Ab initio study of structural, electronic, and thermal properties of Pt1−xPdx alloys

Abstract

We report a systematic theoretical study of Pt[Formula: see text]Pd[Formula: see text] alloys using ab initio density functional theory (DFT) by pseudo potential method. We have used super cell approach to investigate structural, electronic and thermal properties of Platinum (Pt), Palladium (Pd) and their alloys Pt[Formula: see text]Pd[Formula: see text]([Formula: see text] = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00). The calculated lattice constants and bulk moduli are in good agreement with available literature data. The results of electronic properties revealed that the alloys are metallic in nature. The thermal properties were investigated through density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) and quasi-harmonic approximation. The contribution to the free energy from the lattice vibration was calculated using the phonon densities of states (DOS) derived by means of the linear-response theory. The DFPT with quasi-harmonic approximation methods was applied to determine the phonon DOS and thermal quantities i.e., the Debye temperatures, vibration energy, entropy and constant-volume specific heat.