First-principles study on the optical spectra of ZrO2 crystal with oxygen vacancy

Abstract

In this paper, we present the optical spectra of the ZrO2 crystal containing oxygen vacancy based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT). The finite-size correction scheme (FNV) is employed to eliminate the artificial interactions and correct the defect formation energy of oxygen vacancies with three different charges (0, +1, +2). Besides, we use hybrid density functionals to relieve the band edge problem. Finally, we obtain the optical spectra for the F center and F[Formula: see text] center containing the electron–phonon coupling. The absorption peak of F center of threefold coordinate oxygen vacancy (V[Formula: see text]) near 446 nm (2.78 eV) agrees well with the experimental value (2.83 eV), which can enhance the visible light photocatalytic ability of ZrO2. The luminescence peak of the F[Formula: see text] center of fourfold coordinate oxygen vacancy (V[Formula: see text]) is 561 nm (2.21 eV), which is close to the experimental value (2.5 eV).