Ralph H. Scheicher

CARBON NANOMATERIALS AS CATALYSTS FOR HYDROGEN UPTAKE AND RELEASE IN NAALH4

A synergistic approach involving experiment and first-principles theory not only shows that carbon nanostructures can be used as catalysts for hydrogen uptake and release in complex metal hydrides such as sodium alanate, NaAlH(4), but also provides an unambiguous understanding of how the catalysts work. Here we show that the stability of NaAlH(4) originates with the charge transfer from Na to the AlH(4) moiety, resulting in an ionic bond between Na(+) and AlH(4)(-) and a covalent bond between Al and H. Interaction of NaAlH(4) with an electronegative substrate such as carbon fullerene or nanotube affects the ability of Na to donate its charge to AlH(4), consequently weakening the Al-H bond and causing hydrogen to desorb at lower temperatures as well as facilitating the absorption of H(2) to reverse the dehydrogenation reaction. In addition, based on our experimental observations and theoretical calculations it appears the curvature of the carbon nanostructure plays a role in the catalytic process. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation further reveals the time evolution of the charge transfer process.

First-principles study of physisorption of nucleic acid bases on small-diameter carbon nanotubes

We report the results of our first-principles study based on density functional theory on the interaction of the nucleic acid base molecules adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T), and uracil (U), with a single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT). Specifically, the focus is on the physisorption of base molecules on the outer wall of a (5, 0) metallic CNT possessing one of the smallest diameters possible. Compared to the case for CNTs with large diameters, the physisorption energy is found to be reduced in the high-curvature case. The base molecules exhibit significantly different interaction strengths and the calculated binding energies follow the hierarchy G>A>T>C>U, which appears to be independent of the tube curvature. The stabilizing factor in the interaction between the base molecule and CNT is dominated by the molecular polarizability that allows a weakly attractive dispersion force to be induced between them. The present study provides an improved understanding of the role of the base sequence in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) in their interactions with carbon nanotubes of varying diameters.

Transverse conductance of DNA nucleotides in a graphene nanogap from first principles.

The fabrication of nanopores in atomically thin graphene has recently been achieved, and translocation of DNA has been demonstrated. Taken together with an earlier proposal to use graphene nanogaps for the purpose of DNA sequencing, this approach can resolve the technical problem of achieving single-base resolution in electronic nucleobase detection. We have theoretically evaluated the performance of a graphene nanogap setup for the purpose of whole-genome sequencing, by employing density functional theory and the nonequilibrium Greens function method to investigate the transverse conductance properties of nucleotides inside the gap. In particular, we determined the electrical tunneling current variation at finite bias due to changes in the nucleotides orientation and lateral position. Although the resulting tunneling current is found to fluctuate over several orders of magnitude, a distinction between the four DNA bases appears possible, thus ranking the approach promising for rapid whole-genome sequencing applications.

Physisorption of DNA Nucleobases on h-BN and Graphene: vdW-Corrected DFT Calculations

Using local, semilocal, and van der Waals energy-corrected density-functional theory (PBE + vdW) calculations, we present a comparative study of DNA nucleobases [guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T), and cytosine (C)] adsorbed on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sheet and graphene. We find that, despite the very different electronic properties of BN sheet and graphene, the various nucleobase molecules have rather similar binding energies on the two types of sheets. The calculated binding energies of the four nucleobases using the local, semilocal, and PBE + vdW schemes are in the range of 0.54–0.75, 0.06–0.15, and 0.93–1.18 eV, respectively. In particular, the PBE + vdW scheme predicts not only a binding energy predominantly determined by vdW interactions between the base molecules and their substrates decreasing in the order of G > A > T > C but also a very weak hybridization between the molecular levels of the nucleobases and the π-states of the BN sheet or graphene. This physisorption of G, A, T, and C ...

Theoretical study of physisorption of nucleobases on boron nitride nanotubes : a new class of hybrid nano-biomaterials

We investigate the adsorption of the nucleic acid bases-adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and uracil (U)-on the outer wall of a high curvature semiconducting single-walled boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) by first-principles density functional theory calculations. The calculated binding energy shows the order: G > A approximately C approximately T approximately U, implying that the interaction strength of the high curvature BNNT with the nucleobases, G being an exception, is nearly the same. A higher binding energy for the G-BNNT conjugate appears to result from hybridization of the molecular orbitals of G and the BNNT. A smaller energy gap predicted for the G-BNNT conjugate relative to that of the pristine BNNT may be useful in the application of this class of biofunctional materials to the design of next-generation sensing devices.

