Developments in the density functional theory and the methods of electronic structure calculations have made it possible to carry out ab-initio studies of a variety of materials efficiently and at a predictable level. This book covers many of those state-of-the-art developments and their applications to ordered and disordered materials, surfaces and interfaces and clusters, etc.

At present, there is an increasing interest in the prediction of properties of classical and new materials such as substitutional alloys, their surfaces, and metallic or semiconductor multilayers. A detailed understanding based on a thus of the utmost importance for fu microscopic, parameter-free approach is ture developments in solid state physics and materials science. The interrela tion between electronic and structural properties at surfaces plays a key role for a microscopic understanding of phenomena as diverse as catalysis, corrosion, chemisorption and crystal growth. Remarkable progress has been made in the past 10-15 years in the understand ing of behavior of ideal crystals and their surfaces by relating their properties to the underlying electronic structure as determined from the first principles. Similar studies of complex systems like imperfect surfaces, interfaces, and mul tilayered structures seem to be accessible by now. Conventional band-structure methods, however, are of limited use because they require an excessive number of atoms per elementary cell, and are not able to account fully for e.g. substitu tional disorder and the true semiinfinite geometry of surfaces. Such problems can be solved more appropriately by Green function techniques and multiple scattering formalism.

If one reflects upon the range of chemical problems accessible to the current quantum theoretical methods for calculations on the electronic structure of molecules, one is immediately struck by the rather narrow limits imposed by economic and numerical feasibility. Most of the systems with which experimental photochemists actually work are beyond the grasp of ab initio methods due to the presence of a few reasonably large aromatic ring systems. Potential energy surfaces for all but the smallest molecules are extremely expensive to produce, even over a restricted group of the possible degrees of freedom, and molecules containing the higher elements of the periodic table remain virtually untouched due to the large numbers of electrons involved. Almost the entire class of molecules of real biological interest is simply out of the question. In general, the theoretician is reduced to model systems of variable appositeness in most of these fields. The fundamental problem, from a basic computational point of view, is that large molecules require large numbers of basis functions, whether Slater type orbitals or Gaussian functions suitably contracted, to provide even a modestly accurate description of the molecular electronic environment. This leads to the necessity of dealing with very large matrices and numbers of integrals within the Hartree-Fock approximation and quickly becomes both numerically difficult and uneconomic.

The study of the electronic structure of materials is at a momentous stage, with the emergence of computational methods and theoretical approaches. Many properties of materials can now be determined directly from the fundamental equations for the electrons, providing insights into critical problems in physics, chemistry, and materials science. This book provides a unified exposition of the basic theory and methods of electronic structure, together with instructive examples of practical computational methods and real-world applications. Appropriate for both graduate students and practising scientists, this book describes the approach most widely used today, density functional theory, with emphasis upon understanding the ideas, practical methods and limitations. Many references are provided to original papers, pertinent reviews, and widely available books. Included in each chapter is a short list of the most relevant references and a set of exercises that reveal salient points and challenge the reader.

Electronic-structure calculations of the properties of specific materials have become increasingly important over the last 30 years. Although several books on the subject have been published, it is rare to find one that covers in detail both the traditional quantum chemistry and the solid-state physics methods of electronic-structure calculations. This title bridges that gap, focusing equally on both types of method, including density-functional and Hartree-Fock-based approaches. The book is aimed at final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students of both chemistry and of physics. It describes in detail the fundamentals behind the various methods that are used in calculating electronic properties of materials, and that to some extent are commercially available. It should also be of interest to professional scientists working in related theoretical or experimental fields.

These two volumes deal with the quantum theory of the electronic structure of molecules. Implicit in the term ab initio is the notion that approximate solutions of Schrödinger's equation are sought "from the beginning," i. e. , without recourse to experimental data. From a more pragmatic viewpoint, the distin guishing feature of ab initio theory is usually the fact that no approximations are involved in the evaluation of the required molecular integrals. Consistent with current activity in the field, the first of these two volumes contains chapters dealing with methods per se, while the second concerns the application of these methods to problems of chemical interest. In asense, the motivation for these volumes has been the spectacular recent success of ab initio theory in resolving important chemical questions. However, these applications have only become possible through the less visible but equally important efforts of those develop ing new theoretical and computational methods and models. Henry F Schaefer Vll Contents Contents of Volume 4 XIX Chapter 1. Gaussian Basis Sets for Molecular Calculations Thom. H. Dunning, Ir. and P. Ieffrey Hay 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1. Slater Functions and the Hydrogen Moleeule 1 1. 2. Gaussian Functions and the Hydrogen Atom 3 2. Hartree-Fock Calculations on the First Row Atoms 5 2. 1. Valence States of the First Row Atoms 6 7 2. 2. Rydberg States of the First Row Atoms 9 2. 3.

Most textbooks in the field are either too advanced for students or don’t adequately cover current research topics. Bridging this gap, Electronic Structure of Materials helps advanced undergraduate and graduate students understand electronic structure methods and enables them to use these techniques in their work. Developed from the author’s lecture notes, this classroom-tested book takes a microscopic view of materials as composed of interacting electrons and nuclei. It explains all the properties of materials in terms of basic quantities of electrons and nuclei, such as electronic charge, mass, and atomic number. Based on quantum mechanics, this first-principles approach does not have any adjustable parameters. The first half of the text presents the fundamentals and methods of electronic structure. Using numerous examples, the second half illustrates applications of the methods to various materials, including crystalline solids, disordered substitutional alloys, amorphous solids, nanoclusters, nanowires, graphene, topological insulators, battery materials, spintronic materials, and materials under extreme conditions. Every chapter starts at a basic level and gradually moves to more complex topics, preparing students for more advanced work in the field. End-of-chapter exercises also help students get a sense of numbers and visualize the physical picture associated with the problem. Students are encouraged to practice with the electronic structure calculations via user-friendly software packages.