Correlation between intrinsic dipole moment and pyroelectric coefficient of Fe-Mg tourmaline

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction structural data of four Fe-Mg tourmalines with different Fe contents from Xinjiang, Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces, China, were collected at room temperature and-100oC. The intrinsic dipole moments of polyhedra and the total intrinsic dipole moment of the unit cell were calculated. By comparing the intrinsic electric dipole moments of the X, Y, Z, T, and B site polyhedra, it is found that the T site polyhedron makes the greatest contribution to the total intrinsic dipole moment. The pyroelectric coefficients of four Fe-Mg tourmalines were experimentally determined, and the influence of intrinsic dipole moments on their pyroelectric properties was inves-tigated. The experimental results show that, compared with the case at room temperature, the intrinsic dipole moments change with the total Fe content at-100oC in a completely different way. With the decrease of temperature, the total intrinsic dipole moments of tourmaline de-crease. Over the same temperature interval, the pyroelectric coefficients increase with the increase in intrinsic dipole moment.

Computational analysis of apatite-type compounds for band gap engineering: DFT calculations and structure prediction using tetrahedral substitution

Mineral apatite compounds have attracted significant interest due to their chemical stability and adjustable hexagonal structure,which makes them suitable as new photovoltaic functional materials.The band gap of natural apatite is ~5.45 eV,and such a large value limits their applications in the field of catalysis and energy devices.In this research,we designed a method to narrow the band gap via the tetrahedral substitution effect in apatite-based compounds.The density functional theory(DFT) and experimental investigation of the electronic and optical properties revealed that the continuous incorporation of [MO_(4)]^(4-) tetrahedrons(M=Si,Ge,Sn,and Mn) into the crystal lattice can significantly reduce the band gap.In particular,this phenomenon was observed when the[MnO_(4)]^(4-) tetrahedron replaces the [PO_(4)]^(4-) tetrahedron because of the formation of a Mn 3 d-derived conduction band minimum(CBM) and interacts with other elements,leading to band broadening and obvious reduction of the band gap.This approach allowed us to propose a novel scheme in the band gap engineering of apatite-based compounds toward an entire spectral range modification.