Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “density functional calculation”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

The adsorption of h-BN monolayer on the Ni(111) surface studied by density functional theory calculations with a semiempirical long-range dispersion correction

The geometric and spin-resolved electronic structure of a h-BN adsorbed Ni(111) surface has been investigated by density functional theory calculations. Two energy minima (physisorption and chemisorption) are obtained when the dispersive van der Waals correction is included. The geometry of N atom on top site and B atom on fcc site is the most energetically favorable. Strong hybridization with the ferromagnetic Ni substrate induces considerable gap states in the h-BN monolayer. The induced π* states are spin-polarized.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic density-of-states of amorphous vanadium pentoxide films: Electrochemical data and density functional theory calculations

Thin films of V{sub 2}O{sub 5} were prepared by sputter deposition onto transparent and electrically conducting substrates and were found to be X-ray amorphous. Their electrochemical density of states was determined by chronopotentiometry and displayed a pronounced low-energy peak followed by an almost featureless contribution at higher energies. These results were compared with density functional theory calculations for amorphous V{sub 2}O{sub 5}. Significant similarities were found between measured data and computations; specifically, the experimental low-energy peak corresponds to a split-off part of the conduction band apparent in the computations. Furthermore, the calculations approximately reproduce the experimental band gap observed in optical measurements.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS2002

Time Dependent Density Functional Theory Calculations of Large Compact PAH Cations: Implications for the Diffuse Interstellar Bands

We investigate the electronic absorption spectra of several maximally pericondensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon radical cations with time dependent density functional theory calculations. We find interesting trends in the vertical excitation energies and oscillator strengths for this series containing pyrene through circumcoronene, the largest species containing more than 50 carbon atoms. We discuss the implications of these new results for the size and structure distribution of the diffuse interstellar band carriers.

Weisman, Jennifer L.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic and structural properties of ultrathin tungsten nanowires and nanotubes by density functional theory calculation

The simulated annealing basin-hopping method incorporating the penalty function was used to predict the lowest-energy structures for ultrathin tungsten nanowires and nanotubes of different sizes. These predicted structures indicate that tungsten one-dimensional structures at this small scale do not possess B.C.C. configuration as in bulk tungsten material. In order to analyze the relationship between multi-shell geometries and electronic transfer, the electronic and structural properties of tungsten wires and tubes including partial density of state and band structures which were determined and analyzed by quantum chemistry calculations. In addition, in order to understand the application feasibility of these nanowires and tubes on nano-devices such as field emitters or chemical catalysts, the electronic stability of these ultrathin tungsten nanowires was also investigated by density functional theory calculations.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Hybrid functional band gap calculation of SnO{sub 6} containing perovskites and their derived structures

We have studied the properties of SnO{sub 6} octahedra-containing perovskites and their derived structures using ab initio calculations with different density functionals. In order to predict the correct band gap of the materials, we have used B3LYP hybrid density functional, and the results of B3LYP were compared with those obtained using the local density approximation and generalized gradient approximation data. The calculations have been conducted for the orthorhombic ground state of the SnO{sub 6} containing perovskites. We also have expended the hybrid density functional calculation to the ASnO{sub 3}/A'SnO{sub 3} system with different cation orderings. We propose an empirical relationship between the tolerance factor and the band gap of SnO{sub 6} containing oxide materials based on first principles calculation. - Graphical abstract: (a) Structure of ASnO{sub 3} for orthorhombic ground state. The green ball is A (Ba, Sr, Ca) cation and the small (red) ball on edge is oxygen. SnO{sub 6} octahedrons are plotted as polyhedron. (b) Band gap of ASnO{sub 3} as a function of the tolerance factor for different density functionals. The experimental values of the band gap are marked as green pentagons. (c) ASnO{sub 3}/A'SnO{sub 3} superlattices with two types cation arrangement: [001] layered structure and [111] rocksalt structure, respectively. (d) B3LYP hybrid functional band gaps of ASnO{sub 3}, [001] ordered superlattices, and [111] ordered superlattices of ASnO{sub 3}/A'SnO{sub 3} as a function of the effective tolerance factor. Note the empirical linear relationship between the band gap and effective tolerance factor. - Highlights: • We report the hybrid functional band gap calculation of ASnO{sub 3} and ASnO{sub 3}/A'SnO{sub 3}. • The band gap of ASnO{sub 3} using B3LYP functional reproduces the experimental value. • We propose the linear relationship between the tolerance factor and the band gap.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reproducibility of real-time time-dependent density functional theory calculations of electronic stopping power in warm dense matter

