Comparative First-principles Study Research Articles

Comparative First-Principles Study of Antiperovskite Oxides and Nitrides as Thermoelectric Material: Multiple Dirac Cones, Low-Dimensional Band Dispersion, and High Valley Degeneracy

We perform a comparative study on thermoelectric performance of antiperovskite oxides $Ae_3Tt$O and nitrides $Ae_3Pn$N ($Ae=$ Ca, Sr, Ba; $Tt=$ Ge, Sn, Pb; $Pn=$ As, Sb, Bi) by means of first-principles calculation. As for the oxides with the cubic structure, Ca$_3$GeO with a sizable band gap exhibits high thermoelectric performance at high temperatures, while Ba$_3$PbO with Dirac cones without the gap is favorable at low temperatures. The latter high performance owes to high valley degeneracy including the multiple Dirac cones and the valleys near the $\Gamma$ and R points. For the nitrides with the cubic structure, insulator with strong quasi-one-dimensionality exhibits high thermoelectric performance. We also find that the orthorhombic structural distortion sometimes sizably enhances thermoelectric performance, especially for Ba$_3$GeO and Sr$_3$AsN where the high valley degeneracy is realized in the $Pnma$ phase. Our calculation reveals that antioerpvskites offer a fertile playground of various kinds of characteristic electronic structure, which enhance the thermoelectric performance, and provides promising candidates of high-performance thermoelectric materials.

Influence of Bi doping on physical properties of lead halide perovskites: a comparative first-principles study between CsPbI3 and CsPbBr3

We study the effects of Bi doping on the physical properties of CsPbX3 (X = I or Br), promising active materials in application to the solar cell, using first-principles calculations with the hybrid functional. In both CsPbBr3 and CsPbI3, we find that excess electrons introduced by Bi replacing Pb (BiPb) are mostly compensated by native acceptors such as Cs and Pb vacancies. As a result, the equilibrium Fermi level lies far below the defect level of BiPb, indicating that BiPb prefers the 1+ charge state over the neutral one. The band structure of Bi-doped CsPbX3 shows that the interaction between the defect and host states affects the conduction band, narrowing the bandgap of the host material. The formation energy of BiPb is smaller in CsPbI3 than in CsPbBr3, implying the easier doping of Bi in CsPbI3. The computational results successfully explain distinct doping effects on absorption spectra between CsPbI3 and CsPbBr3, which was observed in recent experiments.

Effects of Transition Metal Substituents on Interfacial and Electronic Structure of CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 Interface: A First-Principles Comparative Study.

To evaluate the influence of transition metal substituents on the characteristics of CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2, we investigated the geometrical and electronic properties of transition metal-substituted CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 by first-principles calculations. The results suggested that the substitution of Ti4+ at the five-fold coordinated (Ti5c) sites by transition metals is energetically favored. The substituted interface has enhanced visible light sensitivity and photoelectrocatalytic activity by reducing the transition energies. The transition metal substitution can effectively tune the band gap of the interface, which significantly improves the photo-reactivity. The substituted systems are expected to be more efficient in separating the photo-generated electrons-holes and active in the visible spectrum.

First-principles comparative study of UN and Zr corrosion

We studied surface corrosion effects on Zr and UN using first-principles density functional theory-based calculations. We focused on the energetics of Zr (1000), UN (100) and UN (110) surfaces, exposed to water and oxygen. Average distance between the terminating UN (100) surface and bulk increases due to the presence of additional oxygen content, as well as for the (110) surface. The average distance between the surface layer and bulk is greater in the (110) surface than the (100) surface after water adsorption. Oxygen concentration determines whether H2 or oxynitrde is formed on the (110) surface. Local density of states and partial charge density show the bonding between the UN surfaces and adsorbates. From an electronic energy of −2 eV to the Fermi level, the majority of electrons are found to be localized around U atoms. Electron localization function calculations further reveal the corrosion mechanism details.

