Accurate computational predictions of band gaps are of practical importance to the modeling and development of semiconductor technologies, such as (opto)electronic devices and photoelectrochemical cells. Among available electronic-structure methods, density-functional theory (DFT) with the Hubbard U correction (DFT+U) applied to band edge states is a computationally tractable approach to improve the accuracy of band gap predictions beyond that of DFT calculations based on (semi)local functionals. At variance with DFT approximations, which are not intended to describe optical band gaps and other excited-state properties, DFT+U can be interpreted as an approximate spectral-potential method when U is determined by imposing the piecewise linearity of the total energy with respect to electronic occupations in the Hubbard manifold (thus removing self-interaction errors in this subspace), thereby providing a (heuristic) justification for using DFT+U to predict band gaps. However, it is still frequent in the literature to determine the Hubbard U parameters semiempirically by tuning their values to reproduce experimental band gaps, which ultimately alters the description of other total-energy characteristics. Here, we present an extensive assessment of DFT+U band gaps computed using self-consistent ab initioU parameters obtained from density-functional perturbation theory to impose the aforementioned piecewise linearity of the total energy. The study is carried out on 20 compounds containing transition-metal or p-block (group III-IV) elements, including oxides, nitrides, sulfides, oxynitrides, and oxysulfides. By comparing DFT+U results obtained using nonorthogonalized and orthogonalized atomic orbitals as Hubbard projectors, we find that the predicted band gaps are extremely sensitive to the type of projector functions and that the orthogonalized projectors give the most accurate band gaps, in satisfactory agreement with experimental data. This work demonstrates that DFT+U may serve as a useful method for high-throughput workflows that require reliable band gap predictions at moderate computational cost.

The infrared spectra (3500−400 cm-1) of 3-fluoropropene (allyl fluoride), CH2C(H)CH2F, dissolved in liquid argon, krypton, and xenon have been recorded at various temperatures ranging from −180 to −65 °C. From these studies, the enthalpy difference between the more stable cis conformer and the high-energy gauche rotamer has been determined to range from 60 ± 8 cm-1 (718 ± 96 J/mol) in liquid xenon to 81 ± 1 cm-1 (969 ± 12 J/mol) in liquid argon. These values have been extrapolated utilizing a linear relationship between the Kirkwood function of the solvent and the enthalpy differences in the solvents to give a value of 130 ± 25 cm-1 (1.56 ± 0.30 kJ/mol) for the vapor. From the experimental enthalpy value, the gauche dihedral angle, torsional transitions for both rotamers, and better structural parameters, the potential function governing the conformational interchange has been recalculated. Ab initio calculations utilizing the 6-31G(d,p) and 6-311G(d,p) basis sets with electron correlation at the MP2 level predict the cis conformer to be the more stable rotamer, but from the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) calculation the gauche conformer is predicted to be more stable by 117 cm-1 (1.40 kJ/mol). By combination of the ab initio predictions of the structural parameters with the previously reported microwave rotational constants for 11 different isotopic species of both conformers, complete r o parameters have been obtained for both rotamers. The results of these structural parameter determinations are compared to those previously reported.

Research on nanometer-sized luminescent semiconductors and their biological applications in detectors and contrasting agents is an emergent field in nanotechnology. When new nanosize technologies are developed for human health applications, their interaction with biological systems should be studied in depth. Rare-earth elements are used in medical and industrial applications, but their toxic effects are not known. In this work, the biological interaction between terbium-doped gadolinium oxysulfide nanoparticles (GOSNPs) with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), human-derived macrophages (THP-1), and human cervical carcinoma cell (HeLa) were evaluated. The GOSNPs were synthetized using a hydrothermal method to obtain monodisperse nanoparticles with an average size of 91 ± 9 nm. Characterization techniques showed the hexagonal phase of the Gd O S:Tb free of impurities, and a strong green emission at λ = 544 nm produced by Tb was observed. Toxic effects of GOSNPs were evaluated using cell viability, apoptosis, cell-cycle progression, and immunological response techniques. In addition, an Artemia model was used to assess the toxicity in vivo. Results indicated cell apoptosis in both types of cells with less sensitivity for PBMC cells compared to HeLa cells. In addition, no toxic effects were observed in the in vivo model of Artemia. Moreover, GOSNPs significantly reduced the activation and cell-cycle progression of PBMC and HeLa cells, respectively. Interestingly, an increase in proinflammatory cytokines was not observed. Our data suggest that fluorescence applications of GOSNPs for biolabeling are not toxic in primary immune cells and they may have an immunomodulatory effect. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 605-615, 2017.

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