Real-time time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is widely considered to be the most accurate available method for calculating electronic stopping powers from first principles, but there have been relatively few assessments of the consistency of its predictions across different implementations. This problem is particularly acute in the warm dense regime, where computational costs are high and experimental validation is rare and resource intensive. We report a comprehensive cross-verification of stopping power calculations in conditions relevant to inertial confinement fusion conducted using four different TDDFT implementations. We find excellent agreement among both the post-processed stopping powers and relevant time-resolved quantities for alpha particles in warm dense hydrogen. We also analyze sensitivities to a wide range of methodological details, including the exchange-correlation model, pseudopotentials, initial conditions, observable from which the stopping power is extracted, averaging procedures, projectile trajectory, and finite-size effects. We show that among these details, pseudopotentials, trajectory-dependence, and finite-size effects have the strongest influence, and we discuss different strategies for controlling the latter two considerations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Role of Zr in strengthening MoSi 2 from density functional theory calculations

MoSi 2 is an important intermetallic with excellent oxidation resistance at high temperatures above1000C. However, its application at lower temperatures is limited by oxygen embrittlement, a phenomenon known as “pesting”. In this work, we comprehensively investigate the role of Zr in mitigating pesting in MoSi2using density functional theory calculations. We show that Zr dopants reduce the embrittling effects of oxygen interstitials at MoSi 2 grain boundaries by being a charge donor to oxygen. However, a more substantial effect is observed when Zr is present as a secondary getter nanoparticle phase. Oxygen interstitials have a strong thermodynamic driving force to migrate into the Zr subsurface at the Zr/MoSi 2 interface, and the work of separation of the clean and oxygen-contaminated Zr/MoSi 2 interfaces are much higher than that of MoSi 2 grain boundaries. So we present an efficient screening approach to identify other potential getter elements using simple thermodynamic descriptors, which can be extended to other alloy systems of interest. These findings provide crucial fundamental insight s and further avenues to optimize Mo and other alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Density functional theory calculations of the mixing enthalpy of ternary uranium carbide compounds

The high melting point of uranium-zirconium carbides (U,Zr)C makes them an ideal fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactors. Gaps remain in the current understanding of the U-Zr-C system due to the difficulty of conducting thermodynamic experiments at NTP operation conditions. Density functional theory calculations using the Hubbard U model (DFT+U) were performed using orbital matrix occupation (OMC) to obtain the mixing enthalpy for UC and ZrC for (U,Zr)C ternary compounds. Similarly, DFT+U calculations were also carried out for the (U,Nb)C and (U,Ta)C systems. In conclusion, the DFT results are envisioned to be used in thermodynamic assessments of the uranium carbide systems based on the CALPHAD approach to supplement the lack of experimental data for the mixing thermodynamics.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

First-principles equation-of-state table of beryllium based on density-functional theory calculations

Beryllium has been considered a superior ablator material for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target designs. An accurate equation-of-state (EOS) of beryllium under extreme conditions is essential for reliable ICF designs. Based on density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have established a wide-range beryllium EOS table of density ρ = 0.001 to 500 g/cm 3 and temperature T = 2000 to 10 8 K. Our first-principle equation-of-state (FPEOS) table is in better agreement with the widely used SESAME EOS table (SESAME 2023) than the average-atom INFERNO and Purgatorio models. For the principal Hugoniot, our FPEOS prediction shows ~10% stiffer than the last two models in the maximum compression. Although the existing experimental data (only up to 17 Mbar) cannot distinguish these EOS models, we anticipate that high-pressure experiments at the maximum compression region should differentiate our FPEOS from INFERNO and Purgatorio models. Comparisons between FPEOS and SESAME EOS for off-Hugoniot conditions show that the differences in the pressure and internal energy are within ~20%. By implementing the FPEOS table into the 1-D radiation–hydrodynamic code LILAC, we studied in this paper the EOS effects on beryllium-shell–target implosions. Finally, the FPEOS simulation predicts higher neutron yield (~15%) compared to the simulation using the SESAME 2023 EOS table.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

