Tunable Electronic and Magnetic Properties from Structure Phase Transition of Layered Vanadium Diselenide

The atomic geometry, structure stability, electronic and magnetic properties of VSe2 were systematically investigated based on the density functional theory（DFT）. Varying from 3D to 2D four VSe2 structures, bulk 2H-VSe2 and 1T-VSe2, monolayer H-VSe2 and T-VSe2 are all demonstrated as thermodynamically stable by lattice dynamic calculations. More interestingly, the phase transition temperature is dramatically different due to the lattice size. Finally, owing to different crystal structures, H-VSe2 is semimetallic whereas T-VSe2 is totally metallic and also they have different magnetic moments. Our main argument is that being exfoliated from bulk to monolayer, 2H-VSe2 transforms to T-VSe2, accompanied by both semimetallic-metallic transition and dramatic magnetic moment variation. Our calculations provide a novel structure phase transition and an efficient way to modulate the electronic structure and magnetic moment of layered VSe2, which suggests potential applications as high-performance functional nanomaterial.

Phase Transition and Negative Thermal Expansion Property of ZrMnMo_3O_(12)

A novel material of ZrMnMo3012 with negative thermal expansion is presented. The phase transition temperature and coemcient of thermal expansion （CTE） are investigated by temperature-dependent x-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. It is shown that ZrMnMo3012 adopts monoclinic structure with space group P21/a （No. 14） from 298 to 358K and transforms to orthorhombic with space group Pnma （No. 62） above 363K. The linear CTE obtained from the results of XRD refinement is -2.80 × 10-6 K-1 from 363 to 873 K. The CTE of the bulk cylinder ceramic measured by a thermal dilatometer is -4.7× 10-6 K-1 from 373 to 773K approximatively.

Triethylammonium picrate： An above-room-temperature phase transition material to switch quadratic nonlinear optical properties

To switch quadratic nonlinear optical（NLO） effects has become an exciting branch of the NLO material science. However, solid-state molecular crystals showing tunable and switchable NLO behaviors remain scarce. Here, we report an organic picrate-based binary molecular crystal, triethylammonium picrate（TEAP）, which undergoes an above-room-temperature phase transition at T_c=319 K, being solidly confirmed by the thermal and dielectric measurements. A large thermal hysteresis of ~7 K discloses the first-order feature for its phase transition. More strikingly, the quadratic NLO effects of TEAP can be switched in the vicinity of Tc. That is, TEAP exhibits NLO-active response of ~1.5 times as large as that of KDP below T_c（i.e., NLO-on state）, while its NLO effects totally disappear above T_c（NLO-off state）. Structure analyses disclose that the order-disorder transformations of triethylammonium cations and picrate anions collectively contribute to its phase transition, as well as switchable NLO behaviors. This work opens up a new pathway to the designing and assembling of stimuli-responsive materials.

Critical parameters near the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition in La_(0.67–x)Y_xBa_(0.23)Ca_(0.1)MnO_3 compounds(x=0.10 and x=0.15)

The critical properties of the mixed manganite La0.67–x Y x Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 with x=0.10 and x=0.15 around the paramagnetic（PM）-ferromagnetic（FM） phase transition were investigated through various techniques. These involved modified Arrott plots, Kouvel-Fisher method and Widom scaling relation. Magnetic data, analyzed in the critical region, using the above methods, yielded the critical exponents for（x=0.10） La0.57Y0.10Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3（β=0.312±0.002 and γ=1.147±0.003 at T C=299.23±0.05 K）. Moreover, the estimated critical exponents of（x=0.15） La0.52Y0.15Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 were β=0.286±0.004 and γ=0.943±0.002 at T C=289.53±0.06 K. The critical exponents＇ values were close to the theoretical values of 3D-Ising model and tricritical mean-field model. These results suggested that the present composition should be close to a tricritical point in the La0.67–x Y x Ba0.23Ca0.1Mn O3 phase diagram. Expressing the field dependence as ΔS M∝H n allowed us to establish a relationship between the exponent n and the critical exponents of the material and to propose a phenomenological universal curve for the field dependence of ΔS M.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of Nb-alloyed CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloys

Nb has a positive effect on improving the mechanical properties of metal materials, and it is expected to strengthen CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloys （HEAs） with outstanding ductility and relatively weak strength. In this paper, the alloying effects of Nb on the microstructural evolution and the mechanical properties of the （CoCrCuFeNi）100-xNbx HEA were investigated systematically. The result shows that Nb promotes the phase transition from FCC （face-centered cubic） to Laves phase, and the volume fractions of Laves phase increase from 0% to 58.2% as the Nb content increases, Compressive testing shows that the addition of Nb has a positive effect on improving the strength of CoCrCuFeNi HEA. The compressive yield strength of （CoCrCuFeNi）100-xNbx HEAs increases from 338 MPa to 1322 MPa and the fracture strain gradually reduces from 60.0% （no fracture） to 8.1% as the Nb content increases from 0 to 16 at.%. The volume fraction increase of hard Laves phase is the key factor for the strength increase, and the reduction of the VEC （valence electron concentration） value induced by the addition of Nb is beneficial for the increase of the Laves phase content in these alloys.

First principles study of structural, electronic, elastic and magnetic properties of cerium and praseodymium hydrogen system REH_x(RE:Ce, Pr and x=2, 3)

The structural, electronic, elastic and magnetic properties of cerium, praseodymium and their hydrides REH x（RE=Ce, Pr and x=2, 3） were investigated by the first principles calculations based on density functional theory using the Vienna ab-initio simulation package. At zero pressure all the hydrides were stable in the ferromagnetic state. The calculated lattice parameters were in good agreement with the experimental results. The bulk modulus decreased with the increase in the hydrogen content for these hydrides. The electronic structure revealed that di-hydrides were metallic whereas trihydrides were half metallic at zero pressure. A pressure-induced structural phase transition from cubic to hexagonal phase was predicted in these hydrides. The computed elastic constants indicated that these hydrides were mechanically stable at zero pressure. The calculated Debye temperature values were in good agreement with experimental and other theoretical results. A half metallic to metallic transition was also observed in REH3 under high pressure. Ferromagnetism was quenched in these hydrides at high pressures.

Investigation of Structural, Electronic and Mechanical Properties of Rubidium Metal Hydrides RbMH_4(M=B, Al, Ga)

Ab initio calculations are performed to investigate the structural stability, electronic structure and mechanical properties of rubidium metal hydrides RbMH4（M = B, Al, Ga） for five different crystal structures, namely hexagonal（P63mc）, tetragonal（P42/nmc）, tetragonal（P421c）, orthorhombic（Pnma） and monoclinic（P21/c）. Among the considered structures, tetragonal（P421c） phase is found to be the most stable one for these metal hydrides at normal pressure. A pressure-induced structural phase transition from tetragonal（P421c） to monoclinic（P21/c） phase is observed in all the three metal hydrides. The electronic structure reveals that these hydrides are wide band gap semiconductors. The calculated elastic constants indicate that these alkali metal tetrahydrides are mechanically stable at normal pressure.