arXiv subjects

Marcella Iannuzzi

Publications and source records attributed to Marcella Iannuzzi.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CP2K: An electronic structure and molecular dynamics software package - Dynamics, Transport, and Spectroscopic Response

One of the distinguishing aspects of CP2K is its seamless integration of diverse structural and transition-state optimization techniques with advanced sampling approaches including Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics, and metadynamics, enabling the efficient exploration of complex potential- and free-energy landscapes, including rare events. These capabilities are combined with a broad hierarchy of energy and force evaluation methods, ranging from classical and machine-learned interaction potentials and mixed quantum-classical multiscale and semiempirical schemes, to highly accurate quantum-mechanical electronic-structure approaches. At the heart of the latter lies the Gaussian and plane-wave framework, along with its augmented all-electron generalization, which have been described in detail in our previous code review [T. D. K\"uhne et al., J. Chem. Phys. 152, 194103 (2020)]. Building on this foundation, the present work revisits the methods within CP2K that turn electronic structure into dynamics, transport, and spectroscopic response. Particular emphasis is placed on the coupling between static response calculations and nuclear motion: spectra may be evaluated at optimized structures, averaged over thermally sampled configurations, obtained from time-correlation functions along ab-initio or path integral molecular trajectories, or followed in real time together with electronic and nuclear dynamics. The same modular structure also enables equilibrium and biased transport simulations, from Kubo-type linear response to open-boundary approaches under external potentials, highlighting CP2K's unique capability to unify quantum chemistry with quantum and statistical mechanics within a versatile, holistic simulation environment.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2025

The CP2K Program Package Made Simple

CP2K is a versatile open-source software package for simulations across a wide range of atomistic systems, from isolated molecules in the gas phase to low-dimensional functional materials and interfaces, as well as highly symmetric crystalline solids, disordered amorphous glasses, and weakly interacting soft-matter systems in the liquid state and in solution. This review highlights CP2K's capabilities for computing both static and dynamical properties using quantum-mechanical and classical simulation methods. In contrast to the accompanying theory and code paper [J. Chem. Phys. 152, 194103 (2020)], the focus here is on the practical usage and applications of CP2K, with underlying theoretical concepts introduced only as needed.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2023

Understanding X-ray absorption in liquid water: triple excitations in multilevel coupled cluster theory

We present the first successful application of the coupled cluster approach to simulate the X-ray absorption (XA) spectrum of liquid water. The system size limitations of standard coupled cluster theory are overcome by employing a newly developed coupled cluster method for large molecular systems. This method combines coupled cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples in a multilevel framework (MLCC3-in-HF) and is able to describe the delicate nature of intermolecular interactions in liquid water. Using molecular geometries from state-of-the-art path-integral molecular dynamics, we obtain excellent agreement with experimental spectra. Additionally, we show that an accurate description of the electronic structure within the first solvation shell is sufficient to model the XA spectrum of liquid water. Furthermore, we present a rigorous charge transfer analysis with unprecedented reliability, achieved through MLCC3-in-HF. This analysis aligns with previous studies regarding the character of the prominent features of the spectrum.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

Donors, Acceptors, and a Bit of Aromatics: Electronic Interactions of Molecular Adsorbates on hBN and MoS$_2$ Monolayers

The design of low-dimensional organic-inorganic interfaces for the next generation of opto-electronic applications requires an in-depth understanding of the microscopic mechanisms ruling electronic interactions in these systems. In this work, we present a first-principles study based on density-functional theory inspecting the structural, energetic, and electronic properties of five molecular donors and acceptors adsorbed on freestanding hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$) monolayers. All considered heterostructures are stable, due to the crucial contribution of dispersion interactions, which are maximized by the overall flat arrangement of the physisorbed molecules on both substrates. The level alignment of the hybrid systems depends on the characteristics of the constituents. On hBN, both type-I and type-II heterostructures may form, depending on the relative energies of the frontier orbitals with respect to the vacuum level. On the other hand, all MoS$_2$-based hybrid systems exhibit a type-II level alignment, with the molecular frontier orbitals positioned across the energy gap of the semiconductor. The electronic structure of the hybrid materials is further determined by the formation of interfacial dipole moments and by the wave-function hybridization between the organic and inorganic constituents. These results provide important indications for the design of novel low-dimensional hybrid materials with suitable characteristics for opto-electronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Connection between water's dynamical and structural properties: insights from ab initio simulations

Among all fluids, water has always been of special concern for scientists from a broad variety of research fields due to its rich behavior. In particular, some questions remain unanswered nowadays concerning the temperature dependence of bulk and interfacial transport properties of supercooled and liquid water, e.g. regarding the fundamentals of the violation of the Stokes-Einstein relation in the supercooled regime or the subtle relation between structure and dynamical properties. Here we investigated the temperature dependence of the bulk transport properties from ab initio molecular dynamics based on density functional theory, down to the supercooled regime. We determined from a selection of functionals, that SCAN better describes the experimental viscosity and self-diffusion coefficient, although we found disagreements at the lowest temperatures. For a limited set of temperatures, we also explored the role of nuclear quantum effects on water dynamics using ab initio molecular dynamics that has been accelerated via a recently introduced machine learning approach. We then investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the different functionals performance and assessed the validity of the Stokes-Einstein relation. We also explored the connection between structural properties and the transport coefficients, verifying the validity of the excess entropy scaling relations for all the functionals. These results pave the way to predict the transport coefficients from the radial distribution function, helping to develop better functionals. On this line, they indicate the importance of describing the long-range features of the radial distribution function.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

Osmotic transport at the aqueous graphene and hBN interfaces: scaling laws from a unified, first principles description