Point defects in group III nitrides: A comparative first-principles study

One of the main challenges in the development of wide bandgap semiconductor devices is to understand the behavior of defects and avoid their harm. Using density-functional theory calculations with hybrid functional, we systematically investigated the neutral and charged native point defects (vacancy, interstitial, and antisite defect) in GaN, AlN, and InN crystals in terms of local geometry relaxation, formation energies, and electronic and diffusion properties. By comparing the defect configuration and transition levels as a function of the Fermi level, we show that Ga interstitial (Gaoc, Gate) in GaN, N vacancy (VN), N interstitial (Ni), In antisite (InN), and In interstitial (Inte, Inoc) in InN can exist stably only in the positive charge states with donor level and VIn is stable in the neutral state, while the other defects exhibit both donor and acceptor behavior. Among them, the most stable defects are identified as VN for p-type nitrides and VGa, VAl for n-type nitrides. These results, providing a mechanism for self-compensation effects, explain the reduced doping efficiencies for both n-type and p-type nitrides due to defects. Moreover, it is also demonstrated that N interstitial diffuses faster than vacancy, which are mainly responsible for the low concentration of N interstitials and N-based defect complexes produced in nitrides. Significantly, the trends of formation energy, transition level, and migration barrier of nitrides are also consistent with their intrinsic atomic size and bandgap. Our study is important for the identification and control of point defects in nitrides, which have a profound impact on device performance and reliability.

Tuning Adsorption and Catalytic Properties of α-Cr2O3 and ZnO in Propane Dehydrogenation by Creating Oxygen Vacancy and Doping Single Pt Atom: A Comparative First-Principles Study

Density functional theory calculations have been performed to examine the different catalytic behaviors of α-Cr2O3 and ZnO in propane dehydrogenation. On ZnO(1010), adsorption of a Lewis acid at t...

A Comparative First-Principles Study of Lithium, Sodium and Magnesium Insertion Energetics in Brookite Titanium Dioxide

ABSTRACTBrookite titanium dioxide is investigated from first principles as possible insertion-type cathode material for Li, Na and Mg. Recently structural similarity of this phase and amorphous titanium dioxide was reported. Low-concentration insertion energies and the corresponding voltages, however, suggest poor electrochemical performance of brookite in comparison to e.g. layered titania phases such as B-TiO2. We argue that this behavior could be explained by local electronic structure leading to higher voltages in amorphous compounds, since the lattice strains induced by intercalation in brookite are not sufficient to explain the poor binding energies with the investigated metals.

Adsorbate-enhanced field-emission from single-walled carbon nanotubes: a comparative first-principles study

We report a comparative ab initio study of different types of adsorbates and their adsorption mechanism on the field-emission performance of single-walled carbon nanotubes by analyzing electrical properties and transport characteristics and considering the thermal stability of the adsorbed structure. Adsorbates were found to reduce the work function by up to 1.3 eV, enhance tunneling near the carbon nanotube tip, and increase the field-emission current by as much as two orders of magnitude. A significant localization of the electron cloud was also observed near the adsorbates under a high applied electric field.

A comparative first-principles study of point defect properties in the layered MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Te): Substitution by the groups III, V and VII elements

Dopability in semiconductors plays a crucial role in device performance. Using the first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we investigate systematically the doping properties of layered MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Te) by replacing M or X with the groups III, V and VII elements. It is found that the defect BM is hard to form in MX2 due to the large formation energy originating from the crystal distortion, while AlM is easy to realize compared to the former. In MoS2, WS2 and MoTe2, Al is the most desirable p-type dopant under anion-rich conditions among the group III components. With respect to the doping of the group V elements, it is found that the substitutions on the cation sites have deeper defect levels than those on the anion sites. AsTe and SbTe in MoTe2 and WTe2 are trend to form shallow acceptors under cation-rich conditions, indicating high hole-concentrations for p-type doping, whereas SbS in MoS2 and PTe in WTe2 are shown to be good p-type candidates under cation-rich conditions. In despite of that the substitutions of group VII on X site have low formation energies, the transition energies are too high to achieve n-type MoS2 and WS2. Nevertheless, for MoTe2, the substitutions with the group VII elements on the anion sites are suitable for n-type doping on account of the shallow donor levels and low formation energies under Mo-rich condition. As to WTe2, F is the only potential donor due to the shallow transition energy of FTe. Our findings of filtering out unfavorable and identifying favorable dopants in MX2 are very valuable for experimental implementations.

