Title: Electron transfer calculations between edge sharing octahedra in hematite, goethite, and annite

Abstract

A key reaction underlying the charge transport in iron containing oxides, clays, micas is the Fe$$^{2+}$$-Fe$$^{3+}$$ exchange reaction between edge-sharing iron octahedra. These reactions facilitate conduction in these minerals by the thermally-activated hopping of small polarons across the lattice. Depending on the mineral and local charge state the small polaron can either encase an electron or hole. The probability for conduction of small polarons depends strongly on the height and adiabicity of the reaction barrier, with larger and more diabatic barriers yielding slow conduction associated with either weak coupling or a large prerequisite rearrangement of the lattice during charge transport. To model these reactions, a first principle electron transfer (ET) method was developed to model the small polaron hopping between the edge-sharing octahedra sites in hematite ($$e^{-}$$ polaron), goethite ($$e^{-}$$ polaron), and annite ($$h^{+}$$ polaron) bulk structures. The ET method is based on electronic structure methods (i.e., plane-wave Density Functional Theory) capable of performing calculations with periodic cells and large size systems efficiently while at the same time being accurate enough to be used in the estimation of the electron-transfer coupling matrix element, $$V_{AB}$$, and the electron transfer transmission factor, $$\kappa_{el}$$. Additionally, the calculations confirmed the existence of small polarons in all three minerals, and the reactions were predicted to be strongly adiabatic. It was found that transfer of a hole in the octahedral layer of annite had an adiabatic barrier of $0.311$ eV, and the transfer of an extra electron in hematite and goethite had adiabatic barriers of $0.242$ eV and $0.232$ eV respectively. The electronic coupling parameters,$$V_{AB}$$, were found to be $0.188$ eV, $0.196$ eV, and $0.102$ eV respectively for hematite, goethite, and annite. While similar bonding topologies pertain, the underlying basis for the differences is the subtle differences in local structures.

Authors:

Bylaska, Eric J.  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Bylaska, Eric J."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-6405-599X"

Song, Duo; Rosso, Kevin M.  ^[2]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Rosso, Kevin M."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-8474-7720"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue May 12 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

OSTI Identifier:

1728597

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1809122

Report Number(s):

PNNL-SA-149955
Journal ID: ISSN 0016-7037

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-76RL01830; AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 291; Journal ID: ISSN 0016-7037

Publisher:

Elsevier; The Geochemical Society; The Meteoritical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Electron transfer, Iron-oxides, Hematite, Goethite, Micas, Annite, NWChem, High-performance chemistry, Plane-wave DFT, pseudopotentials, PSPW, Ab initio molecular dynamics, AIMD, Periodic exact exchange, Periodic Hartree Fock, UHF, DFT