Effect of strain on structure and electronic properties of monolayer C_(4)N_(4)

The first-principles calculations are performed to examine structural,mechanical,and electronic properties at large strain for a monolayer C_(4)N_(4),which has been predicted as an anchoring promising material to attenuate shuttle effect in Li–S batteries stemming from its large absorption energy and low diffusion energy barrier.Our results show that the ideal strengths of C_(4)N_(4)under tension and pure shear deformation conditions reach 13.9 GPa and 12.5 GPa when the strains are 0.07 and 0.28,respectively.The folded five-membered rings and diverse bonding modes between carbon and nitrogen atoms enhance the ability to resist plastic deformation of C_(4)N_(4).The orderly bond-rearranging behaviors under the weak tensile loading path along the[100]direction cause the impressive semiconductor–metal transition and inverse semiconductor–metal transition.The present results enrich the knowledge of the structure and electronic properties of C_(4)N_(4)under deformations and shed light on exploring other two-dimensional materials under diverse loading conditions.

Electronic properties of graphene nanoribbon doped by boron/nitrogen pair:a first-principles study

By using the first-principles calculations, the electronic properties of graphene nanoribbon （GNR） doped by boron/nitrogen （B/N） bonded pair are investigated. It is found that B/N bonded pair tends to be doped at the edges of GNR and B/N pair doping in GNR is easier to carry out than single B doping and unbonded B/N co-doping in GNR. The electronic structure of GNR doped by B/N pair is very sensitive to doping site besides the ribbon width and chirality. Moreover, B/N pair doping can selectively adjust the energy gap of armchair GNR and can induce the semimetal-semiconductor transmission for zigzag GNR. This fact may lead to a possible method for energy band engineering of GNRs and benefit the design of graphene electronic device.

Phase transition, elastic and electronic properties of topological insulator Sb_2Te_3 under pressure: First principle study

The phase transition, elastic and electronic properties of three phases（phase Ⅰ,Ⅱ, and Ⅲ） of Sb_2Te_3 are investigated by using the generalized gradient approximation（GGA） with the PBESOL exchange–correlation functional in the framework of density-functional theory. Some basic physical parameters, such as lattice constants, bulk modulus, shear modulus,Young＇s modulus, Poisson＇s ratio, acoustic velocity, and Debye temperature Θ are calculated. The obtained lattice parameters under various pressures are consistent with experimental data. Phase transition pressures are 9.4 GPa（Ⅰ→Ⅱ） and 14.1 GPa（Ⅱ→Ⅲ）, which are in agreement with the experimental results. According to calculated elastic constants, we also discuss the ductile or brittle characters and elastic anisotropies of three phases. Phases Ⅰ and Ⅲ are brittle, while phaseⅡ is ductile. Of the three phases, phaseⅡ has the most serious degree of elastic anisotropy and phase Ⅲ has the slightest one.Finally, we investigate the partial densities of states（PDOSs） of three phases and find that the three phases possess some covalent features.

First-principles investigation of N-Ag co-doping effect on electronic properties in p-type ZnO

The geometric structure, band structure and density of states of pure, Ag-doped, N-doped, and N-Ag codoped wurtzite ZnO have been investigated by the first-principles ultra-soft pseudopotential method based on the density functional theory. The calculated results show that the carrier concentration is increased in the ZnO crystal codoped by N and Ag, and the codoped structure is stable and is more in favour of the formation of p-type ZnO.

Calculated Structure,Elastic and Electronic Properties of Mg_2Pb at High Pressure

The effects of high pressure on structure, elastic and electronic properties of the intermetallic MgzPb were calculated by the first-principles plane wave pseudo-potential method in the scheme of density functional theory （DFT） within the generalized gradient approximation. The elastic constants and Debye temperature obtained at 0 GPa are in good agreement with the available experiment data and other theoretical results. The electronic properties calculated suggest that the electronic density of states （DOS） at the Fermi level decreases under high pressure.

Electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces exposed to the air

The electronic properties of hydrogen- and oxygen-terminated diamond surfaces exposed to the air are investigated by scanning probe microscopy （SPM）. The results indicate that for the hydrogen-terminated diamond surface a shallow acceptor above the valence-band-maximum （VBM） appears in the band gap. However, the oxygen-terminated diamond film exhibits a high resistivity with a wide band gap. Based on the density-functional-theory, the densities of states, corresponding to molecular adsorbate in hydrogenated and oxygenated diamond （100） surfaces, are studied. The results show that the shallow acceptor in the band gap for the hydrogen-terminated diamond film can be attributed to the interaction between the surface C H bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules, while for the oxygen-terminated diamond film, the interaction between the surface C-O bonding orbitals and the adsorbate molecules can induce occupied states in the valence-band.

