Quantitative Understanding of van der Waals Interactions by Analyzing the Adsorption Structure and Low-Frequency Vibrational Modes of Single Benzene Molecules on Silver

Assessment of van der Waals inclusive density functional theory methods for adsorption and selective dehydrogenation of formic acid on Pt(111) surface

In this work, we studied the adsorption and catalytic dehydrogenation of formic acid (HCOOH) on Pt(111) surface using different van der Waals inclusive density functional theory (DFT) methods.

Probing Intermolecular Coupled Vibrations between Two Molecules

Intermolecular interactions can induce energy shifts and coupling of molecular vibrations. However, the detection of intermolecular coupled vibrations has not been reported at the single molecule level. Here we detected an intermolecular coupled vibration between two CO molecules, one on the surface and another on the tip within the gap of a subkelvin scanning tunneling microscope, and analyzed the results by density functional calculations. We attribute the evolution of the energy and intensity of this coupled vibration as a function of tip-sample distance to the tilting and orbital alignment of the two CO molecules.

Theoretical understanding on the selectivity of acrolein hydrogenation over silver surfaces: the non-Horiuti–Polanyi mechanism is the key

The significance of the non-Horiuti–Polanyi mechanism in understanding heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation reactions is highlighted.

A promising single atom catalyst for CO oxidation: Ag on boron vacancies of h-BN sheets

Due to “CO-Promoted O₂ Activation”, the termolecular Eley–Rideal (TER) mechanism is the most relevant one for CO oxidation over the SAC, Ag₁/BN.

Controlling Intramolecular Conformation through Nonbonding Interaction for Soft-Conjugated Materials: Molecular Design and Optoelectronic Properties

To address the intrinsic contradiction between high optoelectronic properties and good processability in organic π-conjugated molecules, we propose that soft-conjugated molecules (SCMs), conformationally locked by intramolecular nonbonding interactions, can benefit from both nonplanar molecular structures in solution for processing and rigid coplanar structures in the solid state for enhanced optoelectronic properties. Computational results reveal that nonbonding pairs of S···N, N···H, and F···S are strong enough to prevail over thermal fluctuations, steric effects, and other repulsive interactions to force the adjacent aromatic rings to be planar; thus, constructed SCMs display delocalized frontier molecular orbitals with frontier orbital energy levels, band gaps, reorganization energies, and photophyscial properties comparable to those of rigid-conjugated molecules because of their stable planar soft-conjugation at both ground and excited states. The understanding gained from the theoretical investigations of SCMs provides keen insights into construction and modification of soft-conjugations to harmonize the optoelectronic property and processability in conjugated molecules for advanced optoelectronic applications.