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Settem M, Roncaglia C, Ferrando R, Giacomello A. Structural transformations in Cu, Ag, and Au metal nanoclusters. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:094303. [PMID: 37668252 DOI: 10.1063/5.0159257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Finite-temperature structures of Cu, Ag, and Au metal nanoclusters are calculated in the entire temperature range from 0 K to melting using a computational methodology that we proposed recently [M. Settem et al., Nanoscale 14, 939 (2022)]. In this method, Harmonic Superposition Approximation (HSA) and Parallel Tempering Molecular Dynamics (PTMD) are combined in a complementary manner. HSA is accurate at low temperatures and fails at higher temperatures. PTMD, on the other hand, effectively samples the high temperature region and melts. This method is used to study the size- and system-dependent competition between various structural motifs of Cu, Ag, and Au nanoclusters in the size range 1-2 nm. Results show that there are mainly three types of structural changes in metal nanoclusters, depending on whether a solid-solid transformation occurs. In the first type, the global minimum is the dominant motif in the entire temperature range. In contrast, when a solid-solid transformation occurs, the global minimum transforms either completely to a different motif or partially, resulting in the co-existence of multiple motifs. Finally, nanocluster structures are analyzed to highlight the system-specific differences across the three metals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manoj Settem
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, Sapienza Università di Roma, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
| | - Cesare Roncaglia
- Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Genova, via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
| | - Riccardo Ferrando
- Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Genova and CNR-IMEM, via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
| | - Alberto Giacomello
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale, Sapienza Università di Roma, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
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Slama M, Habli H, Laajimi M, Ghalla H, Ben El Hadj Rhouma M. Microsolvation of lithium cation in xenon clusters: An octahedral growth pattern. J Mol Graph Model 2022; 116:108229. [PMID: 35671571 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2022.108229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The structural and energetic proprieties for the Li + Xen (n = 1-18) clusters are investigated using both Basin-Hopping combined with Potential Model description (BH-PM) and DFT methods. A structural transition from tetrahedral (4 coordination) form to octahedral (6 coordination) one is observed for n = 6. Above this size, all structures have an octahedral core. The cubic-face-centered arrangement for xenon atoms is detected for Li + Xe14. To the best of our knowledge, the Li + Xen (n = 1-18) clusters are studied in the present work for the first time using the DFT theoretical approach. The M062X functional combined with aug-cc-pVDZ (for Li) and def2-TZVP (for Xe) basis sets reproduces accurately the CCSD(T) potential energy curve of Li + Xe system. Atom-Centered Density Matrix Propagation (ADMP) molecular dynamic calculations have been carried. Moreover, we investigate the larger sizes n = 31-35, 44, and 55 for the first time using the BH-PM theoretical approach. The closing of the first and second octahedron shells are proved for the n = 6 and 34 sizes, respectively. The relative stabilities of the Li + Xen molecules are also studied by computing the total energy, the binding energy per atoms for each size n. Then, the second energy difference between the size n and its two near neighbors allows identifying the magic number series. Our present data are analyzed, discussed and compared with the available theoretical and experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwa Slama
- Université de Monastir, Institut Préparatoire aux Études des Ingénieurs de Monastir, Laboratoire d'Études des Milieux Ionisés et Réactifs (EMIR), 5000 Monastir, Tunisia.
| | - Hela Habli
- Université de Monastir, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Laboratoire de Physique Quantique et Statistique, Avenue de l'Environnement 5019 Monastir, Tunisia; Université de Sousse, Institut Supérieur des Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie de Sousse, Rue ibn Khaldun, Cité Taffala, 4003 Sousse, Tunisia
| | - Maha Laajimi
- Université de Monastir, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Laboratoire de Physique Quantique et Statistique, Avenue de l'Environnement 5019 Monastir, Tunisia
| | - Houcine Ghalla
- Université de Monastir, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Laboratoire de Physique Quantique et Statistique, Avenue de l'Environnement 5019 Monastir, Tunisia
| | - Mounir Ben El Hadj Rhouma
- Université de Monastir, Institut Préparatoire aux Études des Ingénieurs de Monastir, Laboratoire d'Études des Milieux Ionisés et Réactifs (EMIR), 5000 Monastir, Tunisia
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Prudente FV, Marques JMC. Thermodynamic Signatures of Structural Transitions and Dissociation of Charged Colloidal Clusters: A Parallel Tempering Monte Carlo Study. MOLECULES (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 27:molecules27082581. [PMID: 35458778 PMCID: PMC9032479 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27082581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Computational simulation of colloidal systems make use of empirical interaction potentials that are founded in well-established theory. In this work, we have performed parallel tempering Monte Carlo (PTMC) simulations to calculate heat capacity and to assess structural transitions, which may occur in charged colloidal clusters whose effective interactions are described by a sum of pair potentials with attractive short-range and repulsive long-range components. Previous studies on these systems have shown that the global minimum structure varies from spherical-type shapes for small-size clusters to Bernal spiral and “beaded-necklace” shapes at intermediate and larger sizes, respectively. In order to study both structural transitions and dissociation, we have organized the structures appearing in the PTMC calculations by three sets according to their energy: (i) low-energy structures, including the global minimum; (ii) intermediate-energy “beaded-necklace” motifs; (iii) high-energy linear and branched structures that characterize the dissociative clusters. We observe that, depending on the cluster, either peaks or shoulders on the heat–capacity curve constitute thermodynamics signatures of dissociation and structural transitions. The dissociation occurs at T=0.20 for all studied clusters and it is characterized by the appearance of a significant number of linear structures, while the structural transitions corresponding to unrolling the Bernal spiral are quite dependent on the size of the colloidal system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederico V. Prudente
- Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador 40170-115, BA, Brazil
- Correspondence: (F.V.P.); (J.M.C.M.)