A comparative first-principles study of tetragonal TiAl and Ti4Nb3Al9 intermetallic compounds

A comparative study on the phase stability and elastic properties of tetragonal TiAl and Ti4Nb3Al9 was performed by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. The results showed that the stability of Ti4Nb3Al9 phase is lower than that of TiAl. The polycrystal Ti4Nb3Al9 has the better ductility and the lower hardness, sound velocities and Debye temperature than TiAl. Meanwhile, Ti4Nb3Al9 has more significant anisotropy of elasticity than TiAl. The above results can provide a valuable reference for designing the novel γ-TiAl-based alloys with γ1 -Ti4Nb3Al9 phase.

Molecule-Adsorbed Topological Insulator and Metal Surfaces: A Comparative First-Principles Study

We compare electronic structure characteristics of three different kinds of benzene-adsorbed (111) surfaces: that of Bi2Te3, a prototypical topological insulator, that of Au, a prototypical inert metal, and that of Pt, a prototypical catalytic metal. Using first-principles calculations based on dispersion-corrected density functional theory, we show that benzene is chemisorbed on Pt, but physisorbed on Au and Bi2Te3. The adsorption on Bi2Te3 is particularly weak, consistent with a minimal perturbation of the electronic structure at the surface of the topological insulator, revealed by a detailed analysis of the interaction of the molecular orbitals with the topological surface states.

A comparative first-principles study of the structural and electronic properties of the liquid Li-Si and Li-Ge alloys.

We have performed a comparative first-principles study on the structural and electronic properties of the liquid Li1-xSix and Li1-xGex alloys over a range of composition from x = 0.09 to 0.50. Our calculations showed that Si and Ge atoms can exhibit very distinct local bonding characteristics as they were alloyed with the Li atoms in the liquid state, where Si atoms tended to form a variety of covalent bonding configurations while Ge atoms predominantly appeared as the isolated anions in the liquid alloys. These differences in bonding characteristics were reflected in their electronic density of states, in which the liquid Li1-xGex alloys have a lower degree of s-p hybridization with narrower distributions of the 3s and 3p states than the liquid Li1-xSix alloys. Our calculations also showed that the optical conductivities of these two liquid alloys can undergo a transition from the Drude-like metallic nature to the semiconductor-like character as the Si/Ge content increases from 0.09 to 0.22. However, as the Si/Ge content further increases to 0.50, the liquid Li1-xGex alloys may transit to exhibit the Drude-like metallic nature, while the liquid Li1-xSix alloys can still hold the semiconductor-like character. Moreover, our calculations revealed that the dc conductivities of these liquid alloys are predominantly determined by the number of total electronic states at the Fermi level. As the liquid Li1-xSix alloys are within the composition range between 0.20 and 0.50, the increment of the states at the Fermi level with increasing the Si content is nearly identical to the amount of the Li states decreased, leading to an almost unchanged number of total electronic states at the Fermi level. However, since Ge atoms do not favor forming covalent bonding in the liquid alloys to keep the Fermi level at a minimum of the density of states, the liquid Li1-xGex alloys would have more electronic states at the Fermi level and thereby higher dc conductivities than the liquid Li1-xSix alloys within the same composition range.

A first-principles comparative study of lithium, sodium, and magnesium storage in pure and gallium-doped germanium: Competition between interstitial and substitutional sites.

Thermodynamics and kinetics of Li, Na, and Mg storage in Ge are studied ab initio. The most stable configurations can consist of tetrahedral, substitutional, or a combination of the two types of sites. In the dilute limit, Li and Na prefer interstitial, while Mg prefers substitutional sites. At higher concentrations of Li, Na, and Mg, there is a combination of interstitial and substitutional sites. This is an important finding, as most previous ab initio studies of alloying type electrode materials ignored substitutional sites. Insertion energies computed at dilute concentration (x = 1/64) show that Na and Mg insertion are not thermodynamically favored in Ge vs. the formation of bulk Na and Mg, as opposed to Li insertion which is favored. We investigate the effect of p-doping of Ge (with Ga) on the thermodynamics and find that it considerably lowers the defect formation energies associated with the insertion of Li/Na/Mg at tetrahedral sites. On the other hand, the energetics associated with Li/Na/Mg insertion at substitutional sites are not significantly affected. In addition, we compute the migration energy barriers for Li/Na/Mg diffusion between two tetrahedral sites (0.38/0.79/0.66 eV), between two substitutional sites (0.77/0.93/1.83 eV), and between two sites of different types (2.15/1.75/0.85 eV).

