Adsorption of hydrogen atoms on a single graphite sheet ͑graphene͒ has been investigated by first-principles electronic structure means, employing plane-wave based periodic density functional theory. A 5 ϫ 5 surface unit cell has been employed to study single and multiple adsorptions of H atoms. Binding and barrier energies for sequential sticking have been computed for a number of configurations involving adsorption on top of carbon atoms. We find that binding energies per atom range from ϳ0.8 to ϳ1.9 eV, with barriers to sticking in the range 0.0-0.15 eV. In addition, depending on the number and location of adsorbed hydrogen atoms, we find that magnetic structures may form in which spin density localizes on a ͱ 3 ϫ ͱ 3R30°sublattice and that binding ͑barrier͒ energies for sequential adsorption increase ͑decrease͒ linearly with the site-integrated magnetization. These results can be rationalized with the help of the valence-bond resonance theory of planar conjugated systems and suggest that preferential sticking due to barrierless adsorption is limited to formation of hydrogen pairs.

Non-Markovian processes can often be turned Markovian by enlarging the set of variables. Here we show, by an explicit construction, how this can be done for the dynamics of a Brownian particle obeying the generalized Langevin equation. Given an arbitrary bath spectral density J0, we introduce an orthogonal transformation of the bath variables into effective modes, leading stepwise to a semi-infinite chain with nearest-neighbor interactions. The transformation is uniquely determined by J0 and defines a sequence {Jn} n∈N of residual spectral densities describing the interaction of the terminal chain mode, at each step, with the remaining bath. We derive a simple, one-term recurrence relation for this sequence, and show that its limit is the quasi-Ohmic expression provided by the Rubin model of dissipation. Numerical calculations show that, irrespective of the details of J0, convergence is fast enough to be useful in practice for an effective Markovian reduction of quantum dissipative dynamics.

Following up on our recent study of ultrafast charge separation at oligothiophene-fullerene interfaces [H. Tamura, I. Burghardt, and M. Tsukada, J. Phys. Chem. C 115, 10205 (2011)], we present here a detailed quantum dynamical perspective on the charge transfer process. To this end, electron-phonon coupling is included non-perturbatively, by an explicit quantum dynamical treatment using the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method. Based upon a distribution of electron-phonon couplings determined from electronic structure studies, a spectral density is constructed and employed to parametrize a linear vibronic coupling Hamiltonian. The diabatic coupling is found to depend noticeably on the inter-fragment distance, whose effect on the dynamics is here investigated. MCTDH calculations of the nonadiabatic transfer dynamics are carried out for the two most relevant electronic states and 60 phonon modes. The electron transfer process is found to be ultrafast and mediated by electronic coherence, resulting in characteristic oscillatory features during a period of about 100 fs.

Three-dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) have been computed, and numerically fitted, for the two lowest electronic states of the LiH2+ system, which are of importance for the astrophysically relevant LiH++H→Li++H2 and LiH+H+→Li+H2+ exoergic reactions. We extend the recently computed 11 000 multi reference valence bond ab initio energy values [Martinazzo et al., Chem. Phys. 287, 335 (2003)] with 600 multireference configuration interaction calculations with complete active self-consistent field reference functions and a large Li(12s10p4d1f)/H(8s6p3d1f) basis set. We have fitted the full set of energy values with a modified Aguado–Paniagua ansatz that correctly takes into account in this ionic system the important long-range contributions to the potential. Calibration calculations on the three-body potential term and the use of essentially exact results for the two-body contributions allow us to estimate the overall accuracy of the analytic PESs to be within that required for accurate quantum scattering calculations. The above reactions can be treated adiabatically because of the large energy gap separating the two electronic states. The relevant potential energy surfaces have a very different shape. On the one hand, the ground-state PES shows a simple structure, with a downhill route to the products and a shallow well at the C2v geometry which lies 0.286 eV below the Li++H2 asymptote. On the other hand, the first excited state is characterized by one deep, dipole-charge well which lies 1.315 eV below the LiH+H+ asymptote, one charge-induced dipole well 0.586 eV below the Li+H2+ asymptote, and a saddle point between them which lies 0.227 eV below the LiH+H+ asymptote. A conical intersection with the second excited state has been found but not yet studied in detail, since we deemed it to be of no direct relevance for the above reactions.