Assessing the effect of hydrogen on the electronic properties of 4H-SiC

As a common impurity in 4 H silicon carbide(4 H-Si C),hydrogen(H)may play a role in tuning the electronic properties of 4 H-Si C.In this work,we systemically explore the effect of H on the electronic properties of both n-type and p-type4 H-Si C.The passivation of H on intrinsic defects such as carbon vacancies(V_(Si) )and silicon vacancies(V_(Si)) in 4 H-Si C is also evaluated.We find that interstitial H at the bonding center of the Si-C bond(H_(i)^(bc)) and interstitial H at the tetrahedral center of Si(H_(i)^(bc)) dominate the defect configurations of H in p-type and n-type 4 H-Si C,respectively.In n-type 4 H-Si C,the compensation of HSi-te iis found to pin the Fermi energy and hinder the increase of the electron concentration for highly N-doped 4 H-Si C.The compensation of Hbc iis negligible compared to that of V_(Si)on the p-type doping of Al-doped 4 H-Si C.We further examine whether H can passivate VCand improve the carrier lifetime in 4 H-Si C.It turns out that nonequilibrium passivation of VCby H is effective to eliminate the defect states of V_(Si),which enhances the carrier lifetime of moderately doped 4 H-Si C.Regarding the quantum-qubit applications of 4 H-Si C,we find that H can readily passivate V_(Si)during the creation of V_(Si)centers.Thermal annealing is needed to decompose the resulting V_(Si)-n H(n=1-4)complexes and promote the uniformity of the photoluminescence of V_(Si)arrays in 4 H-Si C.The current work may inspire the impurity engineering of H in 4 H-Si C.

Atomic relaxation,stability and electronic properties of Mg2Sn(100)surfaces from ab-initio calculations

Mg2Sn(100)surfaces were investigated using ab-initio method based on density functional theory in order to explore the surface properties.It is found that both the eleven-layers for Mg-termination surfaces and the nine-layers for Sn-termination surfaces are all converged very well.The effects of relaxation mainly occurred within the three outermost atomic layers for both Mg and Sn terminations during the surface relaxation.Mg-termination surfaces are more stable than Sn-termination surfaces according to the analysis of surface energy.The density of states reveals the metallic property of both Mg-termination and Sn-termination surfaces.Covalent bonding exists in Mg2Sn(100)surfaces according to the analysis of partial density of states.

Ground state parameters,electronic properties and elastic constants of CaMg3:DFT study

The present study aims to investigate the equation of state(EOS)parameters of CaMg3 in aReCh(D09),AIFR(DO3),CU3A11(LI2)and CuTi3(L60)structures,using full potential linear muffin-tin orbitals(FP-LMTO)approach based on the density functional theory(DFT).The local density approximation(LDA)and the generalized gradient approximation(GGA)were both applied for the exchange-correlation potential term.The calculated equation of slate parameters at equilibrium,in general,agreed well with the available data of the literature.The calculations showed that under compression CaMg3 transforms from DO3 to DO9 at about 29.96GPa,and 25.1 GPa using LDA and GGA,respectively.The elastic constants C,y,aggregate moduli,Vickers hardness,sound velocity,and Debye temperature of CaMg3 in D03 structure were also reported,discussed and analyzed.Using LDA(GGA),the calculated values of Hv andθD were found at around 5.80GPa(5.93GPa)and 393.44 K(389.91 K),respectively.Electronic band structure,total density of states(TDOS)as well as the partial density of states(PDOS)have been also obtained.The electronic band structure confirms the metallic behavior of CaMg3 in DO3 phase,the valence bands are dominated by the maximum contribution of‘d’like states of Ca in the energy ranging from 2 to 3 eV for GGA,and from 4.5 to 5 eV for LDA,respectively.

Ab initio investigation of the structural and unusual electronic properties of α-CuSe (klockmannite)

In this article, a computational analysis has been performed on the structural properties and predominantly on the electronic properties of the α-CuSe （klockmannite） using density functional theory. The studies in this work show that the best structural results, in comparison to the experimental values, belong to the PBEsol-GGA and WC-GGA functionals. However, the best results for the bulk modulus and density of states （DOSs） are related to the local density approximation （LDA） functional. Through utilized approaches, the LDA is chosen to investigate the electronic structure. The results of the electronic properties and geometric optimization of α-CuSe respectively show that this compound is conductive and non-magnetic. The curvatures of the energy bands crossing the Fermi level explicitly reveal that major charge carriers in CuSe are holes, whose density is estimated to be 0.86×1022 hole/cm3. In particular, the Fermi surfaces in the first Brillouin zone demonstrate interplane conductivity between （001） planes. Moreover, the charge carriers among them are electrons and holes simultaneously. The conductivity in CuSe is mainly due to the hybridization between the d orbitals of Cu atoms and the p orbitals of Se atoms. The former orbitals have the dual nature of localization and itinerancy.

