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We present molecular dynamics (MD), polarizability driven MD (α-DMD), and pump–probe simulations of Raman spectra of the protonated nitrogen dimer N4H+, and some of its isotopologues, using the explicitly correlated coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)]-F12b/aug-cc-pVTZ based potential energy surface in permutationally invariant polynomials (PIPs) of Yu et al. [J. Phys. Chem. A 119, 11623 (2015)] and a corresponding PIP-derived CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ-tr (N:spd, H:sp) polarizability tensor surface (PTS), the latter reported here for the first time. To represent the PTS in terms of a PIP basis, we utilize a recently described formulation for computing the polarizability using a many-body expansion in the orders of dipole–dipole interactions while generating a training set using a novel approach based on linear regression for potential energy distributions. The MD/α-DMD simulations reveal (i) a strong Raman activity at 260 and 2400 cm−1, corresponding to the symmetric N–N⋯H bend and symmetric N–N stretch modes, respectively; (ii) a very broad spectral region in the 500–2000 cm−1 range, assignable to the parallel N⋯H+⋯N proton transfer overtone; and (iii) the presence of a Fermi-like resonance in the Raman spectrum near 2400 cm−1 between the Σg+ N–N stretch fundamental and the Πu overtone corresponding to perpendicular N⋯H+⋯N proton transfer.

 

The exact expressions for the dipole, quadrupole, and octupoles of a collection ofNpoint charges involve summations of corresponding tensors over theNsites weighted by their charge magnitudes. When the point charges are atoms (in a molecule) theN‐site formula is an approximation, and one must integrate over the electron density to recover the exact multipoles. In the present work we revisit theN(N + 1)/2‐site point charge density model of Hall (Chem. Phys. Lett.6, 501, 1973) for the purpose of fitting ab initio derived multipole moment hypersurfaces using permutationally invariant polynomials (PIP). We examine new approaches in PIP‐fitting procedures for the dipole, quadrupole, octupole moments, and polarizability tensor surfaces (DMS, QMS, OMS and PTS, respectively) for a non‐polar CCl₄and a polar CHCl₃and show that compared to the primitiveN‐site model theN(N + 1)/2‐site model appreciably improves the relative RMSE of the DMS and does much more substantially so, by an order of magnitude, for the corresponding ones of QMS and OMS. Training datasets are obtained by sampling potential energies up to 18 000 cm⁻¹above the global minima, generated by molecular dynamics simulations at the DFT B3LYP/aug‐cc‐pVDZ level of theory.

 

We describe a novel variant of the driven molecular dynamics (DMD) method derived for probing Raman active vibrations. The method is an extension of the conventional alpha-DMD formulation for simulating IR activity by means of coupling an oscillating electric field to the molecule’s dipole moment, miu, and inducing absorption of energy via tuning the field to a resonant frequency. In the present work, we modify the above prescription to invoke Raman activity by coupling two electric fields, i.e., a “Pump” photon of frequency wP and a Stokes photon of frequency wS to the molecule’s polarizability tensor, alpha, with the difference in the frequencies of the two photons w = wP - wS corresponding to the Stokes Raman shift. If a particular w is close to a Raman active vibrational frequency, energy absorption by the molecule ensues. Varying w over the desired frequency range allows identifying and assigning all Raman active vibrational modes, including anharmonic corrections, in the range by means of trajectory analysis. We show that only one element of the full polarizability tensor, and its nuclear derivative, is needed for an alpha-DMD trajectory, making this method well suited for ab initio dynamics implementation. Numerical results using first-principles calculations are presented and discussed for the vibrational fundamentals, combination bands, overtones of H2O, CH4, and the C20 fullerene. 

A linearly parameterized functional form for a Cartesian representation of molecular dipole polarizability tensor surfaces (PTS) is described. The proposed expression for the PTS is a linearization of the recently reported power series ansatz of the original Applequist model, which by construction is non‐linear in parameter space. This new approach possesses (i) a unique solution to the least‐squares fitting problem; (ii) a low level of the computational complexity of the resulting linear regression procedure, comparable to those of the potential energy and dipole moment surfaces; and (iii) a competitive level of accuracy compared to the non‐linear PTS model. Calculations of CH₄PTS, with polarizabilities fitted to 9000 training set points with the energies up to 14,000 cm⁻¹show an impressive level of accuracy of the linear PTS model obtained with ~1600 parameters: ~1% versus 0.3% RMSE for the non‐linear vs. linear model on a test set of 1000 configurations.

 

Indium phosphide quantum dots (InP QDs) are nontoxic nanomaterials with potential applications in photocatalytic and optoelectronic fields. Post-synthetic treatments of InP QDs are known to be essential for improving their photoluminescence quantum efficiencies (PLQEs) and device performances, but the mechanisms remain poorly understood. Herein, by applying ultrafast transient absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopies, we systematically investigate the dynamics of photogenerated carriers in InP QDs and how they are affected by two common passivation methods: HF treatment and the growth of a heterostructure shell (ZnS in this study). The HF treatment is found to improve the PLQE up to 16–20% by removing an intrinsic fast hole trapping channel ( τ h,non = 3.4 ± 1 ns) in the untreated InP QDs while having little effect on the band-edge electron decay dynamics ( τ e = 26–32 ns). The growth of the ZnS shell, on the other hand, is shown to improve the PLQE up to 35–40% by passivating both electron and hole traps in InP QDs, resulting in both a long-lived band-edge electron ( τ e > 120 ns) and slower hole trapping lifetime ( τ h,non > 45 ns). Furthermore, both the untreated and the HF-treated InP QDs have short biexciton lifetimes ( τ xx ∼ 1.2 ± 0.2 ps). The growth of an ultra-thin ZnS shell (∼0.2 nm), on the other hand, can significantly extend the biexciton lifetime of InP QDs to 20 ± 2 ps, making it a passivation scheme that can improve both the single and multiple exciton lifetimes. Based on these results, we discuss the possible trap-assisted Auger processes in InP QDs, highlighting the particular importance of trap passivation for reducing the Auger recombination loss in InP QDs.