Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.106, No.7, 2811-2818, 1997
A First-Principles Simulation of the Semiconductor/Water Interface
The overall electronic structure of a water/semiconductor interface is studied for the first time by nb initio molecular dynamics for realistic solvent configurations. The present study expands on our earlier work [J. Chem. Phys. 103, 7569 (1996)] by including a complete nb initio description of the surface and the solvent. Several statistically independent solvent configurations are generated via classical molecular dynamics as a starting point for a realistic sampling of the true solvent electronic structure via ab initio dynamics. A significant degree of mixing is observed between semiconductor electronic surface states and the bulk water orbitals. A new method is also given to facilitate the use of gradient corrected density functionals with Vanderbilt pseudopotentials.
Keywords:DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL THEORY;MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS;ELECTRON-TRANSFER;LIQUID WATER;PSEUDOPOTENTIALS;BEHAVIOR;SOLVENT;SURFACE