A full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) study of atomic carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen chemisorption on the (100) surface of δ-Pu

Fully relativistic full-potential density functional calculations with an all-electron linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbitals method have been performed to investigate the electronic and geometric structures of atomic carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen chemisorption on the (10 0) surface of delta-Pu. For all chemisorption processes, the center adsorption site is found to be the most preferred site with chemisorption energies of 7.964, 7.665, and 8.335 eV for the C, N, and O adatoms, respectively. The respective optimized distances of the C, N, and O adatoms from the surface were found to be 0.26, 0.35, and 0.48 angstrom. The work functions and the net magnet moments, respectively, increased and decreased in all cases compared with the bare delta-Pu (10 0) surface. In particular, the work function shift is largest for the least preferred top site and lowest for the most preferred center site. A detailed analysis of partial charges inside the atomic spheres, charge density distributions, and the local density of states have been performed to investigate the nature of the interaction between the surface Pu atoms and the adatoms. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.