Enhanced DNA Sequencing Performance Through Edge-Hydrogenation of Graphene Electrodes

The use of graphene electrodes with hydrogenated edges for solid-state nanopore-based DNA sequencing is proposed, and molecular dynamics simulations in conjunction with electronic transport calculations are performed to explore the potential merits of this idea. The results of the investigation show that, compared to the unhydrogenated system, edge-hydrogenated graphene electrodes facilitate the temporary formation of H-bonds with suitable atomic sites in the translocating DNA molecule. As a consequence, the average conductivity is drastically raised by about 3 orders of magnitude while exhibiting significantly reduced statistical variance. Furthermore, the effect of the distance between opposing electrodes is investigated and two regimes identified: for narrow electrode separation, the mere hindrance due to the presence of protruding hydrogen atoms in the nanopore is deemed more important, while for wider electrode separation, the formation of H-bonds becomes the dominant effect. Based on these findings, it is concluded that hydrogenation of graphene electrode edges represents a promising approach to reduce the translocation speed of DNA through the nanopore and substantially improve the accuracy of the measurement process for whole-genome sequencing.

Functionalized Nanopore-Embedded Electrodes for Rapid DNA Sequencing

With the aim of improving nanopore-based DNA sequencing, we explored the effects of functionalizing the embedded gold electrodes with purine and pyrimidine molecules. Hydrogen bonds formed between the molecular probe and target bases stabilize the scanned DNA unit against thermal fluctuations and thus greatly reduce noise in the current signal. The results of our first-principles study indicate that this proposed scheme could allow DNA sequencing with a robust and reliable yield, producing current signals that differ by at least 1 order of magnitude for the different bases.

Thermophoretic Manipulation of DNA Translocation through Nanopores

Manipulating DNA translocation through nanopore is one crucial requirement for new ultrafast sequencing methods in the sense that the polymers have to be denatured, unraveled, and then propelled through the pore with very low speed. Here we propose and theoretically explore a novel design to fulfill the demands by utilizing cross-pore thermal gradient. The high temperature in the cis reservoir is expected to transform double-stranded DNA into single strands and that temperature would also prevent those single strands from intrastrand base-pairing, thus, achieving favorable polymer conformation for the subsequent translocation and sequencing. Then, the substantial temperature drop across the pore caused by the thermal-insulating membrane separating cis and trans chambers would stimulate thermophoresis of the molecules through nanopores. Our theoretical evaluation shows that the DNA translocation speeds will be orders smaller than the electrophoretic counterpart, while high capture rate of DNA into nanopore is maintained, both of which would greatly benefit the sequencing.

Electronic structure and quantum transport properties of trilayers formed from graphene and boron nitride

We report the results of a theoretical study of graphene/BN/graphene and BN/graphene/BN trilayers using the van-der-Waals-corrected density functional theory in conjunction with the non-equilibrium Greens Function method. These trilayer systems formed from graphene and BN exhibit distinct stacking-dependent features in their ground state electronic structure and response to an applied electric field perpendicular to the trilayer planes. The graphene/BN/graphene system shows a negligible gap in the electronic band structure that increases for the AAA and ABA stackings under an external electric field, while the zero-field band gap of BN/graphene/BN remains unaffected by the electric field. When both types of trilayer systems are contacted with gold electrodes, a metal-like conduction is predicted in the low-field regime, which changes to a p-type conduction with an increase in the applied perpendicular bias field.

Crystal structure of the pressure-induced metallic phase of SiH4 from ab initio theory

Metallization of pure solid hydrogen is of great interest, not least because it could lead to high-temperature superconductivity, but it continues to be an elusive goal because of great experimental challenges. Hydrogen-rich materials, in particular, CH4, SiH4, and GeH4, provide an opportunity to study related phenomena at experimentally achievable pressures, and they too are expected to be high-temperature superconductors. Recently, the emergence of a metallic phase has been observed in silane for pressures just above 60 GPa. However, some uncertainty exists about the crystal structure of the discovered metallic phase. Here, we show by way of elimination, that a single structure that possesses all of the required characteristics of the experimentally observed metallic phase of silane from a pool of plausible candidates can be identified. Our density functional theory and GW calculations show that a structure with space group P4/nbm is metallic at pressures >60 GPa. Based on phonon calculations, we furthermore demonstrate that the P4/nbm structure is dynamically stable at >43 GPa and becomes the ground state at 97 GPa when zero-point energy contributions are considered. These findings could lead the way for further theoretical analysis of metallic phases of hydrogen-rich materials and stimulate experimental studies.