[QE-users] Full core hole vs Ground state energies

Giuseppe Mattioli giuseppe.mattioli at ism.cnr.it
Tue Mar 24 17:15:14 CET 2020


Dear Pamela
Let me paste again here a recent little guide I've posted a few weeks  
ago in the forum:

Calculation of XPS lines are tricky. First of all you are not  
simulating a real ionization process, but the reaction of the ground  
state valence electrons of your system to the change of  
pseudopotential. The related Delta_scf energy can be used to estimate  
the XPS chemical shift, often with an impressive accuracy in my  
experience with molecules (please, see J. Phys. Chem. A 2009, 113,  
13593; RSC Adv. 2014, 4, 5272; Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2018, 20,  
6657), but in itself it has no meaning. It must be referenced to the  
known value of something. I generally include a small molecule in the  
same supercell, not interacting with the system; this is possible only  
if you are computing isolated systems or surfaces. Best results for  
molecules are obtained by using the B3LYP functional. For example, in  
the case of a single uracil molecule, after the standard "relax"  
calculation you have to:

1) "ionize" the reference with the core-hole pseudopotential

  &control
     calculation = 'scf'
  /
  &system
     ibrav=1, celldm(1)=40.0000,
     nat=16, ntyp=5, tot_charge=+1.0, <--- please NOTE THIS!
     ecutwfc=90.0,
     ecutfock=90.0,
     nspin=1,
     input_dft='b3lyp'
     vdw_corr='grimme-d3',
  /
  &electrons
     diagonalization='david',
     mixing_mode='plain',
     mixing_beta=0.1,
     conv_thr=1.0d-7,
     electron_maxstep=100
     scf_must_converge=.false.,
     adaptive_thr=.true.
  /
  &ions
     ion_dynamics='bfgs'
  /
ATOMIC_SPECIES
O    15.999     O.blyp-mt.UPF
N    14.007     N.blyp-mt.UPF
C    12.011     C.blyp-mt.UPF
H     1.008     H.blyp-vbc.UPF
F    14.007     N.blyp-mt-1sstar-gipaw-gm.UPF <-- F is to avoid that  
dft-d3 complains
ATOMIC_POSITIONS {angstrom}
O        8.935874112  10.808337666  10.583540000
O       11.039204698   6.744187277  10.583540000
N        9.960179856   8.771477479  10.583540000
N        8.750099382   6.798630762  10.583540000
C        7.576844535   7.514397937  10.583540000
C        7.561763507   8.857734355  10.583540000
C        8.815185907   9.596007009  10.583540000
C       10.009803757   7.390627750  10.583540000
H        6.641921924   9.414782335  10.583540000
H        6.675458991   6.922669854  10.583540000
H       10.852028379   9.243449902  10.583540000
H        8.749194951   5.793547675  10.583540000
F        0.000000000   0.000000000   0.000000000
H        0.929248650  -0.004393660  -0.399583280
H       -0.481589560   0.814895350  -0.356607030
H       -0.484872120  -0.817298880  -0.346525310
K_POINTS {gamma}

