Oxygen vacancies are ubiquitous in TiO2 and play key roles in catalysis and magnetism applications. Despite being extensively investigated, the electronic structure of oxygen vacancies in TiO2 remains controversial both experimentally and theoretically. Here, we report a study of a neutral oxygen vacancy in TiO2 using state-of-the-art quantum chemical electronic structure methods. We find that the ground state is a color center singlet state in both the rutile and the anatase phases of TiO2. Specifically, embedded coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples calculations find, for an oxygen vacancy in rutile, that the lowest triplet state energy is 0.6 eV above the singlet state, and in anatase, the triplet state energy is higher by 1.4 eV. Our study provides fresh insights into the electronic structure of the oxygen vacancy in TiO2, clarifying earlier controversies and potentially inspiring future studies of defects with correlated wave function theories.
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28 November 2020
Research Article|
November 24 2020
The color center singlet state of oxygen vacancies in TiO2
Special Collection:
2020 JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection
Ji Chen
;
Ji Chen
a)
1
School of Physics, Peking University
, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
2
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: ji.chen@pku.edu.cn
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Nikolay A. Bogdanov
;
Nikolay A. Bogdanov
2
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Denis Usvyat
;
Denis Usvyat
3
Institut für Chemie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
, Brook-Taylor-St. 2, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
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Wei Fang;
Wei Fang
4
Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich
, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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Angelos Michaelides
;
Angelos Michaelides
2
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, London Centre for Nanotechnology, Thomas Young Centre
, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
6
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: ji.chen@pku.edu.cn
b)
Electronic mail: a.alavi@fkf.mpg.de
Note: This paper is part of the JCP Emerging Investigators Special Collection.
J. Chem. Phys. 153, 204704 (2020)
Article history
Received:
September 23 2020
Accepted:
November 05 2020
Citation
Ji Chen, Nikolay A. Bogdanov, Denis Usvyat, Wei Fang, Angelos Michaelides, Ali Alavi; The color center singlet state of oxygen vacancies in TiO2. J. Chem. Phys. 28 November 2020; 153 (20): 204704. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0030658
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