First principle study of the electronic properties of the magnetocaloric compound Gd5Si4

Abstract

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of the Gd 5 Si 4 compound have been investigated by the first principles full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method based on density functional theory (DFT) using the WIEN2k code. The Coulomb corrected local-spin density approximation (LSDA + U) in the self-interaction correction (SIC) has been used for the exchange-correlation potential. Based on the calculated results, the ground state of Gd 5 Si 4 is found to be ferromagnetic (FM). The optimized structural parameters and magnetic properties including the lattice constants and magnetic moments are in good agreement with experimental data. The magnetic moments of the Gd atoms in Gd 5 Si 4 are smaller than that of the elemental gadolinium. The magnetic moment of Gd 5 Si 4 is found to be 37.8 μB/f.u. DOS results show that the magnetic properties of the compound depend on the hybridization between Si -3p and Gd -5d states which have an effective role in the RKKY interaction. The existence of the very flat bands at -7 eV for spin up and at +3 eV for spin down that is mainly Gd -4f characters shows that the LSDA + U method provides the better description of our systems. The obvious overlap of electron densities between the Gd1 and Si atoms indicates a covalent-like bonding between them.