Correlated, counterpoise corrected wave function calculations on the hydrogen-coronene system are used to investigate the energy landscape and the dynamic behavior of hydrogen atoms physisorbed on graphite. The adopted MP2 correlation level, employing the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set augmented with bond functions, has been selected after extensive investigation on the smaller hydrogen-benzene system. The computed physisorption energy (39.7 meV) is in excellent agreement with the existing experimental value of (39.2 ( 0.5) meV for a graphite single layer (Ghio, E.; Mattera, L.; Salvo, C.; Tommasini, F.; Valbusa, U. J. Chem. Phys. 1980, 73, 557) and makes one confident of the computed barriers to diffusion. A simple, analytical expression of the corrugated potential energy surface fitted to the calculated energy values is then used in 3D quantum dynamical calculations of the tunneling contribution to the diffusion coefficient. Results show that hydrogen atoms physisorbed on graphite are highly mobile on the surface even at T ) 0 K. This suggests that hydrogen formation in cold, interstellar clouds can indeed occur down to very low temperatures through recombination of hydrogen atoms previously physisorbed on the surface of dust grains.

We study n ϫ n honeycomb superlattices of defects in graphene. The considered defects are missing p z orbitals and can be realized by either introducing C atom vacancies or chemically binding simple atomic species at the given sites. Using symmetry arguments and electronic-structure calculations we show that it is possible to open a band gap without breaking graphene point symmetry. This has the advantage that new Dirac cones appear right close to the gapped region. We find that the induced gaps have an approximate square-root dependence on the defect concentration x =1/ n 2 and compare favorably with those found in nanoribbons at the same length scale.

Collision induced (CI) processes involving hydrogen atoms on a graphite surface are studied quantum mechanically within the rigid, flat surface approximation, using a time-dependent wave packet method. The Eley-Rideal (ER) reaction and collision induced desorption (CID) cross sections are obtained with the help of two propagations which use different sets of coordinates, a "product" and a "reagent" set. Several adsorbate-substrate initial states of the target H atom in the chemisorption well are considered, and CI processes are studied over a wide range of projectile energy. Results show that (i) the Eley-Rideal reaction is the major reactive outcome and (ii) CID cross sections do not exceed 4 A2 and present dynamic thresholds for low values of the target vibrational quantum number. ER cross sections show oscillations at high energies which cannot be reproduced by classical and quasiclassical trajectory calculations. They are related to the vibrational excitation of the reaction products, which is a rather steep decreasing function of the collision energy. This behavior causes a selective population of the low-lying vibrational states and allows the quantization of the product molecular states to manifest itself in a collisional observable. A peak structure in the CID cross section is also observed and is assigned to the selective population of metastable states of the transient molecular hydrogen.

Two series of self-assembled TiO2 nanotube (NT) arrays were grown by electrochemical anodization on a metallic titanium substrate with different anodization times and applied potentials in HF-containing ethylene glycol electrolyte solutions and postcalcined at 450 °C. The obtained thin films were characterized by FESEM, XRD, and UV–vis–NIR DRS analyses and tested as photoanodes in incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) measurements and in a two-compartment photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) for separate H2 and O2 production. The photocatalytic performance of the NT arrays significantly increased with an increase in the potential applied during anodization (i.e., with increasing the NT inner diameter) and the incident angle of the light. IPCE measurements revealed that such unexpected behavior is due to a red shift of the activity threshold that allows harvesting and converting a larger portion of the solar spectrum. This phenomenon is ascribed to the parallel shift of the photonic band gap position originated by the intrinsic photonic crystal properties and demonstrates the important role played by ordered hierarchical structures in improving the photocatalytic performance of NT arrays by confining and manipulating light.