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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Role Of Electronegativity In Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) Formation On Zno, Syed Monjur Ahmed, Reuben Oumnov, Orhan Kizilkaya, Randall W. Hall, Philip T. Sprunger, Robert L. Cook Mar 2024

Role Of Electronegativity In Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) Formation On Zno, Syed Monjur Ahmed, Reuben Oumnov, Orhan Kizilkaya, Randall W. Hall, Philip T. Sprunger, Robert L. Cook

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), a group of emerging pollutants, have significantly longer lifetimes than typical free radicals. EPFRs form by the adsorption of organic precursors on a transition metal oxide (TMO) surface involving electron charge transfer between the organic and TMO. In this paper, dihalogenated benzenes were incorporated to study the role of electronegativity in the electron transfer process to obtain a fundamental knowledge of EPFR formation mechanism on ZnO. Upon chemisorption on ZnO nanoparticles at 250 °C, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) confirms the formation of oxygen adjacent carbon-centered organic free radicals with concentrations between 1016 and 1017 spins/g. …


Formation Of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) On Zno At Room Temperature: Implications For The Fundamental Model Of Epfr Generation., Matthew C. Patterson, Mark F. Ditusa, Cheri A. Mcferrin, R. L. Kurtz, Randall W. Hall, E. D. Poliakoff, P. T. Sprunger Feb 2017

Formation Of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) On Zno At Room Temperature: Implications For The Fundamental Model Of Epfr Generation., Matthew C. Patterson, Mark F. Ditusa, Cheri A. Mcferrin, R. L. Kurtz, Randall W. Hall, E. D. Poliakoff, P. T. Sprunger

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) have significant environmental and public health impacts. In this study, we demonstrate that EPFRs formed on ZnO nanoparticles provide two significant surprises. First, EPR spectroscopy shows that phenoxy radicals form readily on ZnO nanoparticles at room temperature, yielding EPR signals similar to those previously measured after 250°C exposures. Vibrational spectroscopy supports the conclusion that phenoxy-derived species chemisorb to ZnO nanoparticles under both exposure temperatures. Second, DFT calculations indicate that electrons are transferred from ZnO to the adsorbed organic (oxidizing the Zn), the opposite direction proposed by previous descriptions of EPFR formation on metal oxides.


Sign Learning Kink-Based (Silk) Quantum Monte Carlo For Molecular Systems, Xiaoyao Ma, Randall W. Hall, Frank Loffler, Karol Kowalski, Kiran Bhaskaran-Nair, Mark Jarrell, Juana Moreno Jan 2016

Sign Learning Kink-Based (Silk) Quantum Monte Carlo For Molecular Systems, Xiaoyao Ma, Randall W. Hall, Frank Loffler, Karol Kowalski, Kiran Bhaskaran-Nair, Mark Jarrell, Juana Moreno

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Sign Learning Kink (SiLK) based Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method is used to calculate the ab initioground state energies for multiple geometries of the H2O, N2, and F2 molecules. The method is based on Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and has two stages. The first stage is called the learning stage and reduces the well-known QMC minus sign problem by optimizing the linear combinations of Slater determinants which are used in the second stage, a conventional QMC simulation. The method is tested using different vector spaces and compared to the results of …


Photoabsorption Spectra Of Argon Cation Clusters: Monte Carlo Simulations Using Many-Body Polarization, Jose A. Gascon, Randall W. Hall Jan 2000

Photoabsorption Spectra Of Argon Cation Clusters: Monte Carlo Simulations Using Many-Body Polarization, Jose A. Gascon, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A simple, semiempirical model that includes many-body polarization is used to study the ground and excited stateproperties of Ar+N clusters (N=3–23) at 80 K. For purposes of comparison, a model that does not include many-body polarization is used to study clusters with N=3–27.Monte Carlo simulations are used to calculate the average properties of these clusters. The model is similar to one previously used to study argon cation clusters without many-body polarization. The photoabsorptionspectrum is in good agreement with experiment; in particular, the photoabsorptionspectra for cluster sizes 4–10 do not show the blueshift that is seen with models that do not …


Electronic Properties Of Small Neutral And Charged Beryllium Clusters, Andrew M. Kolchin, Randall W. Hall Jan 2000

Electronic Properties Of Small Neutral And Charged Beryllium Clusters, Andrew M. Kolchin, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We determine the atomic and electronic structures for neutral and singly positively chargedberyllium clusters containing from two to six atoms using density functional theory in the local spin density approximation. Ions are moved with a steepest descent method and the electronic wave functions optimized using a fictitious dynamics with simulated annealing, as conceived by Car and Parrinello [Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 2471 (1985)]. Shell-like orbitals, filling angular momentum states in the order: 1s 1p 2s 1d are obtained. We employ a Mulliken population analysis using an atomic basis to examine how the shell orbitals arise from atomic orbitals. This analysis …


