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At least 1,117 records · Page 62
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Comparison of Atomic and Electronic Structures of Silica and Sodium Silicate Glasses

Glass scintillators may hold great promise for low-cost, large-volume, shapeable radiation detectors. However, the light yield and energy resolution of glass scintillators to-date have been more than an order of magnitude worse than for crystalline scintillators and far from the theoretical limits. Glass scintillators are fabricated by dissolving rare-earth dopants into a glass matrix. Their operation relies on gamma ray absorption in the glass generating electrons and holes that must migrate to a rare-earth activator atom to emit light. The transport of carriers in the glass limits the performance, particularly in glasses where the solubility limit of activator is low, since carriers may recombine non-radiatively before reaching an activator atom. In this work, we aim to use atomistic simulations to discover the nature of electron transport in specific glass materials and how it may be enhanced by tuning the composition or forming process. The analysis proceeds in two steps: generation of a computational model of a given glass’s atomic structure, then extraction of the electronic structure to correlate electronic structure with carrier transport. Here we report results for two glasses: silica (SiO 2 ) and sodium silicate (Na 2 O:SiO 2 ). Multiple compositions of the latter are studied, namely Na 2 O:SiO 2 ratios of of 1:2, 1:3, and 3:7, with most results focused on the 3:7 composition. The overall goal is to establish a computational framework that can mimic a range of experimental glass structures by tuning computational parameters in the construction of the glass model, and enable studies of the correlation between atomic structure and electronic transport properties of the glass materials. These correlations would direct synthesis parameters for a given glass to optimize its transport properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Preparation, characterization and electronic structures of Fe-doped TiO{sub 2} nanostructured fibers

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Mesoporous Fe-doped TiO{sub 2} fibers were prepared on a large scale by sol–gel method. • Fe-doping greatly enhance the visible-light photocatalytic activity of TiO{sub 2} fibers. • First-principle study the effects of different replaced sites on the absorption edge and band gap. - Abstract: Mesoporous and nanostructured Fe-doped TiO{sub 2} fibers were fabricated on a large scale by sol–gel method combined with the polyorganotitanium as the precursor and ferric nitrate as dopant. The prepared fibers were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, N{sub 2} adsorption–desorption isotherms and UV–vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) aqueous solution under UV and visible-light irradiation. Compared with different types of photocatalysts, the 0.5%Fe-doped TiO{sub 2} fibers exhibit super photocatalytic activity. This is ascribed to the fact that the Fe-doping induces the shift of the absorption edge into the visible-light range with the narrowing of the band gap and reduces the recombination of the photo-generated electrons and holes. Furthermore, first-principle study for their electronic structures was carried out to confirm the effects of different replaced lattice sites on the red shift of the absorption edge and the changes of the band gap of the Fe-doped TiO{sub 2} fibers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Galvanomagnetic properties and electronic structure of iron-doped PbTe

We synthesize an iron-doped PbTe single-crystal ingot and investigate the phase composition and distribution of the iron impurity along the ingot as well as galvanomagnetic properties in weak magnetic fields (4.2 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K, B ≤ 0.07 T) of Pb{sub 1−y}Fe{sub y}Te alloys. We find microscopic inclusions enriched with iron and regions with a chemical composition close to FeTe in the heavily doped samples, while the iron impurity content in the main phase rises only slightly along the length of the ingot reaching the impurity solubility limit at approximately 0.6 mol. %. Samples from the initial and the middle parts of the ingot are characterized by p-type metal conductivity. An increase of the iron impurity content leads to a decrease in the free hole concentration and to a stabilization of galvanomagnetic parameters due to the pinning of the Fermi level by the iron resonant impurity level E{sub Fe} lying under the bottom of the valence band (E{sub v} − E{sub Fe} ≈ 16 meV). In the samples from the end of the ingot, a p-n inversion of the conductivity type and an increase of the free electron concentration along the ingot are revealed despite the impurity solubility limit being reached. The kinetics of changes of charge carrier concentration and of the Fermi energy along the ingot is analyzed in the framework of the six-band Dimmock dispersion relation. A model is proposed for the electronic structure rearrangement of Pb{sub 1−y}Fe{sub y}Te with doping, which may also be used for PbTe doped with other transition metals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study of the Structural, Electronic, Magnetic, and Optical Properties of Mn{sub 2}ZrGa Full-Heusler Alloy: First-Principles Calculations

