Intermolecular interactions and the structure of near-surface layers in heterogeneous two-component systems based on nanocystallites of titanium dioxide

This contribution provides the theoretical background for the structure-determining role of hydrogen bonding in the formation of a near-surface layer of titania nanocrystallites, previously revealed by the authors in the investigation of IR experimental spectra of two-component solid mixtures of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide with benzophenone or 4-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl. DFT calculations (B3LYP) in 6-31+G(d) basis set is used to simulate the structure and IR spectra of free molecules of water, 4-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl, benzophenone and their H-complexes formed in the near-surface layers of titania nanocrystallites due to presence of water adsorbed on their surfaces. Using the results of simulation and analysis of IR spectrum bands corresponding to stretching vibrations of polar bonds O-H, C=O, C N, the formation mechanism of near-surface layers of titania nanocrystallites in the considered heterogeneous two-component systems is theoretically substantiated: they are formed by hydrogen-bonded complexes involving components of the mixture and water.