MXenes are two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides and nitrides, and are invariably metallic in pristine form. While spontaneous passivation of their reactive bare surfaces lends unprecedented functionalities, consequently a many-folds increase in number of possible functionalized MXene makes their characterization difficult.Here, we study the electronic properties of this vast class of materials by accurately estimating the band gaps using statistical learning. Using easily available properties of the MXene, namely, boiling and melting points, atomic radii, phases, bond lengths, etc., as input features, models were developed using kernel ridge (KRR), support vector (SVR), Gaussian process (GPR), and bootstrap aggregating regression algorithms. Among these, the GPR model predicts the band gap with lowest root-mean-squared error (rmse) of 0.14 eV, within seconds. Most importantly, these models do not involve the Perdew−Burke−Ernzerhof (PBE) band gap as a feature. Our results demonstrate that machine-learning models can bypass the band gap underestimation problem of local and semilocal functionals used in density functional theory (DFT) calculations, without subsequent correction using the time-consuming GW approach.

In this study we have investigated the interaction of phenylalanine (Phe), histidine (His), tyrosine (Tyr), and tryptophan (Tryp) molecules with graphene and single walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with an aim to understand the effect of curvature on the non-covalent interaction. The calculations are performed using density functional theory and the Moller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory (MP2) within linear combination of atomic orbitals-molecular orbital (LCAO-MO) approach. Using these methods, the equilibrium configurations of these complexes were found to be very similar, i.e., the aromatic rings of the amino acids prefer to orient in parallel with respect to the plane of the substrates, which bears the signature of weak pi-pi interactions. The binding strength follows the trend: His

MXene, a two-dimensional layer of transition metal carbides/nitrides, showed great promise for energy storage, sensing, and electronic applications. MXene are chemically exfoliated from the bulk MAX phase; however, mechanistic understanding of exfoliation and subsequent functionalization of these technologically important materials is still lacking. Here, using density-functional theory we show that exfoliation of Ti3C2 MXene proceeds via HF insertion through edges of Ti3AlC2 MAX phase. Spontaneous dissociation of HF and subsequent termination of edge Ti atoms by H/F weakens Al-MXene bonds. Consequent opening of the interlayer gap allows further insertion of HF that leads to the formation of AlF3 and H2, which eventually come out of the MAX, leaving fluorinated MXene behind. Density of state and electron localization function shows robust binding between F/OH and Ti, which makes it very difficult to obtain controlled functionalized or pristine MXene. Analysis of the calculated Gibbs free energy (ΔG) shows fully fluorinated MXene to be lowest in energy, whereas the formation of pristine MXene is thermodynamically least favorable. In the presence of water, mixed functionalized Ti3C2Fx(OH)1-x (x ranges from 0 to 1) MXene can be obtained. The ΔG values for the mixed functionalized MXenes are very close in energy, indicating the random and nonuniform functionalization of MXene. The microscopic understanding gained here unveils the challenges in exfoliation and controlling the functionalization of MXene, which is essential for its practical application.

A time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) approach coupled with 14 different exchange-correlation functionals was used for the prediction of vertical excitation energies in zinc phthalocyanine (PcZn). In general, the TDDFT approach provides a more accurate description of both visible and ultraviolet regions of the UV-vis and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra of PcZn in comparison to the more popular semiempirical ZINDO/S and PM3 methods. It was found that the calculated vertical excitation energies of PcZn correlate with the amount of Hartree-Fock exchange involved in the exchange-correlation functional. The correlation was explained on the basis of the calculated difference in energy between occupied and unoccupied molecular orbitals. The influence of PcZn geometry, optimized using different exchange-correlation functionals, on the calculated vertical excitation energies in PcZn was found to be relatively small. The influence of solvents on the calculated vertical excitation energies in PcZn was considered for the first time using a polarized continuum model TDDFT (PCM-TDDFT) method and was found to be relatively small in excellent agreement with the experimental data. For all tested TDDFT and PCM-TDDFT cases, an assignment of the Q-band as an almost pure a1u (HOMO)-->eg (LUMO) transition, initially suggested by Gouterman, was confirmed. Pure exchange-correlation functionals indicate the presence of six 1Eu states in the B-band region of the UV-vis spectrum of PcZn, while hybrid exchange-correlation functionals predict only five 1Eu states for the same energy envelope. The first two symmetry-forbidden n-->pi* transitions were predicted in the Q0-2 region and in the low-energy tail of the B-band, while the first two symmetry-allowed n-->pi* transitions were found within the B-band energy envelope when pure exchange-correlation functionals were used for TDDFT calculations. The presence of a symmetry-forbidden but vibronically allowed n-->pi* transition in the Q0-2 spectral envelope explains the long-time controversy between the experimentally observed low-intensity transition in the Q0-2 region and previous semiempirical and TDDFT calculations, which were unable to predict any electronic transitions in this area. To prove the conceptual possibility of the presence of several degenerate 1Eu states in the B-band region of PcZn, room-temperature UV-vis and MCD spectra of zinc tetra-tert-butylphthalocyanine (PctZn) in non-coordinating solvents were recorded and analyzed using band deconvolution analysis. It was found that the B-band region of the UV-vis and MCD spectra of PctZn can be easily deconvoluted using six MCD Faraday A-terms and two MCD Faraday B-terms with energies close to those predicted by TDDFT calculations for 1Eu and 1A2u excited states, respectively. Such a good agreement between theory and experiment clearly indicates the possibility of employing a TDDFT approach for the accurate prediction of vertical excitation energies in phthalocyanines within a large energy range.