On the difficulties of present theoretical models to predict the oxidation state of atomic Au adsorbed on regular sites of CeO2(111)

Branda, M. M., Castellani, N. J., Grau-Crespo, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8845-1719, de Leeuw, N. H., Hernandez, N. C., Sanz, J. F., Neyman, K. M. and Illas, F. (2009) On the difficulties of present theoretical models to predict the oxidation state of atomic Au adsorbed on regular sites of CeO2(111). The Journal of Chemical Physics, 131 (9). 094702. ISSN 0021-9606 doi: 10.1063/1.3216102

Abstract/Summary

The electronic structure and oxidation state of atomic Au adsorbed on a perfect CeO2(111) surface have been investigated in detail by means of periodic density functional theory-based calculations, using the LDA+U and GGA+U potentials for a broad range of U values, complemented with calculations employing the HSE06 hybrid functional. In addition, the effects of the lattice parameter a0 and of the starting point for the geometry optimization have also been analyzed. From the present results we suggest that the oxidation state of single Au atoms on CeO2(111) predicted by LDA+U, GGA+U, and HSE06 density functional calculations is not conclusive and that the final picture strongly depends on the method chosen and on the construction of the surface model. In some cases we have been able to locate two well-defined states which are close in energy but with very different electronic structure and local geometries, one with Au fully oxidized and one with neutral Au. The energy difference between the two states is typically within the limits of the accuracy of the present exchange-correlation potentials, and therefore, a clear lowest-energy state cannot be identified. These results suggest the possibility of a dynamic distribution of Au0 and Au+ atomic species at the regular sites of the CeO2(111) surface.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/34235
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
Uncontrolled Keywords	adsorption, band structure, cerium compounds, density functional theory, gold, oxidation
Publisher	American Institute of Physics
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