Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “first principles”

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 1,783 records · Page 99
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

First-principles investigation on the electronic efficiency and binding energy of the contacts formed by graphene and poly-aromatic hydrocarbon anchoring groups

The electronic efficiency and binding energy of contacts formed between graphene electrodes and poly-aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) anchoring groups have been investigated by the non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism combined with density functional theory. Our calculations show that PAH molecules always bind in the interior and at the edge of graphene in the AB stacking manner, and that the binding energy increases following the increase of the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms constituting the PAH molecule. When we move to analyzing the electronic transport properties of molecular junctions with a six-carbon alkyne chain as the central molecule, the electronic efficiency of the graphene-PAH contacts is found to depend on the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the corresponding PAH anchoring group, rather than its size. To be specific, the smaller is the HOMO-LUMO gap of the PAH anchoring group, the higher is the electronic efficiency of the graphene-PAH contact. Although the HOMO-LUMO gap of a PAH molecule depends on its specific configuration, PAH molecules with similar atomic structures show a decreasing trend for their HOMO-LUMO gap as the number of fused benzene rings increases. Therefore, graphene-conjugated molecule-graphene junctions with high-binding and high-conducting graphene-PAH contacts can be realized by choosing appropriate PAH anchor groups with a large area and a small HOMO-LUMO gap.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Effect of surface adsorption and non-stoichiometry on the workfunction of ZnO surfaces: A first principles study

ZnO has been actively studied for potential usage as a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for a variety of applications including organic light emitting diodes and solar cells. In these applications, fine-tuning the workfunction of ZnO is critical for controlling interfacial barriers and improving the charge injection (or outcoupling) efficiencies. We have performed plane wave periodic density functional theory calculations to investigate the effect of different surface absorbents and surface defects (including surface non-stoichiometry) on the workfunction of ZnO. The aim was to understand the underlying mechanism of workfunction changes, in order to engineer specific workfunction modifications. Accurate calculations of workfunctions of polar surfaces were achieved by introducing balancing pseudo charges on one side of the surface to remove the dipolar effect. It was found that increasing the surface coverage of hydrocarbons (-CH{sub 3}) decreased the workfunction, while adsorption of highly electronegative-F and -CF{sub 3} groups and increases in surface O/Zn ratio increased the workfunction of ZnO. The increase of workfunction was found to be directly correlated to the enhancement variation of surface dipole moment due to adsorptions or other surface modifications. Introducing surface absorbents that increase surface dipole moment can be an effective way to increase workfunction in ZnO TCOs.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Towards a predictive route for selection of doping elements for the thermoelectric compound PbTe from first-principles

Striving for improvements of the thermoelectric (TE) properties of the technologically important lead telluride (PbTe) compound, we investigate the influence of different doping elements on the thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and electrical conductivity applying density functional theory calculations. Our approach combines total-energy calculations yielding lattice vibrational properties with the Boltzmann transport theory to obtain electronic transport properties. We find that doping with elements from the 1st and 3rd columns of the periodic table reduces the sound velocity and, consequently, the lattice thermal conductivity, while 2nd column dopants have no such influence. Furthermore, 1.6 at. % doping with 4th and 5th column elements provides the highest reduction of lattice thermal conductivity. Out of this group, Hf doping results in maximum reduction of the sound velocity from 2030 m s{sup −1} for pure PbTe to 1370 m s{sup −1}, which is equivalent to ca. 32% reduction of lattice thermal conductivity. The highest power factor values calculated for 1.6 at. % doping range between 40 and 56 μW cm{sup −1} K{sup −2}, and are obtained for substitution with dopants having the same valence as Pb or Te, such as those located at the 2nd, 14th, and 16th columns of the periodic table. We demonstrate how this method may be generalized for dopant-selection-oriented materials design aimed at improving TE performance of other compounds.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Self-assembled peptide nanotubes as electronic materials: An evaluation from first-principles calculations

In this letter, we report on the evaluation of diphenylalanine (FF), dityrosine (YY), and phenylalanine-tryptophan (FW) self-assembled peptide nanotube structures for electronics and photonics applications. Realistic bulk peptide nanotube material models were used in density functional theory calculations to mimic the well-ordered tubular nanostructures. Importantly, validated functionals were applied, specifically by using a London dispersion correction to model intertube interactions and a range-separated hybrid functional for accurate bandgap calculations. Bandgaps were found consistent with available experimental data for FF, and also corroborate the higher conductance reported for FW in comparison to FF peptide nanotubes. Interestingly, the predicted bandgap for the YY tubular nanostructure was found to be slightly higher than that of FW, suggesting higher conductance as well. In addition, the band structure calculations along the high symmetry line of nanotube axis revealed a direct bandgap for FF. The results enhance our understanding of the electronic properties of these material systems and will pave the way into their application in devices.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

