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Title: Ab Initio Modeling of Structure and Properties of Single and Mixed Alkali Silicate Glasses

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory

A density functional theory (DFT)-based ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) has been applied to simulate models of single and mixed alkali silicate glasses with two different molar concentrations of alkali oxides. The structural environments and spatial distributions of alkali ions in the 10 simulated models with 20% and 30% of Li, Na, K and equal proportions of Li–Na and Na–K are studied in detail for subtle variations among the models. Quantum mechanical calculations of electronic structures, interatomic bonding, and mechanical and optical properties are carried out for each of the models, and the results are compared with available experimental observation and other simulations. The calculated findings are in good agreement with the experimental data. We have used the novel concept of using the total bond order density (TBOD), a quantum mechanical metric, to characterize internal cohesion in these glass models. The mixed alkali effect (MAE) is visible in the bulk mechanical properties but not obvious in other physical properties studied in this paper. We demonstrate that Li doping deviates from expected trend due to the much stronger Li–O bonding than those of Na and K doping. Our method is in contrast with current studies in alkali-doped silicate glasses based only on geometric characterizations.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
1480257
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. A, Molecules, Spectroscopy, Kinetics, Environment, and General Theory, Vol. 121, Issue 40; ISSN 1089-5639
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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