2) "ionize" the desired atom(s) with the core-hole pseudopotential

  &control
     calculation = 'scf'
  /
  &system
     ibrav=1, celldm(1)=40.0000,
     nat=16, ntyp=5, tot_charge=+1.0,
     ecutwfc=90.0,
     ecutfock=90.0,
     nspin=1,
     input_dft='b3lyp'
     vdw_corr='grimme-d3',
  /
  &electrons
     diagonalization='david',
     mixing_mode='plain',
     mixing_beta=0.1,
     conv_thr=1.0d-7,
     electron_maxstep=100
     scf_must_converge=.false.,
     adaptive_thr=.true.
  /
ATOMIC_SPECIES
O    15.999     O.blyp-mt.UPF
N    14.007     N.blyp-mt.UPF
C    12.011     C.blyp-mt.UPF
H     1.008     H.blyp-vbc.UPF
F    14.007     N.blyp-mt-1sstar-gipaw-gm.UPF
ATOMIC_POSITIONS {angstrom}
O        8.935874112  10.808337666  10.583540000    1   1   0
O       11.039204698   6.744187277  10.583540000    1   1   0
F        9.960179856   8.771477479  10.583540000    1   1   0
N        8.750099382   6.798630762  10.583540000    1   1   0
C        7.576844535   7.514397937  10.583540000    1   1   0
C        7.561763507   8.857734355  10.583540000    1   1   0
C        8.815185907   9.596007009  10.583540000    1   1   0
C       10.009803757   7.390627750  10.583540000    1   1   0
H        6.641921924   9.414782335  10.583540000    1   1   0
H        6.675458991   6.922669854  10.583540000    1   1   0
H       10.852028379   9.243449902  10.583540000    1   1   0
H        8.749194951   5.793547675  10.583540000    1   1   0
N        0.000000000   0.000000000   0.000000000    0   0   0
H        0.929248650  -0.004393660  -0.399583280
H       -0.481589560   0.814895350  -0.356607030
H       -0.484872120  -0.817298880  -0.346525310
K_POINTS {gamma}

My results are

1) -188.25465790 Ry (NH3 core hole)
2) -188.18332891 Ry (uracil N1 core hole)

E2-E1= 0.97 eV

NH3 N 1s = 405.60 eV (taken from some measured reference)

uracil N1 N 1s = 406.57 eV
uracil N3 N 1s = 407.00 eV (to obtain this you must change the  
position of the "F" atom in example 2))

experimental unresolved N1+N3 line = 406.8 eV

HTH, but write me in private if something is not clear.
Giuseppe


Quoting Pamela Svensson <pamela.svensson at physics.uu.se>:

> I am computing the Binding energies for some C 1s core levels in a  
> molecule, to be compared to an XPS experiment. My problem is related  
> to the core level shift and the ordering of the computed energies  
> (we are not worrying for the absolute values of course but for the  
> relative values).
>
> According to the experiment we have one C 1s XPS peak at 291 eV  
> (Carbon 1) and three very close to each other at about 290 eV  
> (Carbon 2 3 and 4). (in the experiment they express the Binding  
> Energy (BE) as positive, meaning the C1 1s core electron has  
> stronger BE than C2 1s in our case).
>
> The total energies computed for our molecule with quantum espresso  
> with a full core hole in the various carbon atoms are:
>
> core hole in C1 1s= - 263.84140093 Ry (higher)
> core hole in C2, 3 and 4 1s ~ -263.89 Ry (lower)
>
> and the ground state (GS) energy for the system is -246.5 Ry (even higher)
>
> (I would expect the GS energy to be lower than the energy of the  
> system with the core hole since I have extracted one electron, but  
> maybe this is only true for a full electron calculation?)
>
> Since we know from the experimental XPS that the binding energy of  
> C1 1s core level is higher than that of C2 1s, why do we get a lower  
> total energy when we perform a core hole in C2 1s than in C1 1s?
>
> In addition, the difference between the GS energy and the total  
> energy with the core hole on C1s is lower than for the core hole in  
> C2, 3 and 4, which is the opposite of what happens in the experiment.
>
> We wonder how we should interpret these total energies in relation  
> to the experimental XPS, and if these total energies we obtain make  
> sense.
>
>
> Thank you very much!
>
>
>
>
> Pamela Svensson
>
> Uppsala University
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> När du har kontakt med oss på Uppsala universitet med e-post så  
> innebär det att vi behandlar dina personuppgifter. För att läsa mer  
> om hur vi gör det kan du läsa här:  
> http://www.uu.se/om-uu/dataskydd-personuppgifter/
>
> E-mailing Uppsala University means that we will process your  
> personal data. For more information on how this is performed, please  
> read here: http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/data-protection-policy



GIUSEPPE MATTIOLI
CNR - ISTITUTO DI STRUTTURA DELLA MATERIA
Via Salaria Km 29,300 - C.P. 10
I-00015 - Monterotondo Scalo (RM)
Mob (*preferred*) +39 373 7305625
Tel + 39 06 90672342 - Fax +39 06 90672316
E-mail: <giuseppe.mattioli at ism.cnr.it>



More information about the users mailing list