The interaction between hexagonal boron nitride and water from first principles

The use of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) in microfluidic and nanofluidic applications requires a fundamental understanding of the interaction between water and the h-BN surface. A crucial component of the interaction is the binding energy, which is sensitive to the treatment of electron correlation. In this work, we use state of the art quantum Monte Carlo and quantum chemistry techniques to compute the binding energy. Compared to high-level many-body theory, we found that the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory captures the interaction accurately and can thus be used to develop force field parameters between h-BN and water for use in atomic scale simulations. On the contrary, density functional theory with standard dispersion corrections tends to overestimate the binding energy by approximately 75%.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

First-principles study of the structures and electronic band properties of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} (0 1 1{sup -} 5) nanoribbons

Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} is known to be an excellent thermoelectric material as well as a topological insulator. We prepare Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} (0 1 1{sup -} 5) nanosheets with a hydrothermal method and find that the interplanar spacings have a little difference though they belong to a same family of crystal planes. Then, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} (0 1 1{sup -} 5) nanoribbons with one to six atomic layers by density-functional theory. The results indicate that the nanoribbons exhibit insulator with a band gap except the three-atomic-layer ribbon, which unexpectedly shows a metallic behavior with a gapless band structure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A hybrid framework of first principles molecular orbital calculations and a three-dimensional integral equation theory for molecular liquids: Multi-center molecular Ornstein–Zernike self-consistent field approach

In this study, we reported the development of a new quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM)-type framework to describe chemical processes in solution by combining standard molecular-orbital calculations with a three-dimensional formalism of integral equation theory for molecular liquids (multi-center molecular Ornstein–Zernike (MC-MOZ) method). The theoretical procedure is very similar to the 3D-reference interaction site model self-consistent field (RISM-SCF) approach. Since the MC-MOZ method is highly parallelized for computation, the present approach has the potential to be one of the most efficient procedures to treat chemical processes in solution. Benchmark tests to check the validity of this approach were performed for two solute (solute water and formaldehyde) systems and a simple S{sub N}2 reaction (Cl{sup −} + CH{sub 3}Cl → ClCH{sub 3} + Cl{sup −}) in aqueous solution. The results for solute molecular properties and solvation structures obtained by the present approach were in reasonable agreement with those obtained by other hybrid frameworks and experiments. In particular, the results of the proposed approach are in excellent agreements with those of 3D-RISM-SCF.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quantum dynamical simulation of the scattering of Ar from a frozen LiF(100) surface based on a first principles interaction potential

In-plane two and three dimensional diffraction patterns are computed for the vertical scattering of an Ar atom from a frozen LiF(100) surface. Suitable collimation of the incoming wavepacket serves to reveal the quantum mechanical diffraction. The interaction potential is based on a fit to an ab initio potential calculated using density functional theory with dispersion corrections. Due to the potential coupling found between the two horizontal surface directions, there are noticeable differences between the quantum angular distributions computed for two and three dimensional scattering. The quantum results are compared to analogous classical Wigner computations on the same surface and with the same conditions. The classical dynamics largely provides the envelope for the quantum diffractive scattering. The classical results also show that the corrugation along the [110] direction of the surface is smaller than along the [100] direction, in qualitative agreement with experimental observations of unimodal and bimodal scattering for the [110] and [100] directions, respectively.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Optical conductivity of partially oxidized graphene from first principles

We investigate the geometry, electronic structure, and optical properties of partially oxidized graphene using density functional theory. Our calculations show that oxygen atoms are chemisorbed on graphene plane and distort carbon atoms vertically, with almost no change in the in-plane structure. The ground state configurations for different oxygen coverages ranging from 2% to 50% (O/C ratio) are calculated and show the strong tendency of oxygen adatoms to aggregate and form discrete islands on graphene plane. It is found that the opened band gap due to oxygen functionalization depends on the oxygen density and the adsorption configuration. The gap is not significant for oxygen densities lower than 8%. The optical conductivities are calculated in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet regions and show different characteristic features depending on the degree of oxidation. These results imply that optical measurement techniques can be employed to monitor oxidation (or reduction) process as contact-free methods.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Field evaporation of ZnO: A first-principles study