DFT-FE – A massively parallel adaptive finite-element code for large-scale density functional theory calculations

We present an accurate, efficient and massively parallel finite-element code, DFT-FE, for large-scale ab-initio calculations (reaching ~100,000 electrons) using Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT). DFT-FE is based on a local real-space variational formulation of the Kohn-Sham DFT energy functional that is discretized using a higher-order adaptive spectral finite-element (FE) basis, and treats pseudopotential and all-electron calculations in the same framework, while accommodating non-periodic, semi-periodic and periodic boundary conditions. We discuss the main aspects of the code, which include, the various strategies of adaptive FE basis generation, and the different approaches employed in the numerical implementation of the solution of the discrete Kohn-Sham problem that are focused on significantly reducing the floating point operations, communication costs and latency. We demonstrate the accuracy of DFT-FE by comparing the energies, ionic forces and periodic cell stresses on a wide range of problems with popularly used DFT codes. Further, we demonstrate that DFT-FE significantly outperforms widely used plane-wave codes---both in CPU-times and wall-times, and on both non-periodic and periodic systems---at systems sizes beyond a few thousand electrons, with over 5-10 fold speedups in systems with more than 10,000 electrons. In conclusion, the benchmark studies also highlight the excellent parallel scalability of DFT-FE, with strong scaling demonstrated on up to 192,000 MPI tasks.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Structural, electronic and optical properties of monoclinic Na{sub 2}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 7} from density functional theory calculations: A comparison with XRD and optical absorption measurements

Powder samples of bulk monoclinic sodium trititanate Na{sub 2}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 7} were prepared carefully by solid state reaction, and its monoclinic P2{sub 1}/m crystal structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Moreover, the sodium trititanate main energy band gap was estimated as E{sub g}=3.51±0.01 eV employing UV–Vis spectroscopy, which is smaller than the measured 3.70 eV energy gap published previously by other authors. Aiming to achieve a better understanding of the experimental data, density functional theory (DFT) computations were performed within the local density and generalized gradient approximations (LDA and GGA, respectively) taking into account dispersion effects through the scheme of Tkatchenko and Scheffler (GGA+TS). Optimal lattice parameters, with deviations relative to measurements Δa=−0.06 Å, Δb=0.02 Å, and Δc=−0.09 Å, were obtained at the GGA level, which was then used to simulate the sodium trititanate electronic and optical properties. Indirect band transitions have led to a theoretical gap energy value of about 3.25 eV. Our results, however, differ from pioneer DFT results with respect to the specific Brillouin zone vectors for which the indirect transition with smallest energy value occurs. Effective masses for electrons and holes were also estimated along a set of directions in reciprocal space. Lastly, our calculations revealed a relatively large degree of optical isotropy for the Na{sub 2}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 7} optical absorption and complex dielectric function. - Graphical abstract: Monoclinic sodium trititanate Na2Ti3O7 was characterized by experiment and dispersion-corrected DFT calculations. An indirect gap of 3.5 eV is predicted, with heavy electrons and anisotropic holes ruling its conductivity. - Highlights: • Monoclinic Na2Ti3O7 was characterized by experiment (XRD, SEM, UV–Vis spectroscopy). • DFT GGA+TS optimized geometry and optoelectronic properties were obtained. • An experimental (theoretical) indirect gap of 3.5 (3.25) eV is predicted. • Heavy electrons and anisotropic holes rule the conductivity. • Ti-O bond lengths and charge states probably cause oxygen reactivity variations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

