Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations were performed on the (011) surface of α-quartz at room-temperature using density functional theory. Pristine surface was obtained by homolytic fracture of α-quartz crystal, leaving exposed SiO·radicals, following which the surface was allowed to spontaneously reconstructed during the simulation. Reconstruction events occurred at different timings but in most cases produced similar geometries. The most common motif consisted of a fused seven-member ring. Formation of this structure proceeded through reaction of two adjacent O· radicals, followed by linking of one of the reactive O with a nearby silicon. Other structures, like Si2O2, were also observed. In the newly formed structures some of the silicon atoms had penta-coordinated geometry, usually distorted between pure bipyramidal, trigonal and square pyramidal. In a few cases oxygen atoms also became tricoordinated. Formation of new bonds was investigated by analyzing the electronic structure of the system along the reaction path, and specifically the localization of unpaired electrons was deduced from the spin-density. Because most reactions involved triplet → singlet transitions, a time-dependent density functional theory was used to determine the crossing point of the two potential energy surfaces. Plotted density of states was also used to compare the electronic structures of the initial and reconstructed surfaces. Reconstruction originated new states from O-px and O-pz orbitals. Stability analysis of the reconstructed surface was performed at the PBE level and 7-member rings were found to be more stable than fused rings with penta-coordinated silicon. Hypervalent silicon and oxygen atoms were also found to exist. Nevertheless, specialization of (011) surface appeared to be less reactive compared to (001), which suggests a lesser toxicity of rhombohedral form on crystalline silica.

Reconstruction of the (011) Surface on α-Quartz - a Semiclassical ab initio Molecular Dynamics Study. P.E.M.Lopes, E.Demchuk, A.D.Mackerell: International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 2009, 109[1], 50-64