| | - Jorge M. C. Marques
- CQC–IMS, Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal
- Correspondence: (F.V.P.); (J.M.C.M.)
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Rock CA, Arradondo SN, Tschumper GS. Solvation of Isoelectronic Halide and Alkali Metal Ions by Argon Atoms. J Phys Chem A 2021; 125:10524-10531. [PMID: 34851634 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c08069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
This work systematically examines the interactions of alkali metal cations and their isoelectronic halide counterparts with up to six solvating Ar atoms (M+Arn and X-Arn, where M = Li, Na, K, and Rb; X = H, F, Cl, and Br; and n = 1-6) via full geometry optimizations with the MP2 method and robust, correlation-consistent quadruple-ζ (QZ) basis sets. 116 unique M+Arn and X-Arn stationary points have been characterized on the MP2/QZ potential energy surface. To the best of our knowledge, approximately two dozen of these stationary points have been reported here for the first time. Some of these new structures are either the lowest-energy stationary point for a particular cluster or energetically competitive with it. The CCSD(T) method was employed to perform additional single-point energy computations upon all MP2/QZ-optimized structures using the same basis set. CCSD(T)/QZ results indicate that internally solvated structures with the ion at/near the geometric center of the cluster have appreciably higher energies than those placing the ion on the periphery. While this study extends the prior investigations of M+Arn clusters found within the literature, it notably provides one of the first thorough characterizations of and comparisons to the corresponding negatively charged X-Arn clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly A Rock
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677-1848, United States
| | - Sarah N Arradondo
- Department of Chemistry, Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland 21620-1438, United States
| | - Gregory S Tschumper
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677-1848, United States
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Andrade MDD, Jesus WS, Prudente FV, Marques JMC. On the stabilization of the Li$$^+$$-Li$$^+$$ interaction by microsolvation with rare-gas atoms. Theor Chem Acc 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00214-021-02763-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Jesus WS, Prudente FV, Marques JMC, Pereira FB. Modeling microsolvation clusters with electronic-structure calculations guided by analytical potentials and predictive machine learning techniques. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:1738-1749. [PMID: 33427847 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp05200k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
We propose a new methodology to study, at the density functional theory (DFT) level, the clusters resulting from the microsolvation of alkali-metal ions with rare-gas atoms. The workflow begins with a global optimization search to generate a pool of low-energy minimum structures for different cluster sizes. This is achieved by employing an analytical potential energy surface (PES) and an evolutionary algorithm (EA). The next main stage of the methodology is devoted to establish an adequate DFT approach to treat the microsolvation system, through a systematic benchmark study involving several combinations of functionals and basis sets, in order to characterize the global minimum structures of the smaller clusters. In the next stage, we apply machine learning (ML) classification algorithms to predict how the low-energy minima of the analytical PES map to the DFT ones. An early and accurate detection of likely DFT local minima is extremely important to guide the choice of the most promising low-energy minima of large clusters to be re-optimized at the DFT level of theory. In this work, the methodology was applied to the Li+Krn (n = 2-14 and 16) microsolvation clusters for which the most competitive DFT approach was found to be the B3LYP-D3/aug-pcseg-1. Additionally, the ML classifier was able to accurately predict most of the solutions to be re-optimized at the DFT level of theory, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency of the process and allowing its applicability to larger clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- W S Jesus
- Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40170-115 Salvador, BA, Brazil.
| | - F V Prudente
- Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40170-115 Salvador, BA, Brazil.
| | - J M C Marques
- CQC, Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - F B Pereira
- Coimbra Polytechnic - ISEC, Coimbra, Portugal and Centro de Informática e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra (CISUC), Coimbra, Portugal.
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