Influence on electron energy loss spectroscopy of the niobium-substituted uranium atom: A density functional theory study

Abstract

We present the electronic structure and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) for uranium, niobium and U 3Nb in which uranium is substituted by niobium. Comparing the electronic structures and optical properties for uranium, niobium and U 3Nb, we found that when niobium atom replaces uranium atom in the center lattice, density of state (DOS) of U 3Nb shifts downward to low energy. Niobium affects DOS fo f and d electrons more than that for p and s electrons. U 3Nb is similar to uranium for the electronic energy loss spectra.