Eiji Tsuchida

Large-Scale Electronic-Structure Calculations Based on the Adaptive Finite-Element Method

The adaptive finite-element method proposed in our previous work [Phys. Rev. B 54 (1996) 7602] is extended to fully self-consistent calculations of realistic materials. Our method is highly adaptive, sparse, parallel, and suited for the O(N) methods, thanks to the localized finite-element basis functions. Accurate ionic forces can also be calculated within practical time usage. Applications to the structural properties of diamond, c-BN, and the C 60 molecule, and molecular dynamics within O(N 3 ) scaling are shown first, followed by detailed error analyses. Then the O(N) method based on the orbital formulation is realized within our approach.

Ab initio molecular-dynamics study of liquid formamide

Properties of neat liquid formamide (HCONH2) have been studied by the combination of gradient-corrected density-functional theory, norm-conserving pseudopotentials, and the adaptive finite-element method. The structural and dynamical quantities have been calculated through molecular dynamics simulations under the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Satisfactory agreement with experimental data was obtained for both intramolecular and intermolecular properties. Our results are also compared with those of the empirical potential functions to clarify their accuracies.

First-principles molecular dynamics study on aqueous sulfuric acid solutions

The properties of aqueous sulfuric acid have been studied employing density functional theory-based molecular dynamics simulations in conjunction with norm-conserving pseudopotentials. The simulations were carried out for two different concentrations whose molar concentrations were fixed at 0.84 and 10.2 mol/l. The structural features of aqueous sulfuric acid solutions show a strong dependency on the concentration. The Grötthuss-type proton transfer mechanism is not effectively operative at the higher concentration because of the broken hydrogen bond network of water induced by ions generated by the dissociation of sulfuric acid. In addition, to evaluate electrical properties, we carried out a simulation that takes an electric field into account. Results are compared with those of the simulation undertaken with no external electric field.

Nature of water transport and electro-osmosis in nafion: insights from first-principles molecular dynamics simulations under an electric field.

The effects of water content on water transport and electro-osmosis in a representative polymer electrolyte membrane, Nafion, are investigated in detail by means of first-principles molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in the presence of a homogeneous electric field. We have directly evaluated electro-osmotic drag coefficients (the number of water molecules cotransported with proton conduction) from the trajectories of the first-principles MD simulations and also explicitly evaluated factors that contribute to the electro-osmotic drag coefficients. In agreement with previously reported experiments, our calculations show virtually constant values ( approximately 1) of the electro-osmotic drag coefficients for both low and high water content states. Detailed comparisons of each factor contributing to the drag coefficient reveal that an increase in water content increases the occurrence of the Grotthuss-like effective proton transport process, whose contribution results in a decrease in the electro-osmotic drag coefficient. At the same time, an environment that is favorable for the Grotthuss-like effective proton transport process is also favorable for the transport of water arising from water transport occurring beyond the hydration shell around the protons, whose contribution results in an increase in the electro-osmotic drag coefficient. Conversely, an environment that is not favorable for proton conduction is also not favorable for water transport. As a result, the electro-osmotic drag coefficient shows virtually identical values with respect to change in the water content.

Diffuse and doubly split atom occupation in hexagonal LiBH4

A theoretical study has been performed to explain problems in the structural analysis of LiBH4 and its recently discovered superionic conductance. First-principles molecular dynamics simulations for the high temperature (hexagonal) phase show doubly split and diffuse occupation in the c-direction at Li and B sites, respectively. Li hopping within the split sites and libration of H atoms are also found. These dynamics are supported by the Rietveld analysis showing atomic displacement ellipsoids for Li and B atoms.

An Ab Initio Modeling Study on a Modeled Hydrated Polymer Electrolyte Membrane, Sulfonated Polyethersulfone (SPES)

The nature of proton dynamics as well as a pendant side chains ability for proton dissociation and capture in low-hydration sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) (lambda = 2, 4) have been studied theoretically by means of quantum chemical calculations and first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. A detailed comparison of results on SPES with those on Nafion has been made. It is found that the sulfonic groups of Nafion tend to dissociate protons more easily than do those of SPES. Hydration by four water molecules allows the dissociation of a proton from the sulfonic groups in both SPES and Nafion. The results of the first-principles MD simulations on SPES show that the nature of proton transfer kinetics for both hydration levels is very similar. Compared with low-hydration Nafion, however, hydration around the sulfonic groups in SPES is not sufficient to fully dissociate protons from the sulfonic groups, which results from the fact that some of the water molecules participate in hydrating SO(2) groups in SPES rather than SO(3)(-). Such a feature affects the performance of SPES under low-hydration conditions.

Augmented orbital minimization method for linear scaling electronic structure calculations

We present a novel algorithm which can overcome the drawbacks of the conventional linear scaling method with minimal computational overhead. This is achieved by introducing additional constraints, thus eliminating the redundancy of the orbitals. The performance of our algorithm is evaluated in ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations as well as in a model system.

Ab initio mass tensor molecular dynamics

Mass tensor molecular dynamics method was first introduced by Bennett [J. Comput. Phys. 19, 267 (1975)] for efficient sampling of phase space through the use of generalized atomic masses. Here, we show how to apply this method to ab initio molecular dynamics simulations with minimal computational overhead. Test calculations on liquid water show a threefold reduction in computational effort without making the fixed geometry approximation. We also present a simple recipe for estimating the optimal atomic masses using only the first derivatives of the potential energy.

An Efficient Algorithm for Electronic-Structure Calculations

We show how to adapt the quasi-Newton method to the electronic-structure calculations using systematic basis sets. Our implementation requires less iterations than the conjugate gradient method, while the computational cost per iteration is much lower. The memory usage is also quite modest, thanks to the efficient representation of the approximate Hessian.

Ab Initio Molecular-Dynamics Simulation of Concentrated Phosphoric Acid

We have investigated the properties of 100% phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) in the liquid state by the combination of gradient-corrected density-functional theory and norm-conserving pseudopotentials. Various structural properties as well as the vibrational density of states have been calculated through molecular-dynamics simulations under the Born–Oppenheimer approximation. Proton transfer is found to occur frequently between adjacent PO 4 groups along the OH…O hydrogen bonds, which makes the single and double bonds indistinguishable.