Theoretical study of the effect of spin-selective adsorption of water molecules on MgO surface

The effect of spin-selective adsorption of water molecules on the surface of MgO crystal is theoretically studied. The study is performed using two different approaches, i.e., quantum-chemical simulation and an analytical calculation in a quasiclassical approximation. The adsorption energy is calculated using the B3LYP density functional and the 6-311G* basis set. The calculated value of the adsorption energy 0.70 eV agrees well with an experimental value of 0.65 eV. It is established that the energy difference of adsorbed ortho- and para-water molecules is negligible and, thus, the difference of the adsorption energies is completely determined by the energy difference of free molecules in ortho- and para-states. It follows from the analytical calculation that this result is essentially general and is related not only to an MgO surface, but to any other surface on which the energy barrier for rotation of the adsorbed molecule is much larger than the corresponding rotational constant. Based on this, the conclusion is reached that the effect of spin-selective adsorption on these surfaces should not be observed under normal conditions.