THEORETICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE O(1S) BINDING-ENERGY SHIFTS IN ALKALINE-EARTH OXIDES - CHEMICAL OR ELECTROSTATIC CONTRIBUTIONS

We report results from ab initio cluster-model calculations on the O(1 s) binding energy (BE) in the alkaline-earth oxides, MgO, CaO, SrO, an d BaO; all these oxides have a cubic lattice structure. We have obtain ed values for both the initial- and final-state BE's. A simple point-c harge model, where an O2-anion is surrounded by point charges, account s for the observed shift in the O(1s) BE by about 2.5 eV to lower ener gy going from MgO (largest BE) to BaO (smallest BE). This point-charge model only describes the effect of the Madelung potential at the 1s i onized O2- anion; it does not allow any covalent bonding between the m etal (M) cations and the oxygen anions. Once the effect of the O2 --> M2+ covalent bonding is included explicitly by using O(m)M(n) cluster models of the MO crystal, the trend in the O(1s) BE to smaller values for heavier metals does not change significantly. This shows that the main contribution to the shift is not the different amount of covalent mixing in the alkaline-earth oxides but rather the change in the Made lung potential along the group.