Molecular modelling solid-state density functional methods

DFT-Based Pseudopotentials. - The model potentials and shape-consistent pseudopotentials as introduced in the previous two sections can be characterized by a Hartree-Fock/Dirac-Hartree-Fock modelling of core-valence interactions and relativistic effects. Now, Hartree-Fock has never been popular in solid-state theory - the method of choice always was density-functional theory (DFT). With the advent of gradient-corrected exchange-correlation functionals, DFT has found a wide application also in molecular physics and quantum chemistry. The question seems natural, therefore Why not base pseudopotentials on DFT rather than HF theory ... 

An important simplification results if we can consider the bonding between atoms to be a local phenomenon. In this event, we would need to consider only the immediate neighbours of the adsorbate or defect atoms, and we arrive at the cluster models circled in Fig. 1. Of course, some properties of the system will depend on its extended nature. Others, including the variation in total energy with small displacements of atoms, should be described satisfactorily by a cluster calculation. In such cases, the problem has been reduced to one of molecular dimensions, so that the methods of molecular physics or theoretical chemistry could be used. For many systems of interest to the solid-state physicist, where a typical problem might be the chemisorption of a carbon monoxide molecule on the surface of a ferromagnetic metal surface such as nickel, the methods discussed in much of the rest of the present volume are inappropriate. It is necessary to seek alternatives, and this chapter is concerned with one of them, the density functional (DF) formalism. While the motivation of the solid-state physicist is perhaps different from that of the chemist, the above discussion shows that some of the goals are very similar. Indeed, it is my view that the density functional formalism, which owes much of its development and most of its applications to solid-state physicists, can make a useful contribution to theoretical chemistry. 

The theoretical chemistry community developed density functional theory for finite molecular systems which involve molecules and cluster models that describe the catalytic systems. They use the same constructs used in many ab initio wavefunction methods, i.e. Gaussian or Slater basis sets. The solid-state physics community, on the other hand, developed density functional theory to describe bulk solid-state systems and infinite surfaces by using a supercell approach along with periodic basis functions, i.e. plane waves . Nearly all of our discussion has focused on finite molecular systems. In the next section we will describe in more detail infinite periodic systems. 

The classical models of adsorption processes like Langmuir, BET, DR or Kelvin treatments and their numerous variations and extensions, contain several uncontrolled approximations. However, the classical theories are convenient and their usage is very widespread. On the other hand, the aforementioned classical theories do not start from a well - defined molecular model, and the result is that the link between the molecular behaviour and the macroscopic properties of the systems studied are blurred. The more developed and notable descriptions of the condensed systems include lattice models [408] which are solved by means of the mean - field or other non-classical techniques [409]. The virial formalism of low -pressure adsorption discussed above, integral equation method and perturbation theory are also useful approaches. However, the state of the art technique is the density functional theory (DFT) introduced by Evans [410] and Tarazona [411]. The DFT method enables calculating the equilibrium density profile, p (r), of the fluid which is in contact with the solid phase. The main idea of the DFT approach is that the free energy of inhomogeneous fluid which is a function of p (r), can be... 

If the elements Cn and FI (element 114) have a noble-gas like character [54], then, in a fictitious solid state, they would form non-conducting colorless crystals. A physisorptive type of adsorption may occur and their adsorption properties, for example on quartz, can be calculated with this method, see Table 3. For physi-sorbed noble gas atoms a roughly uniform distance to different surfaces of about 2.47 0.2 A was deduced from experimental results [47]. A predicted value of the adsorption properties of HSO4 was based on this model in [37]. In conjunction with molecular and elemental data, which were calculated using density functional theory, this model yields valuable predictive results see chapter Theoretical Chemistry of the Heaviest Elements . 

Extensions of this model in which the atomic nuclei and core electrons are included by representing them by a potential function, V, in Equation (4.1) (plane wave methods) can account for the density of states in Figure 4.3 and can be used for semiconductors and insulators as well. We shall however use a different model to describe these solids, one based on the molecular orbital theory of molecules. We describe this in the next section. We end this section by using our simple model to explain the electrical conductivity of metals. 

---