57Fe Mössbauer isomer shift of pure iron and iron oxides at high pressure—An experimental and theoretical study

The 57Fe isomer shift (IS) of pure iron has been measured up to 100 GPa using synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy in the time domain. Apart from the expected discontinuity due to the α→ε structural and spin transitions, the IS decreases monotonically with increasing pressure. The absolute shifts were reproduced without semi-empirical calibrations by periodic density functional calculations employing extensive localized basis sets with several common density functionals. However, the best numerical agreement is obtained with the B1WC hybrid functional. Extension of the calculations to 350 GPa, a pressure corresponding to the Earth’s inner core, predicted the IS range of 0.00 to -0.85 mm/s, covering the span from Fe(0) to Fe(VI) compounds measured at ambient pressure. The calculations also reproduced the pressure trend from polymorphs of prototypical iron oxide minerals, FeO and Fe2O3. Analysis of the electronic structure shows a strong donation of electrons from oxygen to iron at high pressure. The assignment of formal oxidation to the Fe atom becomes ambiguous under this condition.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Sequestration of Radionuclides in Metal–Organic Frameworks from Density Functional Theory Calculations

The high porosity, modularity, and synthetic diversity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) make them attractive candidate materials for selective sensing, separation, and sequestration of the radionuclides present in the nuclear wastes. Here, we use Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to determine the favorability of ion-exchange at the metal node of Tc, U, Th, Am, and Cm in Zr-, U-, and Th-based MOF clusters. A range of DFT methods, including several exchange-correlation functionals, DFT+U technique, relativistic effects, and magnetic effects are employed to establish robustness in the results. We also explore various reference states of ions including the vacuum, continuum water medium and explicit water molecules surrounding ions. Substitution of Tc, Am, Cm, and Th is believed to be energetically favorable in all the MOFs using ions surrounded by explicit water molecules as a reference.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

e/a classification of Hume–Rothery Rhombic Triacontahedron-type approximants based on all-electron density functional theory calculations

There are three key electronic parameters in elucidating the physics behind the Hume–Rothery electron concentration rule: the square of the Fermi diameter (2kF)2, the square of the critical reciprocal lattice vector and the electron concentration parameter or the number of itinerant electrons per atom e/a. We have reliably determined these three parameters for 10 Rhombic Triacontahedron-type 2/1–2/1–2/1 (N = 680) and 1/1–1/1–1/1 (N = 160–162) approximants by making full use of the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave-Fourier band calculations based on all-electron density-functional theory. We revealed that the 2/1–2/1–2/1 approximants Al13Mg27Zn45 and Na27Au27Ga31 belong to two different sub-groups classified in terms of equal to 126 and 109 and could explain why they take different e/a values of 2.13 and 1.76, respectively. Among eight 1/1–1/1–1/1 approximants Al3Mg4Zn3, Al9Mg8Ag3, Al21Li13Cu6, Ga21Li13Cu6, Na26Au24Ga30, Na26Au37Ge18, Na26Au37Sn18 and Na26Cd40Pb6, the first two, the second two and the last four compounds were classified into three sub-groups with = 50, 46 and 42; and were claimed to obey the e/a = 2.30, 2.10–2.15 and 1.70–1.80 rules, respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Atomic-Level Structure of Mesoporous Hexagonal Boron Nitride Determined by High-Resolution Solid-State Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory Calculations

