Elementary surface chemistry during CuO/Al nanolaminate-thermite synthesis: copper and oxygen deposition on aluminum (111) surfaces.

The surface chemistry associated with the synthesis of energetic nanolaminates controls the formation of the critical interfacial layers that dominate the performances of nanothermites. For instance, the interaction of Al with CuO films or CuO with Al films needs to be understood to optimize Al/CuO nanolaminates. To that end, the chemical mechanisms occurring during early stages of molecular CuO adsorption onto crystalline Al(111) surfaces are investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, leading to the systematic determination of their reaction enthalpies and associated activation energies. We show that CuO undergoes dissociative chemisorption on Al(111) surfaces, whereby the Cu and O atoms tend to separate from each other. Both Cu and O atoms form islands with different properties. Copper islanding fosters Cu insertion (via surface site exchange mechanism) into the subsurface, while oxygen islands remain stable at the surface. Above a critical local oxygen coverage, aluminum atoms are extracted from the Al surface, leading to oxygen-aluminum intermixing and the formation of aluminum oxide (γ-alumina). For Cu and O co-deposition, copper promotes oxygen-aluminum interaction by oxygen segregation and separates the resulting oxide from the Al substrate by insertion into Al and stabilization below the oxide front, preventing full mixing of Al, Cu, and O species.

Interfacial chemistry in Al/CuO reactive nanomaterial and its role in exothermic reaction.

Interface layers between reactive and energetic materials in nanolaminates or nanoenergetic materials are believed to play a crucial role in the properties of nanoenergetic systems. Typically, in the case of Metastable Interstitial Composite nanolaminates, the interface layer between the metal and oxide controls the onset reaction temperature, reaction kinetics, and stability at low temperature. So far, the formation of these interfacial layers is not well understood for lack of in situ characterization, leading to a poor control of important properties. We have combined in situ infrared spectroscopy and ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy, in conjunction with first-principles calculations to identify the stable configurations that can occur at the interface and determine the kinetic barriers for their formation. We find that (i) an interface layer formed during physical deposition of aluminum is composed of a mixture of Cu, O, and Al through Al penetration into CuO and constitutes a poor diffusion barrier (i.e., with spurious exothermic reactions at lower temperature), and in contrast, (ii) atomic layer deposition (ALD) of alumina layers using trimethylaluminum (TMA) produces a conformal coating that effectively prevents Al diffusion even for ultrathin layer thicknesses (∼0.5 nm), resulting in better stability at low temperature and reduced reactivity. Importantly, the initial reaction of TMA with CuO leads to the extraction of oxygen from CuO to form an amorphous interfacial layer that is an important component for superior protection properties of the interface and is responsible for the high system stability. Thus, while Al e-beam evaporation and ALD growth of an alumina layer on CuO both lead to CuO reduction, the mechanism for oxygen removal is different, directly affecting the resistance to Al diffusion. This work reveals that it is the nature of the monolayer interface between CuO and alumina/Al rather than the thickness of the alumina layer that controls the kinetics of Al diffusion, underscoring the importance of the chemical bonding at the interface in these energetic materials.

A computational chemist approach to gas sensors: modeling the response of SnO2 to CO, O2, and H2O gases.

A general bottom-up modeling strategy for gas sensor response to CO, O(2), H(2)O, and related mixtures exposure is demonstrated. In a first stage, we present first principles calculations that aimed at giving an unprecedented review of basic chemical mechanisms taking place at the sensor surface. Then, simulations of an operating gas sensor are performed via a mesoscopic model derived from calculated density functional theory data into a set of differential equations. Significant presence of catalytic oxidation reaction is highlighted.

Can the hybrid meta GGA and DFT-D methods describe the stacking interactions in conjugated polymers?

Newly developed hybrid meta density functionals and density functionals augmented by a classical London dispersion term have been systematically applied for the description of stacking energy and intermolecular distance of thiophene dimer and substituted thiophene dimer. The performance of the various approaches is compared with the benchmark ab-initio calculations done with CCSD(T) (Tsuzuki et al., JACS 2002, 124, 12200). Our results indicate that, contrary to the previous DFT methods which are not reliable, the new generation of DFT performs better the stacking interactions. These functionals, and especially those with an empirical correction, are suitable for general application in conducting polymers and, in particular, the modeling of solid state in which the overlap of Pi-Pi interactions between the conjugated chains is important.

