Heterogeneous catalysis is significantly enhanced by the use of highly porous polymers with specific functionalities, such as basic groups, which accelerate reaction rates. Polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) provide a unique platform for catalytic reactions owing to their high surface areas and customizable pore structures. We herein report a series of Tröger's base polymers (TB-PIMs) with enhanced basicity, achieved through the incorporation of nitrogen-containing groups into their repeat units, such as triazine and triphenylamine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDynamic compression of iron to Earth-core conditions is one of the few ways to gather important elastic and transport properties needed to uncover key mechanisms surrounding the geodynamo effect. Herein, a machine-learned ab initio derived molecular-spin dynamics (MSD) methodology with explicit treatment for longitudinal spin-fluctuations is utilized to probe the dynamic phase-diagram of iron. This framework uniquely enables an accurate resolution of the phase-transition kinetics and Earth-core elastic properties, as highlighted by compressional wave velocity and adiabatic bulk moduli measurements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new method is presented to generate atomic structures that reproduce the essential characteristics of arbitrary material systems, phases, or ensembles. Previous methods allow one to reproduce the essential characteristics (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiamond possesses exceptional physical properties due to its remarkably strong carbon-carbon bonding, leading to significant resilience to structural transformations at very high pressures and temperatures. Despite several experimental attempts, synthesis and recovery of the theoretically predicted post-diamond BC8 phase remains elusive. Through quantum-accurate multimillion atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we have uncovered the extreme metastability of diamond at very high pressures, significantly exceeding its range of thermodynamic stability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe coupling of inter- and intramolecular vibrations plays a critical role in initiating chemistry during the shock-to-detonation transition in energetic materials. Herein, we report on the subpicosecond to subnanosecond vibrational energy transfer (VET) dynamics of the solid energetic material 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) by using broadband, ultrafast infrared transient absorption spectroscopy. Experiments reveal VET occurring on three distinct time scales: subpicosecond, 5 ps, and 200 ps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Depression and anxiety disorders are common among patients with epilepsy (PWE). These comorbidities have been shown to influence prognosis and may have a greater impact on quality of life than seizure control. Despite guideline recommendations and expert consensus to regularly screen for and treat both conditions, there is evidence that they are underdiagnosed and undertreated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe time scale associated with shock-induced detonation is a key property of energetic materials that remains poorly understood. Herein, we test aspects of one potential mechanism, the phonon up-pumping mechanism, where shock compression excites lattice phonon modes, transferring energy to intramolecular vibrations leading to chemical bond cleavage and reaction. Using ultrafast infrared pump-probe spectroscopy on pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), we reveal sub-picosecond vibrational energy transfer (VET) from the photoexcited band at 1660 cm into every other infrared-active mode in the probed frequency range 800-1800 cm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMachine learning of the quantitative relationship between local environment descriptors and the potential energy surface of a system of atoms has emerged as a new frontier in the development of interatomic potentials (IAPs). Here, we present a comprehensive evaluation of machine learning IAPs (ML-IAPs) based on four local environment descriptors-atom-centered symmetry functions (ACSF), smooth overlap of atomic positions (SOAP), the spectral neighbor analysis potential (SNAP) bispectrum components, and moment tensors-using a diverse data set generated using high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The data set comprising bcc (Li, Mo) and fcc (Cu, Ni) metals and diamond group IV semiconductors (Si, Ge) is chosen to span a range of crystal structures and bonding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential (SNAP) is a classical interatomic potential that expresses the energy of each atom as a linear function of selected bispectrum components of the neighbor atoms. An extension of the SNAP form is proposed that includes quadratic terms in the bispectrum components. The extension is shown to provide a large increase in accuracy relative to the linear form, while incurring only a modest increase in computational cost.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe use molecular dynamics simulations with the reactive potential ReaxFF to investigate the initial reactions and subsequent decomposition in the high-energy-density material α-HMX excited thermally and via electric fields at various frequencies. We focus on the role of insult type and strength on the energy increase for initial decomposition and onset of exothermic chemistry. We find both of these energies increase with the increasing rate of energy input and plateau as the processes become athermal for high loading rates.
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