Development, Justification, And Use Of A Projection Operator In Path Integral Calculations In Continuous Space, Randall W. Hall, Melissa R. Prince Jan 1991

Development, Justification, And Use Of A Projection Operator In Path Integral Calculations In Continuous Space, Randall W. Hall, Melissa R. Prince

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

A projection operator, similar to one previously used by us for problems with a finite set of basis functions, is suggested for use with continuous basis sets. This projection operator requires knowledge of the nodes of the density matrix at all temperatures. We show that a class of nodes, determined from the noninteracting density matrix and present at high temperatures in the interacting system are preserved to first order in the interaction at low temperatures. While we cannot show that the nodes are present at intermediate temperatures, we suspect they do exist and, as a test of this conjecture, we …


Path Integral Studies Of The 2d Hubbard Model Using A New Projection Operator, Randall W. Hall Jan 1991

Path Integral Studies Of The 2d Hubbard Model Using A New Projection Operator, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, supplemented by an approximate projection operator (exact in the case of noninteracting particles), is used to study the 2D Hubbard model. The projection operator is designed to study Hamiltonians defined on a finite basis set, but extensions to continuous basis sets are suggested. The projection operator is shown to reduce the variance by a significant amount relative to straightforward Monte Carlo integration. Approximate calculations are usually within one standard deviation of exact results and virtually always within two to three standard deviations. In addition, the algorithm scales with the number of discretization points …


Path Integral Study Of The Correlated Electronic States Of Na4–Na6, Randall W. Hall Jan 1990

Path Integral Study Of The Correlated Electronic States Of Na4–Na6, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum mechanics is used to study the correlated electronic states of Na4–Na6. Two types of simulations are performed: in the first, the nuclei are allowed to move at finite temperature in order to find the most stable geometries. In agreement with previous calculations, we find that planar structures are the most stable and that there is significant vibrational amplitude at finite temperatures, indicating that the Born–Oppenheimer surface is relatively flat. In the second type of simulation, the nuclei are held fixed at symmetric and asymmetric geometries and the correlated electron density is found. Our results …


The Exchange Potential In Path Integral Studies: Analytical Justification, Randall W. Hall Jan 1989

The Exchange Potential In Path Integral Studies: Analytical Justification, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We present analytical justification for our previously described exchange pseudopotential. We show how the fermi quantum partition function can be constructed from the Boltzmann (distinguishable particle) wave functions if the states that correspond to like‐spin electrons occupying the same quantum state are excluded. A class of weighting functions that satisfy this constraint approximately is discussed. Our previous pseudopotential falls under this class. Essentially, our pseudopotential forces the unwanted states to have high energy and, hence, to make negligible contribution to the partition function. Exchange potentials of the form discussed in this article should be useful for studying systems where the …


The Treatment Of Exchange In Path Integral Simulations Via An Approximate Pseudopotential, Randall W. Hall Jan 1988

The Treatment Of Exchange In Path Integral Simulations Via An Approximate Pseudopotential, Randall W. Hall

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

An approximate form that includes the effects of exchange is suggested for the short time propagator used in path integral simulations. The form is inspired physically by the approximation made in Hartree–Fock treatments of atoms and molecules. The approximate propagator is used with q u a n t i t a t i v e accuracy in two systems: an ideal gas of fermions localized in a three‐dimensional harmonic well and the triplet state of the sodium dimer.


The Aperiodic Crystal Picture And Free Energy Barriers In Glasses, Randall W. Hall, Peter G. Wolynes Jan 1987

The Aperiodic Crystal Picture And Free Energy Barriers In Glasses, Randall W. Hall, Peter G. Wolynes

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The aperiodic crystal picture associates the glass transition with freezing into a nonperiodic structure. Dynamics in the glassy state involves activated jumps between different aperiodic free energy minima. Activation barriers may be estimated through the use of freezing theory and the theory of dense solids. The results resemble, but are distinct from, free volume theory. Reasonable fits to experimental data are obtained.


Solvent Influence On Atomic Spectra: The Effect Of Finite Size, Randall W. Hall, Peter G. Wolynes Jan 1985

Solvent Influence On Atomic Spectra: The Effect Of Finite Size, Randall W. Hall, Peter G. Wolynes

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Time dependent Hartree theory is used to determine the solvent effect on atomic spectra for a given solvent configuration. Configuration averaging is performed as in the mean spherical approximation, resulting in an upper bound to the polarizability. Comparisons are made with previous, more approximate theories, including path integral treatments. It is found that deviations from previous theories can be significant in certain regimes.