BAND STRUCTURE, HARDNESS, THERMODYNAMIC AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF SUPERCONDUCTING Nb2AsC, Nb2InC AND Mo2GaC

Abstract

First-principles investigation of the geometry, electronic band structure, Vickers hardness, thermodynamic and optical properties of three superconducting MAX compounds Nb 2 AsC , Nb 2 InC and Mo 2 GaC have been carried out by the plane-wave pseudopotential method based on density functional theory (DFT) implemented in the CASTEP code. The theoretical Vickers hardness has been studied by means of Mulliken bond population analysis and electronic densities of states. The thermodynamic properties such as the temperature and pressure dependent bulk modulus, Debye temperature, specific heats and thermal expansion coefficient of the three 211 MAX phases are derived from the quasi-harmonic Debye model with phononic effect for the first time. Furthermore, all the optical properties are determined and analyzed for the first time for two different polarization directions. The theoretical findings are compared with relevant experiments (where available) and the various implications are discussed in details.