No Arabic abstract
In the present work, the structural and hitherto unexplored thermal and mechanical properties of NaInS2-xSex (x = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0) compounds have been studied using the density functional theory. Besides, the elastic anisotropy indices and hardnesses of NaInS2-xSex have been investigated as Se content is varied. The mechanical stability of all the compounds under study has been confirmed. The ratio of shear to bulk modulus (G/B) is low suggesting that the NaInS2-xSex (x = 0.5 and 1.5) compounds exhibit damage tolerant (ductility) properties while rest of the compositions are brittle in nature. The predicted hardness (H) values are also influenced with the Se content in the following order: H (NaInSSe) > H (NaInS2) > H (NaInSe2) > H (NaInS1.5Se0.5) > H (NaInS0.5Se1.5). All the anisotropic indices under study indicate that NaInS2-xSex compounds are anisotropic in nature. The Mulliken bond population analysis suggests that the degree of covalency of In-S/Se bonds decreases when S is substituted by Se. The origin of low Debye temperature ({Theta}D) and low minimum thermal conductivity (Kmin) have been successfully explained by considering the mean atomic weight (M/n) and average bond strength of the compounds. Temperature dependence of heat capacities (Cv, Cp) and linear thermal expansion coefficient ({alpha} ) are also estimated using the quasi-harmonic Debye model and discussed. The low values of Kmin, {Theta}D and {alpha} and damage tolerant behavior clearly indicate that the NaInS2-xSex (x = 0.5 and 1.5) compounds can be used as promising thermal barrier coating materials for high temperature applications.
Boron rich chalcogenides have been predicted to have excellent properties for optical and mechanical applications in recent times. In this regard, we report the electronic, optical and mechanical properties of recently synthesized boron rich chalcogenide compounds, B12X (X = S and Se) using density functional theory for the first time. The effects of exchange and correlation functional on these properties are also investigated. The consistency of the obtained crystal structure with the reported experimental results has been checked in terms of lattice parameters. The considered materials are mechanically stable, brittle and elastically anisotropic. Furthermore, the elastic moduli and hardness parameters are calculated, which show that B12S is likely to be a prominent member of hard materials family compared to B12Se. The origin of different in hardness is explained on the basis of density of states near the Fermi level. Reasonably good values of fracture toughness and machinability index for B12X (X= S and Se) are reported. The melting point, Tm for the B12S and B12Se compounds suggests that both solids are stable, at least up to 4208 and 3577 K, respectively. Indirect band gap of B12S (2.27 eV) and B12Se (1.30 eV) are obtained using the HSE06 functional.The electrons of B12Se compound show lighter average effective mass compared to that of B12S compound, which signifies higher mobility of charge carriers in B12Se. The optical properties are characterized using GGA-PBE and HSE06 method and discussed in detail. These compounds possess bulk optical anisotropy and excellent absorption coefficients in visible light region along with very low static value of reflectivity spectra (range: 7.42-14.0% using both functionals) are noted. Such useful features of the compounds under investigation show promise for applications in optoelectronic and mechanical sectors.
The electronic band structure and elastic properties of the Cd${}_{16}$Se${}_{15}$Te solid state solution in the framework of the density functional theory calculations are investigated. The structure of the sample is constructed on the original binary compound CdSe, which crystallizes in the cubic phase. Based on the electronic band structure, the effective mass of electron, heavy hole, light hole, spin-orbit effective masses and reduced mass in G point are calculated. In addition, the exciton binding energy, refractive index and high-frequency dielectric constant are calculated. The Young modulus, shear modulus, bulk modulus and Poisson ratio are calculated theoretically. Based on the results of elastic coefficients, the value of acoustic velocity and Debye temperature is obtained.
In the present study, the structural, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of two isostructural chalcogenide materials, NaInS2 and NaInSe2 with hexagonal symmetry (R-3m) have been studied using the first principles method. A very good agreement has been found between our results with the available experimental and theoretical ones. The studied materials are semiconducting in nature as confirmed from the electronic band structure and optical properties.The strong hybridizations among s orbitals of Na, In and Se atoms push the bottom of the conduction band downward resulting in a narrower band gap of NaInSe2 compared to that of NaInS2 compound. Different optical (dielectric function, photoconductivity, absorption coefficient, reflectivity, refractive index and loss function) and thermoelectric (Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, power factor and thermal conductivity) properties of NaInX2 (X = S, Se) have been studied in detail for the first time. It is found that all these properties are significantly anisotropic due to the strongly layered structure of NaInX2 (X = S, Se). Strong optical absorption with sharp peaks is found in the far visible to mid ultraviolet (UV) regions while the reflectivity is low in the UV region for both the compounds. Such features indicate feasibility of applications in optoelectronic sector.The calculated thermoelectric power factors at 1000 K for NaInS2 and NaInSe2 along a-axis are found to be 151.5 micro Watt /cmK2 and 154 micro Watt/cmK2, respectively and the corresponding ZT values are ~0.70. The obtained thermal conductivity along a-axis for both compounds is high (~22 W/mK).This suggests that the reduction of such high thermal conductivity is important to achieve higher ZT values of the NaInX2(X = S, Se) compounds.
Rare-earth nickelates R$^{3+}$Ni$^{3+}$O$_3$ (R=Lu-Pr, Y) show a striking metal-insulator transition in their bulk phase whose temperature can be tuned by the rare-earth radius. These compounds are also the parent phases of the newly identified infinite layer RNiO2 superconductors. Although intensive theoretical works have been devoted to understand the origin of the metal-insulator transition in the bulk, there have only been a few studies on the role of hole and electron doping by rare-earth substitutions in RNiO$_3$ materials. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) we study the effect of hole and electron doping in a prototypical nickelate SmNiO3. We perform calculations without Hubbard-like U potential on Ni 3d levels but with a meta-GGA better amending self-interaction errors. We find that at low doping, polarons form with intermediate localized states in the band gap resulting in a semiconducting behavior. At larger doping, the intermediate states spread more and more in the band gap until they merge either with the valence (hole doping) or the conduction (electron doping) band, ultimately resulting in a metallic state at 25% of R cation substitution. These results are reminiscent of experimental data available in the literature and demonstrate that DFT simulations without any empirical parameter are qualified for studying doping effects in correlated oxides and to explore the mechanisms underlying the superconducting phase of rare-earth nickelates.
The ultrafast thermal and mechanical dynamics of a two-dimensional lattice of metallic nano-disks has been studied by near infrared pump-probe diffraction measurements, over a temporal range spanning from 100 fs to several nanoseconds. The experiments demonstrate that, in these systems, a two-dimensional surface acoustic wave (2DSAW), with a wavevector given by the reciprocal periodicity of the array, can be excited by ~120 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses. In order to clarify the interaction between the nanodisks and the substrate, numerical calculations of the elastic eigenmodes and simulations of the thermodynamics of the system are developed through finite-element analysis. At this light, we unambiguously show that the observed 2DSAW velocity shift originates from the mechanical interaction between the 2DSAWs and the nano-disks, while the correlated 2DSAW damping is due to the energy radiation into the substrate.