Computational modeling study on the physical properties of Pd doped BaTiO3 perovskite

Abstract

This contribution investigates structural, electronic, and optical properties of cubic barium titanate (BaTiO3) perovskites using first-principles calculations of density functional theory (DFT). Generalized gradient approximations (GGA) alongside with PW91 functional have been implemented for the exchange–correlation potential. The obtained results display that BaTiO3 exhibits a band gap of 3.21 eV which agrees well with the previously experimental and theoretical literature. Interestingly, our results explore that when replacing Pd atom with Ba and Ti atoms at 0.125 content a clear decrease in the electronic band gap of 1.052 and 1.090 eV located within the visible range of electromagnetic wavelengths (EMW). Optical parameters such as absorption, reflectivity, the real and imaginary components of the dielectric function, Loss function, reflective index, extinction coefficient were calculated. Thus, the current findings reveal that Pd–BaTiO3 is a promising composition to be synthesised experimentally for various optoelectronic applications. The predicted negative formation energies values of the inspected structures are indicating to exothermic formation process of such materials and more interestingly indicating also to the stability and possibility of synthesizing such materials experimentally.