Abstract
An attempt has been made to examine the energetic properties of M center diffusion, excitons near M
2+
, M
+
, M, M
-
and M
2-
centers and adsorptivity of atomic H and He over defect free and defect containing surfaces of LiH using an ab initio embedded cluster method at the Hatrtree–Fock approximation and Moller–Plesset second order perturbation correction. The results confirm the following, (1) the calculated barriers to diffusion of M center in its lowest triplet excited state is always greater than those in its singlet ground state; (2) the triplet M center is not produced directly by optical processes, but, indirectly by thermal diffusion; (3) the exclusive dependence of exciton bands and the nonexclusive dependence of band gaps on the defect charge; (4) surface relaxation is not more important than bulk relaxation; (5) the M center changes the nature of H adsorption from physical adsorption to chemical adsorption; (6) bulk or surface M
2-
changes the nature of LiH from an insulator to a semiconductor; (7) as M center is introduced, the HOMO and LUMO levels of the substrate shift to higher energies and band gaps become narrower. This change in the electronic structure makes charge transfer between adsorbate and substrate levels and spin pairing with atomic H more facile.