A unified understanding of the direct coordination of NO to first-transition-row metal centers in metal-ligand complexes.

The binding of nitric oxide (NO) to heme-proteins is an important biochemical process involved in a variety of physiological functions. Here, using hybrid density-functional calculations, we systematically investigate the adsorption of NO to first-transition-row metal centers in metal-ligand complexes. Through the comparative study for different transition metal (TM) centers, we provide a unified understanding of the microscopic interactions of NO with the TM centers and related chemical trends. We found that as the atomic number of the TM center increases, the binding strength of NO is largely reduced from 207 kJ mol-1 to near zero due to the low d-orbital energies for late TM centers. The intermolecular spin coupling between the localized spins at the TM center and the NO molecule is generally antiferromagnetic, except for the case of Sc. The spin-spin coupling is determined in such a way to avoid the energy penalty associated with the electron occupation in the antibonding states of the NO-bound complex. The adsorption strength of NO is generally larger than of CO because the unpaired electron of NO occupies the associated bonding state.

A comparative first-principles study on electronic structures and mechanical properties of ternary intermetallic compounds Al8Cr4Y and Al8Cu4Y: Pressure and tension effects

An investigation into the bulk properties, elastic properties and Debye temperature under pressure, and deformation mode under tension of Al8Cu4Y and Al8Cr4Y compounds was investigated by using first principles calculations based on density functional theory. The calculated lattice constants for the ternary compounds (Al8Cu4Y and Al8Cr4Y) are in good agreement with the experimental data. It can be seen from interatomic distances that the bonding between Al1 atom and Cr, Y, and Al2 atoms in Al8Cr4Y are stronger than Al8Cu4Y. The results of cohesive energy show that Al8Cr4Y should be easier to be formed and much stronger chemical bonds than Al8Cu4Y. The bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young's modulus E and Poisson's ratio ν can be obtained by using the Voigt–Reuss–Hill averaging scheme. From the results of elastic properties, Al8Cr4Y has the stronger mechanical behavior than Al8Cu4Y. Our calculations also show that pressure has a greater effect on mechanical behavior for both compounds. The ideal tensile strength are obtained by stress-strain relationships under [001](001) uniaxial tensile deformation, which are 15.4 and 23.4GPa for Al8Cu4Y and Al8Cr4Y, respectively. The total and partial density of states and electron charge density under uniaxial tensile deformations for Al8Cu4Y and Al8Cr4Y compounds are also calculated and discussed in this work.

A comparative first-principles study of the lithiation, sodiation, and magnesiation of black phosphorus for Li-, Na-, and Mg-ion batteries.

Using first-principles calculations, we describe and compare atomistic lithiation, sodiation, and magnesiation processes in black phosphorous with a layered structure similar to graphite for Li-, Na-, and Mg-ion batteries because graphite is not considered to be an electrode material for Na- and Mg-ion batteries. The three processes are similar in that an intercalation mechanism occurs at low Li/Na/Mg concentrations, and then further insertion of Li/Na/Mg leads to a change from the intercalation mechanism to an alloying process. Li and Mg show a columnar intercalation mechanism and prefer to locate in different phosphorene layers, while Na shows a planar intercalation mechanism and preferentially localizes in the same layer. In addition, we compare the mechanical properties of black phosphorous during lithiation, sodiation, and magnesiation. Interestingly, lithiation and sodiation at high concentrations (Li2P and Na2P) lead to the softening of black phosphorous, whereas magnesiation shows a hardening phenomenon. In addition, the diffusion of Li/Na/Mg in black phosphorus during the intercalation process is an easy process along one-dimensional channels in black phosphorus with marginal energy barriers. The diffusion of Li has a lower energy barrier in black phosphorus than in graphite.

