Tight-Binding Modeling of Uranium in an Aqueous Environment

The first density functional tight-binding (DFTB) parameters for uranium, oxygen, and hydrogen chemistry are reported, which enable quantum molecular dynamics simulations that will be instrumental in understanding actinide speciation, reaction mechanisms, and kinetics. These parameters were fitted to atomization energies and forces obtained from density functional theory with a training set of small molecules that includes various oxidation states. The energetic results with these DFTB parameters for various reactions of hydration, hydrolysis, dimerization, and isomerization demonstrate that the DFTB method can qualitatively capture the correct chemistry with a small systematic deviation from the density functional theory reference values. Structural results on the molecules not in the training set, including dimers, show generally good agreement with the reference and demonstrate the transferability of these first DFTB parameters for uranium chemistry.