Parametrization of an empirical correction term to density functional theory for an accurate description of pi-stacking interactions in nucleic acids.

We present an accurate parametrization of density functional theory augmented with an empirical correction term to describe properly pi-stacking interactions in nucleic acids. The approach is based on the popular Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), Becke-Perdew (BP), and hybrid Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) density functionals augmented by a classical London C(6)R(-6) dispersion term. The novelty of our implementation lies in the accurate tuning of the empirical parameters, included in the [formula: see text] damping function, to reproduce high-level post Hartree-Fock calculations. In particular, we present sets of parameters and the needed code to correct the PBE, BP, and B3LYP results from the Turbomole and ADF packages in connection with basis sets of double and triple zeta quality. The developed approach is validated by comparison with the JSCH-2005 benchmark and with best quality stacking energies reported in the literature for the stacking of H-bonded nucleic acids base pairs.

Comparative density functional theory study of the binding of ligands to Cu+ and Cu2+: Influence of the coordination and oxidation state.

BP86, B3LYP and MP2 methods, generally used to study large systems containing transition metals, were compared for their ability to accuratly evaluate bond dissociation energies of copper complexes. Various [Cu-L]+ and [Cu-L]2+ complexes in which L are small ligands and the higher coordinated complexes, [Cu(NH3)(4)]+ and [Cu(NH3)4]2+ were studied. For monoligated complexes, the BDEs calculated by the three methods differed by 2 to 60 kcal/mol, the larger differences being obtained for [Cu-L]2+ complexes. The BDEs calculated using the B3LYP functional were in general close to the experimental values whereas the BDEs calculated using the BP86 functional were too high and the BDEs calculated using the MP2 were too low. If we rank the whole ligands according to their increased bond strength, the resulting orders obtained with the three methods are different for the [Cu-L]+ complexes, the B3LYP giving the same order as the experimental one. This result indicates that the BDEs of [Cu-L]+ complexes are better modeled using the B3LYP than using the BP86 and MP2 methods. For [Cu-L]2+, B3LYP also gave the most reliable results whereas BP86 gave too large BDEs and MP2 gave too small BDEs. However, symmetries of ground states can be different using DFT and post-Hartree-Fock methods. For [Cu-N2O]2+ the use of the B1LYP provides a better symmetry of the complex than the B3LYP, as has been recently shown in the literature for [Cu-H2O]2+. MP2 led to an incorrect bent structure for [Cu-N2]2+ in contrast to a linear structure obtained with the other methods, including CCSD(T). However, due to the lack of experimental data for [Cu-L]2+ complexes and to contrasted results for the methods, it is not possible to conclude definitely. For the high coordinated complexes [Cu(NH3)4]+ and [Cu(NH3)4]2+, the PBE calculation method was used in addition to the BP86, B3LYP and MP2. The BDE values were very close to each other when there is no change of the oxidation state during the reaction. On the basis of these calculations, the choice of the method was less crucial for high coordinated complexes [Cu(NH3)4]+ and [Cu(NH3)4]2+ so long as the oxidation state remained the same during the reaction. In contrast, when [Cu(NH3)4]2+ is reduced in [Cu(NH3)3]+ and NH3, the BDE calculated using the four methods were markedly different.

Selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3 on Cu-faujasite catalysts: an experimental and quantum chemical approach.

The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by NH3 in the presence of O2 on Cu-faujasite (Cu-FAU) has been studied. Substitution of some Cu2+ with H+ and Na+ cations, compensating for the negative charge of the zeolite framework, forms the various CuHNa-FAU studied. The amount of Cu was held constant and the proportion of H+ and Na+ varied in the sample. The substitution of Na+ for H+ increases sharply the SCR rate by lowering the temperature of reaction by about 150 K. It is proposed that the rate increase mainly comes from an unhindered migration of Cu from hidden to active sites and a modification of the redox properties of Cu species. The former was demonstrated by diffuse reflectance IR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO. The change in redox properties was demonstrated by a faster oxidation of Cu+ to Cu2+ (rate-determining step). Quantum chemical calculations on model clusters of CuHNa-FAU indicate that the faster rate of oxidation can be explained by a higher lability of protons in the absence of Na, which can be then removed from the catalyst more easily to yield H2O during the oxidation process.