Structural, elastic and electronic properties of Cu-X compounds from first-principles calculations

The structural, elastic and electronic properties of Cu-X compounds in the Cu-X(X =Al, Be, Mg, Sn, Zn and Zr) systems were predicted systematically by first-principles calculations. The ground state properties such as lattice constant, bulk modulus(B)and it's pressure derivative(B') were predicted by fitting a four-parameter Birch–Murnaghan equation and the elastic constants(cij′s)are determined by an efficient strain-stress method. The calculated lattice parameters and cij′s of these binary compounds agree well with the available experimental data in the literature. In addition, elastic properties of polycrystalline aggregates including bulk modulus(B), shear modulus(G), elastic modulus(E), B/G(bulk/shear) ratio, and anisotropy ratio(AU) are calculated and compared with the experimental and theoretical results available in the literature. Based on electronic density of states(DOS) analysis, it can be revealed that all the compounds in the present work are metallic in nature.

Electronic properties of one-dimensional systems with long-range correlated binary potentials

We study numerically the electronic properties of one-dimensional systems with long-range correlated binary potentials. The potentials are mapped from binary sequences with a power-law power spectrum over the entire frequency range, which is characterized by correlation exponent β. We find the localization length ζ increases withβ. At system sizes N →∞, there are no extended states. However, there exists a transition at a threshold ζ. Whenβ 〉 βc, we obtain ζ 〉 0. On the other hand, at finite system sizes, ζ≥ N may happen at certain β, which makes the system ＂metallic＂, and the upper-bound system size N＊ （β） is given.

Stability,defect and electronic properties of graphane-like carbon-halogen compounds

We perform first-principles total energy calculations to investigate the stabilities and the electronic structures of graphane-like structures of carbon-halogen compounds, where the hydrogen atoms in the graphane are substituted by halogen atoms. Three halogen elements, fluorine （F）, chlorine （C1） and bromine （Br）, are considered, and the graphane-like structures are named as CF, CC1 and CBr, respectively. It is found that for the single-atom adsorption, only the F adatom can be chemically adsorbed on the graphene. However, the stable graphane-like structures of CF, CC1 and CBr can form due to the interaction between the halogen atoms. The carbon atoms in the stable CF, CC1 and CBr compounds are in the sp3 hybridization, forming a hexagonal network similar to the graphane. The electronic band calculations show that CF and CC1 are semiconductors with band gaps of 3.28 eV and 1.66 eV, respectively, while CBr is a metal. Moreover, the molecular dynamics simulation is employed to clarify the stabilities of CF and CC1. Those two compounds are stable at room temperature. A high temperature （：〉 1200 K） is needed to damage CF, while CC1 is destroyed at 700 K. Furthermore, the effects of a vacancy on the structure and the electronic property of CF are discussed.

Structural, mechanical, electronic properties, and Debye temperature of quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics under high pressure: A first-principles study

Quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics has been investigated as a potential nuclear fusion structural material,and it has advantages in certain aspects compared with Ti2AlC,Ti3AlC2,and Ti3SiC2 structural materials.In this paper,quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics is pressurized to investigate its structural,mechanical,electronic properties,and Debye temperature.Quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics still maintains a cubic structure under pressure(0–110 GPa).At zero pressure,quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics only has three bonds:Ti–Al,Ni–Al,and Ti–C.However,at pressures of 20 GPa,30 GPa,40 GPa,60 GPa,and 70 GPa,new Ti–Ni,Ti–Ti,Al–Al,Ti–Al,and Ti–Ti bonds form.When the pressure reaches 20 GPa,the covalent bonds change to metallic bonds.The volume of quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics can be compressed to 72%of its original volume at most.Pressurization can improve the mechanical strength and ductility of quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics.At 50–60 GPa,its mechanical strength can be comparable to pure tungsten,and the material changes from brittleness to ductility.However,the degree of anisotropy of quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics increases with the increasing pressure.In addition,we also investigated the Debye temperature,density,melting point,hardness,and wear resistance of quaternary carbide Ti3NiAl2C ceramics under pressure.

Density functional investigations for geometric and electronic properties of In_4M and In_(12)M (M=C,Si,In) clusters

First-principle calculations are performed to study geometric and electronic properties of both neutral and anionic In4M and In12M （M = C, Si, In） clusters. In4C and In4Si are found to be tetrahedral molecules. The icosahedral structure is found to be unfavourable for In12M. The most stable structure for In12C is a distorted buckled biplanar structure while for In12Si it is of an In-cage with the Si located in the centre. Charge effect on the structure of In12M is discussed. In4C has a significantly large binding energy and an energy gap between the highest-occupied molecularorbital level and the lowest unoccupied molecular-orbital level, a low electron affinity, and a high ionization potential, which are the characters of a magic cluster, enriching the family of doped-group-IIIA metal clusters for cluster-assembled materials.

