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Free keywords:
hydrogen storage; thermodynamic phase diagram; density functional theory; hybrid functional; atomistic thermodynamics; cascade genetic algorithm; Li−N−H clusters; meta stability
Abstract:
We have performed cascade genetic algorithm and ab initio atomistic thermodynamics under the framework of first-principles-based hybrid density functional theory to study the (meta-)stability of a wide range of LixNy clusters. We found that hybrid xc-functional is essential to address this problem as a local/semilocal functional simply fails even to predict a qualitative prediction. Most importantly, we find that though in bulk lithium nitride, the Li-rich phase, that is, Li3N, is the stable stoichiometry; in small LixNy clusters, N-rich phases are more stable at thermodynamic equilibrium. We further show that these N-rich clusters are promising hydrogen storage material because of their easy adsorption and desorption ability at respectively low (≤300 K) and moderately high temperature (≥600 K).