In this work, the structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of Mn{sub 2}ZrGa full-Heusler alloy were investigated by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. It is found that the spin-up states have a metallic character, but the spin-down bands have a pseudo-gap at the Fermi level. The total spin magnetic moment of Mn{sub 2}ZrGa (per formula unit) is 3.00 µ{sub B} at an equilibrium lattice parameter of 6.15 Å. The calculations show that Mn{sub 2}ZrGa is a ferrimagnetic with 81% spin polarization at equilibrium lattice parameter. The effect of lattice parameter distortion on the magnetic properties and spin polarization is also studied. It is found that the total magnetic moment preserves its value for a lattice parameter range of 5.96–6.30 Å. The decreasing of the lattice parameter leads to improvement of spin polarization. The real and imaginary parts of dielectric function and hence the optical properties including energy absorption spectrum, reflectivity, and optical conductivity are also calculated. The value of plasma frequency for spin-up and down electrons is located at 1.78 and 0.74 eV, respectively.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effect of Single-Layer MoS 2 on the Geometry, Electronic Structure, and Reactivity of Transition Metal Nanoparticles

We present results of ab initio density functional theory (DFT) based calculations of the geometry, electronic structure, and reactivity of subnanometer-sized (29-atom) transition metal nanoparticles (NPs) (Cu 29 , Ag 29 , and Au 29 ) supported on single-layer MoS 2 . As compared to its pristine form, defect-laden MoS 2 (with a S vacancy row) has relatively larger effect on the above properties of the NPs. The NPs bind more strongly on defect-laden than on pristine MoS 2 (in the order Cu 29 > Ag 29 > Au 29 ), confirming the important role of vacancies in stabilizing the NPs on the support. The presence of vacancies also leads to an increase in charge transfer from the NPs to MoS 2 (with the same elemental trend as for their binding energy) and to a shift of the d-band center of the NPs further toward the Fermi level, in turn influencing their propensity toward chemical activity. We examine the adsorption and dissociation of O 2 as the prototype reactions and find that there is no barrier for O 2 to adsorb on top of an atom at the NP apex, where the frontier orbitals are localized, and that the dissociation channel proceeds through a chemisorbed state. The presence of the support leads to increase in the number of sites at which O 2 can adsorb with similar binding energy (<0.1 eV difference). Interestingly, energy barriers for both dissociation and recombination of O 2 , when adsorbing at the NP apex, increase in the presence of the MoS 2 support. However, since the increase in the barrier for recombination is much larger than for dissociation, the latter should be more favored. Lastly, in particular, for defect-laden MoS 2 supported Au 29 the recombination faces a barrier of 1.36 eV whereas the dissociation does 0.5 eV, implying that the defect-laden support may significantly improve the catalytic performance of Au29 toward oxidation reaction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Anomalous electronic structure and magnetoresistance in TaAs 2

We report that the change in resistance of a material in a magnetic field reflects its electronic state. In metals with weakly- or non-interacting electrons, the resistance typically increases upon the application of a magnetic field. In contrast, negative magnetoresistance may appear under some circumstances, e.g., in metals with anisotropic Fermi surfaces or with spin-disorder scattering and semimetals with Dirac or Weyl electronic structures. Here we show that the non-magnetic semimetal TaAs 2 possesses a very large negative magnetoresistance, with an unknown scattering mechanism. In conclusion, density functional calculations find that TaAs 2 is a new topological semimetal [Z 2 invariant (0;111)] without Dirac dispersion, demonstrating that a negative magnetoresistance in non-magnetic semimetals cannot be attributed uniquely to the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly of bulk Dirac/Weyl fermions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electronic structure of strongly correlated systems: recent developments in multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory and multiconfiguration nonclassical-energy functional theory

