Sensing and monitoring of edifenphos molecules based on the quantum chemical approach.

The tendency of edifenphos (EDF) species toward boron carbide nanotube (BCNT) was investigated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations with perfect and defected forms. It was found that perfect BCNT tube is not capable to adsorb the EDF molecules appropriately. Introducing defects in BCNT lattice resulted in a noticeable enhancement of interaction with EDF providing the adsorption energy of - 25.66 kcal/mol. It was predicted that the conductivity of complex formed of single vacancy BCNT tube, SV-BCNT, and EDF complexes is enhanced by 91.37 times compared with BCNT tube with no defects. As the solvent dielectric constant increases, a significant change in adsorption energy was reported while slighter variation was observed at dielectric constant values lower than 15. Similar to electric conductivity, the magnetic properties of BCNT are remarkably enhanced after single vacancy defect and EDF adsorption leads to a highly significant change in magnetic property compared with perfect BCNT. Graphical abstract.