We present a first-principles theoretical approach for evaluating the lattice thermal conductivity based on the exact solution of the Boltzmann transport equation. We use the variational principle and the conjugate gradient scheme, which provide us with an algorithm faster than the one previously used in literature and able to always converge to the exact solution. Three-phonon normal and umklapp collision, isotope scattering and border effects are rigorously treated in the calculation. Good agreement with experimental data for diamond is found. Moreover we show that by growing more enriched diamond samples it is possible to achieve values of thermal conductivity up to three times larger than the commonly observed in isotopically enriched diamond samples with 99.93% C12 and 0.07 C13.
We herein present a first-principles formulation of the Green-Kubo method that allows the accurate assessment of the non-radiative thermal conductivity of solid semiconductors and insulators in equilibrium ab initio molecular dynamics calculations. Using the virial for the nuclei, we propose a unique ab initio definition of the heat flux. Accurate size- and time convergence are achieved within moderate computational effort by a robust, asymptotically exact extrapolation scheme. We demonstrate the capabilities of the technique by investigating the thermal conductivity of extreme high and low heat conducting materials, namely diamond Si and tetragonal ZrO$_2$.
Elemental 2D materials exhibit intriguing heat transport and phononic properties. Here we have investigated the lattice thermal conductivity of newly proposed arsenene, the 2D honeycomb structure of arsenic, using {it ab initio} calculations. Solving the Boltzmann transport equation for phonons, we predict a highly anisotropic thermal conductivity, of $30.4$ and $7.8$ W/mK along the zigzag and armchair directions, respectively at room temperature. Our calculations reveal that phonons with mean free paths between $20$ nm and $1$ $mu$m provide the main contribution to the large thermal conductivity in the zig-zag direction, mean free paths of phonons contributing to heat transport in the armchair directions range between $20$ and $100$ nm. The obtained low and anisotropic thermal conductivity, and feasibility of synthesis, in addition to other reports on high electron mobility, make arsenene a promising material for a variety of applications, including thermal management and thermoelectric devices.
The lattice thermal conductivity of the candidate thermoelectric material Mg$_3$Sb$_2$ is studied from first principles, with the inclusion of anharmonic, isotope, and boundary scattering processes, and via an accurate solution of the Boltzmann equation. We find that the anomalously low observed conductivity is due to grain-boundary scattering of phonons, whereas the purely anharmonic conductivity is an order of magnitude larger. Mass disorder due to alloying and off-stoichiometry is also found to contribute significantly to its decrease. Combining ab initio values vs sample size with measured grain-size distributions, we obtain an estimate of $kappa$ vs T in nano-polycrystalline material in good agreement with typical experiments, and compute the ZT figure of merit in the various cases.
We extend the recently developed converse NMR approach [T. Thonhauser, D. Ceresoli, A. Mostofi, N. Marzari, R. Resta, and D. Vanderbilt, J. Chem. Phys. textbf{131}, 101101 (2009)] such that it can be used in conjunction with norm-conserving, non-local pseudopotentials. This extension permits the efficient ab-initio calculation of NMR chemical shifts for elements other than hydrogen within the convenience of a plane-wave pseudopotential approach. We have tested our approach on several finite and periodic systems, finding very good agreement with established methods and experimental results.
We present a fully variational generalization of the pseudo self-interaction correction (VPSIC) approach previously presented in two implementations based on plane-waves and atomic orbital basis set, known as PSIC and ASIC, respectively. The new method is essentially equivalent to the previous version for what concern the electronic properties, but it can be exploited to calculate total-energy derived properties as well, such as forces and structural optimization. We apply the method to a variety of test cases including both non-magnetic and magnetic correlated oxides and molecules, showing a generally good accuracy in the description of both structural and electronic properties.