With recent advances in atom probe tomography of insulators and semiconductors, there is a need to understand high electrostatic field effects in these materials as well as the details of field evaporation. We use density functional theory to study field effects in ZnO clusters calculating the potential energy curves, the local field distribution, the polarizability, and the dielectric constant as a function of field strength. We confirm that, as in MgO, the HOMO-LUMO gap of a ZnO cluster closes at the evaporation field strength signaling field-induced metallization of the insulator. Following the structural changes in the cluster at the evaporation field strength, we can identify the field evaporated species, in particular, we show that the most abundant ion, Zn{sup 2+}, is NOT post-ionized but leaves the surface as 2+ largely confirming the experimental observations. Our results also help to explain problems related to stoichiometry in the mass spectra measured in atom probe tomography.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Adsorption of two sodium atoms on graphene -- A first principles study

We perform a systematic density functional theory (DFT) study of the adsorption of two sodium atoms on graphene using the SIESTA package, in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The adsorption energy, geometry, magnetic moment and charge transfer of the Na{sub n}-graphene (n=1, 2) system are calculated. Three initial horizontal orientations of the pair of sodium atoms on graphene are studied. Our calculations reveal that sodium atoms bind weakly to the graphene surface which is in agreement with previous results. We also notice a charge transfer of 0.288e from a sodium adatom to the graphene sheet altering its magnetic moment (−0.318 µ{sub B}) that is reduced from the gas phase value of the isolated atom (1 µ{sub B}). The calculated adsorption energies suggest that clustering of Na atoms on graphene is energetically favorable.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

First principle investigation of structural and electronic properties of bulk ZnSe

Electronic and structural properties of ZnSe are investigated using plane-wave self-consistent field method within the framework of density functional theory. The pseudopotential method within the local density approximation is used for the exchange-correlation potential. The equilibrium lattice parameter, static bulk modulus and its pressure derivative are calculated. The electronic band structure, partial density of states and density of states are also obtained. The results are compared with available theoretical calculations and experimental results.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Cu diffusion in single-crystal and polycrystalline TiN barrier layers: A high-resolution experimental study supported by first-principles calculations

Dense single-crystal and polycrystalline TiN/Cu stacks were prepared by unbalanced DC magnetron sputter deposition at a substrate temperature of 700 °C and a pulsed bias potential of −100 V. The microstructural variation was achieved by using two different substrate materials, MgO(001) and thermally oxidized Si(001), respectively. Subsequently, the stacks were subjected to isothermal annealing treatments at 900 °C for 1 h in high vacuum to induce the diffusion of Cu into the TiN. The performance of the TiN diffusion barrier layers was evaluated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry mapping and atom probe tomography. No Cu penetration was evident in the single-crystal stack up to annealing temperatures of 900 °C, due to the low density of line and planar defects in single-crystal TiN. However, at higher annealing temperatures when diffusion becomes more prominent, density-functional theory calculations predict a stoichiometry-dependent atomic diffusion mechanism of Cu in bulk TiN, with Cu diffusing on the N sublattice for the experimental N/Ti ratio. In comparison, localized diffusion of Cu along grain boundaries in the columnar polycrystalline TiN barriers was detected after the annealing treatment. The maximum observed diffusion length was approximately 30 nm, yielding a grain boundary diffusion coefficient of the order of 10{sup −16} cm{sup 2} s{sup −1} at 900 °C. This is 10 to 100 times less than for comparable underdense polycrystalline TiN coatings deposited without external substrate heating or bias potential. The combined numerical and experimental approach presented in this paper enables the contrasting juxtaposition of diffusion phenomena and mechanisms in two TiN coatings, which differ from each other only in the presence of grain boundaries.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

First principles design of divacancy defected graphene nanoribbon based rectifying and negative differential resistance device

We have studied using density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green’s function based approach, the electronic structures of 555-777 divacancy (DV) defected armchair edged graphene nanoribbons (AGNR) as well as the transport properties of AGNR based two-terminal devices constructed with one defected electrode and one N doped electrode. Introduction of 555-777 DV defect into AGNR results in shifting of the π and π∗ bands towards the higher energy value indicating a downward shift of the Fermi level. Formation of a potential barrier, analogous to that of conventional p-n junction, has been observed across the junction of defected and N-doped AGNR. The two terminal devices show diode like property with high rectifying efficiency for a wide range of bias voltages. The devices also show robust negative differential resistance with very high peak-to-valley ratio. Shift of the electrode energy states and modification of the transmission function with applied bias have been analyzed, in order to gain an insight into the nonlinear and asymmetric behavior of the current-voltage characteristics. Variation of the transport properties on the width of the ribbons has also been discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of dimensionality and interface type on optical and electronic properties of CdS/ZnS core-shell nanocrystals—A first-principles study