Osmotic transport in nanoconfined aqueous electrolytes provides new venues for water desalination and "blue energy" harvesting; the osmotic response of nanofluidic systems is controlled by the interfacial structure of water and electrolyte solutions in the so-called electrical double layer (EDL), but a molecular-level picture of the EDL is to a large extent still lacking. Particularly, the role of the electronic structure has not been considered in the description of electrolyte/surface interactions. Here, we report enhanced sampling simulations based on ab initio molecular dynamics, aiming at unravelling the free energy of prototypical ions adsorbed at the aqueous graphene and hBN interfaces, and its consequences on nanofluidic osmotic transport. Specifically, we predicted the zeta potential, the diffusio-osmotic mobility and the diffusio-osmotic conductivity for a wide range of salt concentrations from the ab initio water and ion spatial distributions through an analytical framework based on Stokes equation and a modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation. We observed concentration-dependent scaling laws, together with dramatic differences in osmotic transport between the two interfaces, including diffusio-osmotic flow and current reversal on hBN, but not on graphene. We could rationalize the results for the three osmotic responses with a simple model based on characteristic length scales for ion and water adsorption at the surface, which are quite different on graphene and on hBN. Our work provides first principles insights into the structure and osmotic transport of aqueous electrolytes on two-dimensional materials and explores new pathways for efficient water desalination and osmotic energy conversion.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2020

High-quality hexagonal boron nitride from 2D distillation

The production of high-quality two-dimensional (2D) materials is essential for the ultimate performance of single layers and their hybrids. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is foreseen to become the key 2D hybrid and packaging material since it is insulating, tight, flat, transparent and chemically inert, though it is difficult to attain in ultimate quality. Here, a new scheme is reported for producing single layer h-BN that shows higher quality and much more uniformity than material from chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We delaminate CVD h-BN from Rh(111) and transfer it to a clean metal surface. The twisting angle between BN and the new substrate yields metastable moiré structures. Annealing above 1000 K leads to 2D distillation, i.e., catalyst-assisted BN sublimation from the edges of the transferred layer and subsequent condensation into superior quality h-BN. This provides a new and low-cost way of high-quality 2D material production remote from CVD instrumentation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

CP2K: An Electronic Structure and Molecular Dynamics Software Package -- Quickstep: Efficient and Accurate Electronic Structure Calculations

CP2K is an open source electronic structure and molecular dynamics software package to perform atomistic simulations of solid-state, liquid, molecular and biological systems. It is especially aimed at massively-parallel and linear-scaling electronic structure methods and state-of-the-art ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations. Excellent performance for electronic structure calculations is achieved using novel algorithms implemented for modern high-performance computing systems. This review revisits the main capabilities of CP2k to perform efficient and accurate electronic structure simulations. The emphasis is put on density functional theory and multiple post-Hartree-Fock methods using the Gaussian and plane wave approach and its augmented all-electron extension.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2017

Mapping the Free Energy of Lithium Solvation in the Protic Ionic Liquid Ethylammonuim Nitrate: A Metadynamics Study

Understanding lithium solvation and transport in ionic liquids is important due to their possible application in electrochemical devices. Using first-principles simulations aided by a metadynamics approach we study the free-energy landscape for lithium ions at infinite dilution in ethylammonium nitrate, a protic ionic liquid. We analyze the local structure of the liquid around the lithium cation and obtain a quantitative picture in agreement with experimental findings. Our simulations show that the lowest two free energy minima correspond to conformations with the lithium ion being solvated either by three or four nitrate ions with a transition barrier between them of 0.2 \eV. Other less probable conformations having different solvation pattern are also investigated.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2017

Fast evaluation of solid harmonic Gaussian integrals for local resolution-of-the-identity methods and range-separated hybrid functionals

An integral scheme for the efficient evaluation of two-center integrals over contracted solid harmonic Gaussian functions is presented. Integral expressions are derived for local operators that depend on the position vector of one of the two Gaussian centers. These expressions are then used to derive the formula for three-index overlap integrals where two of the three Gaussians are located at the same center. The efficient evaluation of the latter is essential for local resolution-of-the-identity techniques that employ an overlap metric. We compare the performance of our integral scheme to the widely used Cartesian Gaussian-based method of Obara and Saika (OS). Non-local interaction potentials such as standard Coulomb, modified Coulomb and Gaussian-type operators, that occur in range-separated hybrid functionals, are also included in the performance tests. The speed-up with respect to the OS scheme is up to three orders of magnitude for both, integrals and their derivatives. In particular, our method is increasingly efficient for large angular momenta and highly contracted basis sets.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2009

Boron Nitride Nanomesh: A template for Nano-ice

Using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and dI/dz barrier height spectroscopy, the structure of water on h-BN/Rh(111) nanomesh has been investigated. Below its desorption temperature, two distinct phases of water self-assemble within the 3.2 nm unit cell of the nanomesh. In the 2 nm holes, an ordered phase of nano-ice crystals with about 40 molecules is found. The ice crystals arrange in a bilayer honeycomb lattice, where the hydrogen atoms of the lower layer point to the substrate. The phase on the 1 nm wires, is a low density gas phase, which is characterized by contrast modulations and streaky noise in the STM images. Tunneling barrier measurements infer the proton positions in the nano-ice clusters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2001

An efficient k.p method for calculation of total energy and electronic density of states

An efficient method for calculating the electronic structure in large systems with a fully converged BZ sampling is presented. The method is based on a k.p-like approximation developed in the framework of the density functional perturbation theory. The reliability and efficiency of the method are demostrated in test calculations on Ar and Si supercells.

physics.comp-ph↗