Thermodynamic properties of copper compounds with oxygen and hydrogen from first principles

• We employ quantum-mechanical calculations (based on density functional theory and linear response theory) in order to test the mechanical and chemical stability of several solid-state configurations of Cu1+, Cu2+, O2–, H1–, and H1+ ions. We begin our analysis with cuprous oxide (Cu2O, cuprite structure), cupric oxide (CuO, tenorite structure), and cuprous hydride (CuH, wurtzite and sphalerite structures) whose thermodynamic properties have been studied experimentally. In our calculations, all these compounds are found to be mechanically stable configurations. Their formation energies calculated at T = 0 K (including the energy of zero-point and thermal motion of the ions) and at room temperature are in good agreement with existing thermodynamic data. A search for other possible solid-state conformations of copper, hydrogen, and oxygen ions is then performed. Several candidate structures for solid phases of cuprous oxy-hydride (Cu4H2O) and cupric hydride (CuH2) have been considered but found to be dynamically unstable. Cuprous oxy-hydride is found to be energetically unstable with respect to decomposition onto cuprous oxide and cuprous hydride. Metastability of cuprous hydroxide (CuOH) is established in our calculations. The free energy of CuOH is calculated to be some 50 kJ/mol higher than the average of the free energies of Cu2O and water. Thus, cuprite Cu2O is the most stable of the examined Cu(I) compounds.

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