Structural stability and electronic properties of carbon star lattice monolayer

By means of the first-principles calculations, we have investigated the structural stability and electronic properties of carbon star lattice monolayer and nanoribbons. The phase stability of the carbon star lattice is verified through phononmode analysis and room temperature molecular dynamics simulations. The carbon star lattice is found to be metallic due to the large states across the Fermi-level contributed by Pz orbital. Furthermore, the nanoribbons are also found to be metallic and no spin polarization occurs, except for the narrowest nanoribbon with one C12 ring, which has a ferromagnetic ground state. Our results show that carbon star lattice monolayer and nanoribbons have rich electronic properties with great potential in future electronic nanodevices.

First-principles study of electronic properties and stability of Nb_5SiB_2(001) surface

The density functional calculations are performed to study the electronic structure and stability of Nb5SiB2 （001） surface with different terminations. The calculated cleavage energies along the （001） planes in Nb5SiB2 are 5.015 J · m-2 and 6.593 J· m-2 with the break of Nb=Si and Nb-NbB bonds, respectively. There exists a close correlation between the surface relaxation including surface ripple and the cleavage energy： the larger the cleavage energy, the larger the surface relaxation. Moreover, the surface stability of the NbsSiB2 （001） with different terminations has been investigated by the chemical potential phase diagram. From a thermodynamics point of view, the four terminations can be stabilized under different conditions. In chemical potential space, NbB （Nb） and Nb （Si） terminations are just stable in a small area, whereas Si （Nb） and Nb （NbB） terminations are stable in a large area （the letters in brackets represent the subsurface atoms）.

Mechanical, elastic, anisotropy, and electronic properties of monoclinic phase of m-SixGe3-xN4

The structural, mechanical, elastic anisotropic, and electronic properties of the monoclinic phase of m-Si3N4, m-Si2GeN4, m-SiGe2N4, and m-Ge3N4 are systematically investigated in this work. The calculated results of lattice parameters, elastic constants and elastic moduli of m-Si3N4 and m-Ge3N4 are in good agreement with previous theoretical results. Using the Voigt-Reuss-Hill method, elastic properties such as bulk modulus B and shear modulus G are investigated. The calculated ratio of B/G and Poissons ratio v show that only m-SiGe2N4 should belong to a ductile material in nature. In addition, m-SiGe2N4 possesses the largest anisotropic shear modulus, Youngs modulus, Poissons ratio, and percentage of elastic anisotropies for bulk modulus AB and shear modulus AG, and universal anisotropic index AU among m-SixGe3-xN4 （x=0, 1, 2, 3.） The results of electronic band gap reveal that m-Si3N4, m-Si2GeN4, m-SiGe2N4, and m-Ge3N4 are all direct and wide band gap semiconducting materials.

Structures and electronic properties of Mo_(2n)N_n(n=1-5):a density functional study

The lowest-energy structures and the electronic properties of Mo2nNn （n=1-5） clusters have been studied by using the density functional theory （DFT） simulating package DMol3 in the generalized gradient approximation （GGA）. The resulting equilibrium geometries show that the lowest-energy structures are dominated by central cores which correspond to the ground states of Mon （n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10） clusters and nitrogen atoms which surround these cores. The average binding energy, the adiabatic electron affinity （AEA）, the vertical electron affinity （VEA）, the adiabatic ionization potential （AIP） and the vertical ionization potential （VIP） of Mo2nNn （n=1-5） clusters have been estimated. The HOMO LUMO gaps reveal that the clusters have strong chemical activities. An analysis of Mulliken charge distribution shows that charge-transfer moves from Mo atoms to N atoms and increases with cluster size.

First principles study on geometric and electronic properties of two-dimensional Nb_(2)CT_(x) MXenes

MXenes are a new type of two-dimensional carbides with rich physical and chemical properties. The physics of MXenes, and thus the applications, are dominated by surface functional groups. Herein, the effects of different terminations(O,S, Se, Te) on the geometric and electronic properties of Nb_(2)C MXenes were studied via density functional theory(DFT)calculations. Three adsorption sites were examined to determine the most stable configurations. The results showed that both the types and the positions of surface functional groups influence the geometric stability and physical characters of Nb_(2)C. The S and Se terminations make the Nb_(2)C MXenes to be semiconductor, while Nb_(2)C MXenes with other terminations(O, Te) are conductor. The electron location function, density of states, Bader charge distribution, and the projected crystal orbital Hamilton population were conducted to explain the origin of adsorption stability and electronic nature difference. Our results provide a fundamental understanding about the effects of surface terminations on the intrinsic stability and electronic properties of Nb_(2)C MXenes.