Activity versus Selectivity of the Methanol Oxidation at Ceria Surfaces: A Comparative First-Principles Study

Ceria nanoparticles may expose (100) and (111) facets depending on the preparation method. Motivated by that, we study the reactions of methanol with the CeO2(100) surface using dispersion-corrected PBE+U subject to periodic boundary conditions and compare with results for the CeO2(111) surface. At (100) facets, the oxidative dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde occurs with an intrinsic barrier of only 0.94 eV (91 kJ/mol), which is significantly lower than the corresponding barrier of 1.23 eV (119 kJ/mol) at the (111) surface. The lower barrier maps to lower formaldehyde desorption temperatures as observed in temperature-programmed desorption spectroscopy. The higher activity is in accordance with predicted lower oxygen defect formation energy in the (100) surface. Thus, defect formation energies are valid reactivity descriptors for oxidation reactions following a Mars-van Krevelen mechanism. At both surfaces, formaldehyde either desorbs or forms a bridging dioxymethylene intermediate, which can be...

First-principles comparative study on the interlayer adhesion and shear strength of transition-metal dichalcogenides and graphene

Due to their layered structure, graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are easily sheared along the basal planes. Despite a growing attention towards their use as solid lubricants, so far no head-to-head comparison has been carried out. By means of ab initio modeling of a bilayer sliding motion, we show that graphene is characterized by a shallower potential energy landscape while more similarities are attained when considering the sliding forces; we propose that the calculated interfacial ideal shear strengths afford the most accurate information on the intrinsic sliding capability of layered materials. We also investigate the effect of an applied uniaxial load: in graphene, this introduces a limited increase in the sliding barrier while in TMDs it has a substantially different impact on the possible polytypes. The polytype presenting a parallel orientation of the layers ($R0$) bears more similarities to graphene while that with antiparallel orientation ($R180$) shows deep changes in the potential energy landscape and consequently a sharper increase of its sliding barrier.

Electronic structures and elastic properties of monolayer and bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = O, S, Se, Te): A comparative first-principles study**Project supported by the Construct Program of the Key Discipline in Hunan Province, China and Aid Program for Science and Technology Innovative Research Team in Higher Educational Institutions of Hunan Province, China.

First-principle calculations with different exchange-correlation functionals, including LDA, PBE, and vdW-DF functional in the form of optB88-vdW, have been performed to investigate the electronic and elastic properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with the formula of MX2(M = Mo, W; X = O, S, Se, Te) in both monolayer and bilayer structures. The calculated band structures show a direct band gap for monolayer TMDCs at the K point except for MoO2 and WO2. When the monolayers are stacked into a bilayer, the reduced indirect band gaps are found except for bilayer WTe2, in which the direct gap is still present at the K point. The calculated in-plane Young moduli are comparable to that of graphene, which promises possible application of TMDCs in future flexible and stretchable electronic devices. We also evaluated the performance of different functionals including LDA, PBE, and optB88-vdW in describing elastic moduli of TMDCs and found that LDA seems to be the most qualified method. Moreover, our calculations suggest that the Young moduli for bilayers are insensitive to stacking orders and the mechanical coupling between monolayers seems to be negligible.

A Comparative First-Principles Study on Sodiation of Silicon, Germanium, and Tin for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) have recently received great attention as a potential complement to existing lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology. Because of the difference between Na and Li in nature, what has been an attractive anode material for LIBs may or may not be utilized for NIBs. Using density functional theory calculations, we examine and compare the sodiation behaviors of Si, Ge, and Sn, in comparison also to their lithiation processes if needed. We evaluate single Na incorporation in the host matrices (M = Si, Ge, Sn) and also discuss the formation of Na–M alloys in terms of structural evolution and energetics, along with their mechanical and diffusion properties. While the alloy systems considered in this work appear to undergo similar transformation during sodiation and lithiation, the M networks tend to lose connectivity more rapidly in the former. At Na/Li:M = 1:1 ratio, the M networks in a-NaM alloys already disintegrate into compact isolated clusters while those in a-LiM still maintain exte...