Mesoporous hexagonal boron nitride (p-BN) has received significant attention over the last decade as a promising candidate for water cleaning/pollutant removal and hydrogen storage applications. In this work, high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy and plane-wave density-functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to obtain an atomic-level description of p-BN. 1 H– 15 N or 1 H– 14 N heteronuclear (HETCOR) correlation experiments recorded with either conventional NMR at room temperature or dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced spectroscopy (DNP-SENS) at ca. 100 K reveal NB 2 H, NBH 2 , NBH 3 + species residing on the edges of BN sheets. Ultra-high field 35.2 T 11 B NMR spectroscopy was used to resolve 11 B NMR signals from BN 3 , BN 2 O x (OH) 1–x (x = 0–1), BNO x (OH) 2–x (x = 0–2), BO x (OH) 3–x (x = 0–3), and BO x (OH) 4–x – (x = 0–4). Importantly, 2D 11 B dipolar double-quantum–single-quantum homonuclear correlation spectra reveal that many pore/defect sites are composed of boron oxide/hydroxide clusters connected to the BN framework through BN 2 O units. 1D and 2D 11 B{ 15 N} HETCOR NMR experiments, in addition to plane-wave DFT calculations of nine different structural models, further confirm the assignment of all NMR signals. The detailed structure determination of the pore and edge/defect sites within p-BN should further enable the rational design and development of next-generation p-BN-based materials. In addition, the techniques outlined here should be applicable to determine structure within other porous and/or boron-based materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Enhancing the efficiency of time-dependent density functional theory calculations of dynamic response properties

X-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) constitutes an essential technique for diagnosing material properties under extreme conditions, such as high pressures and intense laser heating. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is one of the most accurate available ab initio methods for modeling XRTS spectra, as well as a host of other dynamic material properties. However, strong thermal excitations, along with the need to account for variations in temperature and density as well as the finite size of the detector significantly increase the computational cost of TDDFT simulations compared to ambient conditions. In this work, we present a broadly applicable method for optimizing and enhancing the efficiency of TDDFT calculations. Our approach is based on a one-to-one mapping between the dynamic structure factor and the imaginary time density–density correlation function, which naturally emerges in Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum many-body theory. Specifically, we combine rigorous convergence tests in the imaginary time domain with a constraints-based attenuation of narrow-band fluctuations to improve the efficiency of TDDFT modeling without the introduction of any significant bias. As a result, we can report a speed-up by up to an order of magnitude, thus substantially reducing the burden of computational cost required for XRTS analysis.

Moldabekov, Zhandos A. [Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-↗
DOE OSTI2019

Charge transfer excitation energies from ground state density functional theory calculations

Calculating charge transfer (CT) excitation energies with high accuracy and low computational cost is a challenging task. Kohn-Sham density functional theory (KS-DFT), due to its efficiency and accuracy, has achieved great success in describing ground state problems. To extend to excited state problems, our group recently demonstrated an approach with good numerical results to calculate low-lying and Rydberg excitation energies of an N-electron system from a ground state KS or generalized KS calculations of an (N-1)-electron system via its orbital energies. In the present work, we explore further the same methodology to describe CT excitations. Numerical results from this work show that performance of conventional density functional approximations (DFAs) is not as good for CT excitations as for other excitations due to the delocalization error. Applying localized orbital scaling correction (LOSC) to conventional DFAs, a recently developed method in our group to effectively reduce the delocalization error, can improve the results. Overall, the performance of this methodology is better than time dependent DFT (TDDFT) with conventional DFAs. In addition, it shows that results from LOSC-DFAs in this method reach similar accuracy to other methods, such as ΔSCF, G 0 W 0 with Bethe-Salpeter equations, particle-particle random phase approximation, and even high-level wavefunction methods like CC2. Our analysis shows that the correct 1/R trend for CT excitation can be captured from LOSC-DFA calculations, stressing that the application of DFAs with the minimal delocalization error is essential within this methodology. This work provides an efficient way to calculate CT excitation energies from ground state DFT.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Studies on optical properties of Si220 nanoclusters via time-dependent density functional theory calculations

The optical properties of bare and hydrogen passivated Si220 nanoclusters(NCs) in four typical motifs(i.e., bulk-like, onion-like, bucky-diamond and icosahedral motifs) were studied via time-dependent density functional theory(TD-DFT) calculations. The calculation results show that there is a significant blue shift in the optical absorption spectra when the Si NCs are passivated with hydrogen. A strong absorption peak in the visible light region appears for the hydrogenated bulk-like, onion-like and bucky-diamond Si NCs.

Yang, Wenhua↗