Semiconducting nanocrystals (NCs) have become one of the leading materials in a variety of applications, mainly due to their size tunable band gap and high intensity emission. Their photoluminescence (PL) properties can be notably improved by capping the nanocrystals with a shell of another semiconductor, making core-shell structures. We focus our study on the CdS/ZnS core-shell nanocrystals that are closely related to extensively studied CdSe/CdS NCs, albeit exhibiting rather different photoluminescence properties. We employ density functional theory to investigate the changes in the electronic and optical properties of these nanocrystals with size, core/shell ratio, and interface structure between the core and the shell. We have found that both the lowest unoccupied eigenstate (LUES) and the highest occupied eigenstate (HOES) wavefunction (WF) are localized in the core of the NCs, with the distribution of the LUES WF being more sensitive to the size and the core/shell ratio. We show that the radiative lifetimes are increasing, and the Coulomb interaction energies decrease with increasing NC size. Furthermore, we investigated the electronic and optical properties of the NCs with different interfaces between the core and the shell and different core types. We find that the different interfaces and core types have rather small influence on the band gaps and the absorption indexes, as well as on the confinement of the HOES and LUES WFs. Also the radiative lifetimes are found to be only slightly influenced by the different structural models. In addition, we compare these results with the previous results for CdSe/CdS NCs, reflecting the different PL properties of these two types of NCs. We argue that the difference in their Coulomb interaction energies is one of the main reasons for their distinct PL properties.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Size and structure effects of Pt{sub N} (N = 12 − 13) clusters for the oxygen reduction reaction: First-principles calculations

Size and structure effects on the oxygen reduction reaction on Pt{sub N} clusters with N = 12–13 atoms have been investigated using periodic density functional theory calculations with the generalized gradient approximation. To describe the catalytic activity, we calculated the O and OH adsorption energies on the cluster surface. The oxygen binding on the 3-fold hollow sites on stable Pt{sub 12−13} cluster models resulted more favorable for the reaction with O, compared with the Pt{sub 13}(I{sub h}) and Pt{sub 55}(I{sub h}) icosahedral particles, in which O binds strongly. However, the rate-limiting step resulted in the removal of the OH species due to strong adsorptions on the vertex sites, reducing the utility of the catalyst surface. On the other hand, the active sites of Pt{sub 12−13} clusters have been localized on the edge sites. In particular, the OH adsorption on a bilayer Pt{sub 12} cluster is the closest to the optimal target; with 0.0-0.2 eV weaker than the Pt(111) surface. However, more progress is necessary to activate the vertex sites of the clusters. The d-band center of Pt{sub N} clusters shows that the structural dependence plays a decisive factor in the cluster reactivity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electronic and optical properties of titanium nitride bulk and surfaces from first principles calculations

Prediction of the frequency-dependent dielectric function of thin films poses computational challenges, and at the same time experimental characterization by spectroscopic ellipsometry remains difficult to interpret because of changes in stoichiometry and surface morphology, temperature, thickness of the film, or substrate. In this work, we report calculations for titanium nitride (TiN), a promising material for plasmonic applications because of less loss and other practical advantages compared to noble metals. We investigated structural, electronic, and optical properties of stoichiometric bulk TiN, as well as of the TiN(100), TiN(110), and TiN(111) outermost surfaces. Density functional theory (DFT) and many-body GW methods (Green's (G) function-based approximation with screened Coulomb interaction (W)) were used, ranging from G{sub 0}W{sub 0}, GW{sub 0} to partially self-consistent sc-GW{sub 0}, as well as the GW-BSE (Bethe-Salpeter equation) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) methods for prediction of the optical properties. Structural parameters and the band structure for bulk TiN were shown to be consistent with previous work. Calculated dielectric functions, plasma frequencies, reflectivity, and the electron energy loss spectrum demonstrated consistency with experiment at the GW{sub 0}-BSE level. Deviations from experimental data are expected due to varying experimental conditions. Comparison of our results to spectroscopic ellipsometry data for realistic nanostructures has shown that although TDDFT may provide a computationally feasible level of theory in evaluation of the dielectric function, application is subject to validation with GW-BSE calculations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