Strong electron correlation plays an important role in transition-metal and heavy-metal chemistry, magnetic molecules, bond breaking, biradicals, excited states, and many functional materials, but it provides a significant challenge for modern electronic structure theory. The treatment of strongly correlated systems usually requires a multireference method to adequately describe spin densities and near-degeneracy correlation. However, quantitative computation of dynamic correlation with multireference wave functions is often difficult or impractical. Multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MC-PDFT) provides a way to blend multiconfiguration wave function theory and density functional theory to quantitatively treat both near-degeneracy correlation and dynamic correlation in strongly correlated systems; it is more affordable than multireference perturbation theory, multireference configuration interaction, or multireference coupled cluster theory and more accurate for many properties than Kohn–Sham density functional theory. This perspective article provides a brief introduction to strongly correlated systems and previously reviewed progress on MC-PDFT followed by a discussion of several recent developments and applications of MC-PDFT and related methods, including localized-active-space MC-PDFT, generalized active-space MC-PDFT, density-matrix-renormalization-group MC-PDFT, hybrid MC-PDFT, multistate MC-PDFT, spin–orbit coupling, analytic gradients, and dipole moments. We also review the more recently introduced multiconfiguration nonclassical-energy functional theory (MC-NEFT), which is like MC-PDFT but allows for other ingredients in the nonclassical-energy functional. We discuss two new kinds of MC-NEFT methods, namely multiconfiguration density coherence functional theory and machine-learned functionals.

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

Structural, electronic, mechanical, and dynamical properties of graphene oxides: A first principles study

We report the results of a theoretical study on the structural, electronic, mechanical, and vibrational properties of some graphene oxide models (GDO, a-GMO, z-GMO, ep-GMO and mix-GMO) at ambient pressure. The calculations are based on the ab-initio plane-wave pseudo potential density functional theory, within the generalized gradient approximations for the exchange and correlation functional. The calculated values of lattice parameters, bulk modulus, and its first order pressure derivative are in good agreement with other reports. A linear response approach to the density functional theory is used to derive the phonon frequencies. We discuss the contribution of the phonons in the dynamical stability of graphene oxides and detailed analysis of zone centre phonon modes in all the above mentioned models. Our study demonstrates a wide range of energy gap available in the considered models of graphene oxide and hence the possibility of their use in nanodevices.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Radiative capture rates at deep defects from electronic structure calculations

We present a methodology to calculate radiative carrier capture coefficients at deep defects in semiconductors and insulators from first principles. Electronic structure and lattice relaxations are accurately described with hybrid density functional theory. Calculations of capture coefficients provide an additional validation of the accuracy of these functionals in dealing with localized defect states. We also discuss the validity of the Condon approximation, showing that even in the event of large lattice relaxations the approximation is accurate. We test the method on GaAs:VGa-TeAs and GaN:CN, for which reliable experiments are available, and demonstrate very good agreement with measured capture coefficients.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Tunable electronic structure in dilute magnetic semiconductor Sr{sub 3}SnO/c-YSZ/Si (001) epitaxial heterostructures

We report a systematic study of the structural, physical, and chemical properties of epitaxial thin films of emerging dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) Sr{sub 3}SnO (SSO) integrated with Si (100) prepared by various post-growth annealing treatments. The transport properties of these films are primarily governed by oxygen vacancies and the results are explained with the variable-range hopping model. The increased oxygen vacancy concentration generated by post-growth vacuum annealing results in a shorter hopping distance and reduced hopping energy and Coulomb gap, leading to lower resistivity; oxygen annealing shows the opposite effects. The work function ranges from 4.54 to 4.02 eV and shows a negative linear relationship with oxygen vacancy concentration, accompanied by a 0.42 eV shift in the surface Fermi level. The transport and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy probes agree quantitatively on measurement of the resistivity and surface electronic structure. The results provide a direct and consistent explanation that the property changes in the bulk and at the surface are primarily attributed to oxygen vacancies, which are believed to be the carriers in the SSO thin films. The ability to manipulate the work function and oxygen vacancy concentration in epitaxial DMS SSO thin films offers great potential for the development of spintronic devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Bimolecular Reductive Elimination of Ethane from Pyridine(diimine) Iron Methyl Complexes: Mechanism, Electronic Structure, and Entry into [2+2] Cycloaddition Catalysis

