Search results for "first-principles"
showing 5 items of 15 documents
A TDDFT-based Study on the Proton-DNA Collision
2019
The interaction of heavy charged particles with DNA is of interest for several areas, from hadrontherapy to aero-space industry. In this paper, a TD-DFT study on the interaction of a 4 keV proton with an isolated DNA base pair was carried out. Ehrenfest dynamics was used to study the evolution of the system during and after the proton impact up to about 193 fs. This time was long enough to observe the dissociation of the target, which occurs between 80-100 fs. The effect of base pair linking to the DNA double helix was emulated by fixing the four O3' atoms responsible for the attachment. The base pair tends to dissociate into its main components, namely the phosphate groups, sugars and nitr…
Effect of H Adsorption on the Magnetic Properties of an Fe Island on a W(110) Surface
2019
<p>Low-dimensional materials, such as ultrathin films, nanoislands and wires, are actively being researched due to their interesting magnetic properties and possible technological applications for example in high density data storage. Results of calculations of an Fe nanoisland on a W(110) support are presented here with particular focus on the effect of hydrogen adsorption on its magnetic properties. This is an important consideration since hydrogen is present even under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The calculations are based on density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation. The adsorption of H atoms is found to strongly decrease the magnetic moment of the …
Beyond ideal two-dimensional metals: Edges, vacancies, and polarizabilities
2018
Recent experimental discoveries of graphene-stabilized patches of two-dimensional (2D) metals have motivated also their computational studies. However, so far the studies have been restricted to ideal and infinite 2D metallic monolayers, which is insufficient because in reality the properties of such metallic patches are governed by microstructures pervaded by edges, defects, and several types of perturbations. Here we use density-functional theory to calculate edge and vacancy formation energies of hexagonal and square lattices of 45 elemental 2D metals. We find that the edge and vacancy formation energies are strongly correlated and decrease with increasing Wigner-Seitz radii, analogously…
Mechanism of Antibacterial Activity via Morphology Change of α-AgVO3: Theoretical and Experimental Insights
2017
The electronic configuration, morphology, optical features, and antibacterial activity of metastable α-AgVO3 crystals have been discussed by a conciliation and association of the results acquired by experimental procedures and first-principles calculations. The α-AgVO3 powders were synthesized using a coprecipitation method at 10, 20, and 30 °C. By using a Wulff construction for all relevant low-index surfaces [(100), (010), (001), (110), (011), (101), and (111)], the fine-tuning of the desired morphologies can be achieved by controlling the values of the surface energies, thereby lending a microscopic understanding to the experimental results. The as-synthesized α-AgVO3 crystals display a …
Excitons in few-layer hexagonal boron nitride: Davydov splitting and surface localization
2018
Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has been attracting great attention because of its strong excitonic effects. Taking into account few-layer systems, we investigate theoretically the effects of the number of layers on quasiparticle energies, absorption spectra, and excitonic states, placing particular focus on the Davydov splitting of the lowest bound excitons. We describe how the inter-layer interaction as well as the variation in electronic screening as a function of layer number $N$ affects the electronic and optical properties. Using both \textit{ab initio} simulations and a tight-binding model for an effective Hamiltonian describing the excitons, we characterize in detail the symmetry of t…