Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Author Spotlight: Characterizing Porous Materials for Aiding the Development of Robust Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adsorption Behavior
Published on: March 8, 2024
Electronic Structure Calculation of MgO (001) Surface with Aggregated Oxygen Vacancies
1Hitachi, Ltd., Advanced Research Laboratory (ARL), 1-280 Higashi-Koigakubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo 185-8601, Japan.
Abstract:
The electronic structure of an MgO (001) surface with aggregated oxygen vacancies at the surface was investigated by using a density-functional embedded-cluster method using Mg45Ox (x = 39-45) clusters and the B3LYP/CEP-121G level of calculation. The investigation found that the distribution of energy levels corresponding to oxygen-vacancy states strongly depends on the number and configuration of oxygen vacancies. Molecular orbitals of the oxygen vacancy states consist of orbitals at the vacancy sites and their neighboring magnesium ions. These orbitals can simply be modeled by orbitals formed from interacting pseudoatoms. A pseudoatom is an electronically neutral atom representing an oxygen vacancy and electrons of magnesium ions near the vacancy. With this model, an N-atom system having n vacancies can be modeled by n pseudoatoms. Interactions among oxygen vacancies in MgO were qualitatively reproduced by the interacting pseudoatoms model.
Related Concept Videos
Imperfections in Crystal Structure: Stoichiometric Point Defects
Imperfections in Crystal Structure: Non-Stoichiometric Defects
Electronic Structure of Atoms
An atom comprises protons and neutrons, which are contained inside the dense, central core called the nucleus, with electrons present around the nucleus. Taking into account the wave–particle duality of electrons and the uncertainty in position around the nucleus, quantum mechanics provides a more accurate model for the atomic structure. It describes atomic orbitals as the regions around the nucleus where electrons of discrete energy exist, characterized by four quantum...
Valence Bond Theory
Electron Configuration of Multielectron Atoms
Electron Orbital Model
The first shell is closest to the nucleus, and it has only one subshell with a single spherical orbital called the...