The application of bimolecular reductive elimination to the activation of iron catalysts for alkene–diene cycloaddition is described. Key to this approach was the synthesis, characterization, electronic structure determination, and ultimately solution stability of a family of pyridine(diimine) iron methyl complexes with diverse steric properties and electronic ground states. Both the aryl-substituted, ( Me PDI)FeCH 3 and ( Et PDI)FeCH 3 ( R PDI = 2,6-(2,6-R 2 -C 6 H 3 N=CMe) 2 C 5 H 3 N), and the alkyl-substituted examples, ( Cy APDI)FeCH 3 ( Cy APDI = 2,6-(C 6 H 11 N=CMe) 2 C 5 H 3 N), have molecular structures significantly distorted from planarity and S = 3/2 ground states. The related N-arylated derivative bearing 2,6-di-isopropyl aryl substituents, ( iPr PDI)FeCH 3 , has an idealized planar geometry and exhibits spin crossover behavior from S = 1/2 to S = 3/2 states. At 23 °C under an N 2 atmosphere, both ( Me PDI)FeCH 3 and ( Et PDI)FeCH 3 underwent reductive elimination of ethane to form the iron dinitrogen precatalysts, [( Me PDI)Fe(N 2 )] 2 (μ-N 2 ) and [( Et PDI)Fe(N 2 )] 2 (μ-N 2 ), respectively, while ( iPr PDI)FeCH 3 proved inert to C–C bond formation. By contrast, addition of butadiene to all three iron methyl complexes induced ethane formation and generated the corresponding iron butadiene complexes, ( R PDI)Fe(η 4 -C 4 H 6 ) (R = Me, Et, i Pr), known precatalysts for the [2+2] cycloaddition of olefins and dienes. Kinetic, crossover experiments, and structural studies were combined with magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectroscopy to elucidate the electronic and steric features of the iron complexes that enable this unusual reductive elimination and precatalyst activation pathway. Furthermore, transmetalation of methyl groups between iron centers was fast at ambient temperature and independent of steric environment or spin state, while the intermediate dimer underwent the sterically controlled rate-determining reaction with either N 2 or butadiene to access a catalytically active iron compound.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of chevron-type graphene, BN and BC{sub 2}N nanoribbons

Graphene nanoribbons are predicted to be essential components in future nanoelectronics. The size, edge type, arrangement of atoms and width of nanoribbons drastically change their properties. Boronnitrogencarbon nanoribbons properties are not fully understood so far. In the present contribution it was investigated the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of chevron-type carbon, boron nitride and BC{sub 2}N nanoribbons, using first-principles calculations. The results indicate that the structural stability is closely related to the discrepancies in the bond lengths, which can induce structural deformations and stress. Such nanoribbons present a wide range of electronic behaviors, depending on their composition and particularities of the atomic arrangement. A net magnetic moment is found for structures that present carbon atoms at the nanoribbon borders. Nevertheless, the calculated magnetic moment depends on the peculiarities of the symmetric arrangement of atoms and imbalance of carbon atoms between different sublattices. It was found that all structures which have a significant energy gap do not present magnetic moment, and vice-versa. Such result indicates the strong correlation between the electronic and magnetic properties of the chevron-type nanoribbons. - Highlights: • Small discrepancies between distinct bond lengths can influence the formation energy of the BC{sub 2}N nanoribbons. • The electronic behavior of the BC{sub 2}N chevron-type nanoribbons depends on the atomic arrangement and structural symmetries. • There is a strong correlation between the electronic and magnetic properties for the BC{sub 2}N structures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Low-energy electronic structure in the unconventional charge-ordered state of ScV6Sn6

Abstract Kagome vanadates A V 3 Sb 5 display unusual low-temperature electronic properties including charge density waves (CDW), whose microscopic origin remains unsettled. Recently, CDW order has been discovered in a new material ScV 6 Sn 6 , providing an opportunity to explore whether the onset of CDW leads to unusual electronic properties. Here, we study this question using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The ARPES measurements show minimal changes to the electronic structure after the onset of CDW. However, STM quasiparticle interference (QPI) measurements show strong dispersing features related to the CDW ordering vectors. A plausible explanation is the presence of a strong momentum-dependent scattering potential peaked at the CDW wavevector, associated with the existence of competing CDW instabilities. Our STM results further indicate that the bands most affected by the CDW are near vHS, analogous to the case of A V 3 Sb 5 despite very different CDW wavevectors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Experimental confirmation of the magnetic ordering transition induced by an electronic structure change in the metallic triangular antiferromagnet Co 1/3⁢ TaS 2

