No Arabic abstract
Structural and electronic properties of zinc blende TlxIn(1-x)N alloy have been evaluated from first principles. The band structures have been obtained within the density functional theory (DFT), the modified Becke-Johnson (MBJLDA) approach for the exchange-correlation potential, and fully relativistic pseudopotentials. The calculated band-gap dependence on Tl content in this hypothetical alloy exhibits a linear behaviour up to the 25 % of thalium content where its values become close to zero. In turn, the split-off energy at the Gamma point of the Brillouin zone, related to the spin-orbit coupling, is predicted to be comparable in value with the band-gap for relatively low thalium contents of about 5 %. These findings suggest TlxIn(1-x)N alloy as a promising material for optoelectronic applications. Furthermore, the band structure of TlN reveals some specific properties exhibited by topological insulators.
Using first-principles calculations within the generalized gradient approximation, we predicted the lattice parameters, elastic constants, vibrational properties, and electronic structure of cementite (Fe3C). Its nine single-crystal elastic constants were obtained by computing total energies or stresses as a function of applied strain. Furthermore, six of them were determined from the initial slopes of the calculated longitudinal and transverse acoustic phonon branches along the [100], [010] and [001] directions. The three methods agree well with each other, the calculated polycrystalline elastic moduli are also in good overall agreement with experiments. Our calculations indicate that Fe3C is mechanically stable. The experimentally observed high elastic anisotropy of Fe3C is also confirmed by our study. Based on electronic density of states and charge density distribution, the chemical bonding in Fe3C was analyzed and was found to exhibit a complex mixture of metallic, covalent, and ionic characters.
First-principles calculations through a FLAPW-GGA method for six possible polymorphs of ruthenium mononitride RuN with various atomic coordination numbers CNs: cubic zinc blende (ZB) and cooperite PtS-like structures with CNs = 4; cubic rock-salt (RS), hexagonal WC-like and NiAs-like structures with CNs = 6 and cubic CsCl-like structure with CN = 8 indicate that the most stable is ZB structure, which is much more preferable for RuN than the recently reported RS structure for synthesized RuN samples. The elastic and electronic properties of ZB-RuN were investigated and discussed in comparison with those for RS-RuN polymorph.
The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of VSSe, VSeTe, VSTe monolayers in both 2H and 1T phases are investigated via first-principles calculations. The 2H phase is energetically favorable in VSSe and VSeTe, whereas the 1T phase is lower in energy in VSTe. For V-based Janus monolayers in the 2H phase, calculations of the magnetic anisotropy show an easy-plane for the magnetic moment. As such, they should not exhibit a ferromagnetic phase transition, but instead, a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. A classical XY model with nearest-neighbor coupling estimates critical temperatures (T$_{BKT}$) ranging from 106 K for VSSe to 46 K for VSTe.
First principles study of structural, elastic, and electronic properties of the cubic perovskitetype BaHfO$_3$ has been performed using the plane wave ultrasoft pseudo-potential method based on density functional theory with revised Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA-RPBE). The calculated equilibrium lattice constant of this compound is in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data reported in the literatures. The independent elastic constants (emph{C}$_{11}$, emph{C}$_{12}$, and emph{C}$_{44}$), bulk modules emph{B} and its pressure derivatives $B^{prime}$, compressibility $beta$, shear modulus emph{G}, Youngs modulus emph{Y}, Poissons ratio $ u$, and Lam{e} constants ($mu, lambda$) are obtained and analyzed in comparison with the available theoretical and experimental data for both the singlecrystalline and polycrystalline BaHfO$_3$. The band structure calculations show that BaHfO$_3$ is a indirect bandgap material (R-$Gamma$ = 3.11 eV) derived basically from the occupied O 2emph{p} and unoccupied Hf 5emph{d} states, and it still awaits experimental confirmation. The density of states (total, site-projected, and emph{l}-decomposed) and the bonding charge density calculations make it clear that the covalent bonds exist between the Hf and O atoms and the ionic bonds exist between the Ba atoms and HfO$_3$ ionic groups in BaHfO$_3$. From our calculations, it is shown that BaHfO$_3$ should be promising as a candidate for synthesis and design of superhard materials due to the covalent bonding between the transition metal Hf 5emph{d} and O 2emph{p} states.
We present results of electronic band structure, Fermi surface and electron transport properties calculations in orthorhombic $n$- and $p$-type SnSe, applying Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method and Boltzmann transport approach. The analysis accounted for temperature effect on crystallographic parameters in $Pnma$ structure as well as the phase transition to $CmCm$ structure at $T_csim 807 $K. Remarkable modifications of conduction and valence bands were notified upon varying crystallographic parameters within the structure before $T_c$, while the phase transition mostly leads to jump in the band gap value. The diagonal components of kinetic parameter tensors (velocity, effective mass) and resulting transport quantity tensors (electrical conductivity $sigma$, thermopower $S$ and power factor PF) were computed in wide range of temperature ($15-900 $K) and, hole ($p-$type) and electron ($n-$type) concentration ($10^{17}-10^{21}$ cm$^{-3}$). SnSe is shown to have strong anisotropy of the electron transport properties for both types of charge conductivity, as expected for the layered structure. In general, $p$-type effective masses are larger than $n$-type ones. Interestingly, $p$-type SnSe has strongly non-parabolic dispersion relations, with the pudding-mold-like shape of the highest valence band. The analysis of $sigma$, $S$ and PF tensors indicates, that the inter-layer electron transport is beneficial for thermoelectric performance in $n$-type SnSe, while this direction is blocked in $p$-type SnSe, where in-plane transport is preferred. Our results predict, that $n$-type SnSe is potentially even better thermoelectric material than $p$-type one. Theoretical results are compared with single crystal $p$-SnSe measurements, and good agreement is found.