Adsorption energies and decomposition barrier heights for ethylene carbonate on the surface of lithium from cluster-based quantum chemistry

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Vo, Ethan A., Vuong, Hung T., Goldsmith, Zachary K., Ye, Hong-Zhou, Wei, Yujing, Kundu, Sohang, Farahvash, Ardavan, Agarwal, Garvit, Friesner, Richard A., Berkelbach, Timothy C.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Vo, Ethan A.
Vuong, Hung T.
Goldsmith, Zachary K.
Ye, Hong-Zhou
Wei, Yujing
Kundu, Sohang
Farahvash, Ardavan
Agarwal, Garvit
Friesner, Richard A.
Berkelbach, Timothy C.
author_facet Vo, Ethan A.
Vuong, Hung T.
Goldsmith, Zachary K.
Ye, Hong-Zhou
Wei, Yujing
Kundu, Sohang
Farahvash, Ardavan
Agarwal, Garvit
Friesner, Richard A.
Berkelbach, Timothy C.
contents For ethylene carbonate on the (100) surface of lithium, we calculate the adsorption energy in two binding motifs as well as the barrier height for a ring-opening decomposition reaction. We validate a scheme for producing results in the thermodynamic limit by correcting results obtained on finite lithium clusters containing only 40-100 atoms, which enables the use of hybrid density functionals, the random-phase approximation, and correlated wavefunction theories such as coupled-cluster theory and auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo. We find that the high-level theories agree to within 2-5 kcal/mol and can therefore serve as benchmarks for more affordable methods. Using our reference data, we demonstrate that generalized gradient approximation functionals, such as PBE, are not sufficiently accurate for reaction barrier heights, and we identify $ω$B97X-V as an especially promising functional for the interfacial chemistry of electrolyte solvents at lithium metal anodes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_22139
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Adsorption energies and decomposition barrier heights for ethylene carbonate on the surface of lithium from cluster-based quantum chemistry
Vo, Ethan A.
Vuong, Hung T.
Goldsmith, Zachary K.
Ye, Hong-Zhou
Wei, Yujing
Kundu, Sohang
Farahvash, Ardavan
Agarwal, Garvit
Friesner, Richard A.
Berkelbach, Timothy C.
Materials Science
Chemical Physics
For ethylene carbonate on the (100) surface of lithium, we calculate the adsorption energy in two binding motifs as well as the barrier height for a ring-opening decomposition reaction. We validate a scheme for producing results in the thermodynamic limit by correcting results obtained on finite lithium clusters containing only 40-100 atoms, which enables the use of hybrid density functionals, the random-phase approximation, and correlated wavefunction theories such as coupled-cluster theory and auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo. We find that the high-level theories agree to within 2-5 kcal/mol and can therefore serve as benchmarks for more affordable methods. Using our reference data, we demonstrate that generalized gradient approximation functionals, such as PBE, are not sufficiently accurate for reaction barrier heights, and we identify $ω$B97X-V as an especially promising functional for the interfacial chemistry of electrolyte solvents at lithium metal anodes.
title Adsorption energies and decomposition barrier heights for ethylene carbonate on the surface of lithium from cluster-based quantum chemistry
topic Materials Science
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22139