We report angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies combined with DFT+DMFT calculations to confirm that the magnetic ordering vector transition from Q=(1/2,0,0) to Q=(1/3,0,0) in the metallic triangular antiferromagnets Co 1/3±𝜀⁢ TaS 2 (𝜀 ≈ 0.007) is induced by the electronic structure change in the system. The ARPES-measured Fermi surface (FS) maps of Co 0.325 ⁢TaS 2 show two hexagonal and one circular holelike FSs around Γ, which matches well with the triple- Q state by taking into account the contribution of nesting vectors occurring between Co 3⁢𝑑 and Ta 5⁢𝑑 orbitals. In the case of Co 0.340 ⁢TaS 2 , a new electron pocket around K appears, and the FS geometry changes as a result of the correlation effect of Co 4 ⁢S 18 tripods forming in the system. The magnetic susceptibility calculations based on the charge-self-consistent DFT+DMFT band structures and the random phase approximation indicate that the most stable magnetic ordering vector (1/2,0,0) split into (1/6,0,0) and (1/2,0,0), which is consistent with the magnetic phase transition around 𝑥=1/3 in Co 𝑥 ⁢TaS 2 .

Fermi surface↗
DOE OSTI2024

Synthesis of motif and symmetry for accelerated learning, discovery, and design of electronic structures for energy conversion applications (Final Technical Report)

The overall goal of the projects is to develop a framework to incorporate structure motifs and crystal/orbital symmetries into the data-driven materials discovery infrastructure. The PI proposed to develop structure-motif- and symmetry-based graph convolutional networks for effective learning and efficient predictions of electronic structures and related properties. Fundamental understanding of the roles of structure motif and symmetry will establish new hypothesis and design rules, which will be combined with high-throughput computations based on density functional theory to discover novel light absorbers, transparent conductors, as well as 2D light emitting materials and heterojunctions for optoelectronics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electronic structures and optical properties of two-dimensional ScN and YN nanosheets

Two-dimensional (2D) materials exhibit different electronic properties than their bulk materials. Here, we present a systematic study of 2D tetragonal materials of ScN and YN using density functional theory calculations. Several thermodynamically stable 2D tetragonal structures were determined, and such novel tetragonal structures have good electronic and optical properties. Both bulk ScN and YN are indirect band gap semiconductors while the electronic structures of 2D ScN and YN are indirect gap semiconductors, with band gaps of 0.62–2.21 eV. The calculated optical spectra suggest that 2D tetragonal ScN and YN nanosheets have high visible light absorption efficiency. These electronic properties indicate that 2D ScN and YN have great potential for applications in photovoltaics and photocatalysis.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Structural, Electronic, Magnetic, and Optical Properties of Mn{sub 2}ZrGa{sub 1−x}Ge{sub x} Heusler Alloys: First-Principles Calculations

The structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of Mn-based Heusler Mn{sub 2}ZrGa{sub 1−x}Ge{sub x} (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1) alloys are calculated by first-principles full-potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbital (FP-LAPW+lo) method. It is found that Mn{sub 2}ZrGa{sub 1−x}Ge{sub x} alloys are half-metallic ferrimagnetic and their magnetic moments are in good agreement with the Slater–Pauling relationship. The calculations reveal that all alloys have a pseudo-gap in the majority-spin channel except for x = 0.75 and x = 1 which have a real gap in the majority-spin channel. The spin polarization is quite large for whole series, and it reaches to a value of 100% for x = 0.75 and x = 1. Our calculated results clearly show that with the Ge substitution, the lattice parameter linearly decreases while the bulk modulus increases. Moreover, the calculated formation energies confirm that these alloys are stable chemically. The optical properties, including the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, reflectivity, and absorption spectra, were also investigated. The results show that the dominant behavior, at energy below 1 eV, is due to interactions of free electrons in the system. The increment of Ge concentration leads to an increase in the plasma frequency of metallic spin channel.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