Quantum chemical study of the phisical and chemical characteristics of nanomaterials based on tin dioxide

The molecular models of tin dioxide nanoparticles containing 1 – 10 metal atoms and can include coordinated or constitutive water were constructed. Their equilibrium spatial structure and electronic structure are calculated using the second-order Möller – Plesset perturbation theory with the SBKJC valence basis set. It is shown that the length of the Sn–O bond in nanoclusters does not depend on their size and the coordination number of Sn atoms, but is determined by the coordination type of neighboring oxygen atoms. Namely, the Sn–O(3) bond length ( 2.10 Å) > the Sn–O(2) bond length ( 1.98 Å). The obtained Sn–O(3) bond lengths are in good agreement with the experimental values for crystalline SnO2 samples (2.05 Å). The calculated atomization energy for SnO2 is 1661 kJ/mol and satisfactorily corresponds to the experimentally measured specific atomization energy of crystalline SnO2 (1381 kJ/mol). It was found that a satisfactory reproduction of the experimental characteristics of crystalline tin dioxide is possible when using clusters containing at least 10 tin atoms, for example, (SnO2)10×14H2O. Based on the analysis of the energy effects of coordination of water molecules and hydroxide ion, proton removal and proton transfer on the hydrated surface of tin dioxide, quantitative estimates of the acid-base characteristics of the active centers of the SnO2 surface were made. The dependence of the acidity of hydroxyl groups and coordinated water molecules on the coordination number of the oxygen atom and the neighboring tin atom, as well as on the size of the cluster model, was revealed. It has been shown that the acidity of proton and aproton centers naturally decreases with increasing coordination number of the tin atom. The methodology used in this work to calculate the рКа value of the smallest model of the SnO2×H2O composition allows us to reproduce the experimental data for stannous acids. The mechanisms of formation of the simplest nanostructures from the initial forms of stannous hydroxide Sn(OH)4 are proposed. It has been shown that the formation of a dimer (SnO2)2×4H2O by the association of two Sn(OH)4 molecules is energetically most advantageous. Further transformations of nanoparticles lead to an increase in their size, dehydration, and the formation of denser structures that have crystallinity features inherent in solid-phase SnO2.