.