Electronic structures,magnetic properties and band alignments of 3d transition metal atoms doped monolayer MoS2

Utilizing first-principles calculations, the electronic structures, magnetic properties and band alignments of monolayer MoS₂ doped by 3d transition metal atoms have been investigated. It is found that in V, Cr, Mn, Fe-doped monolayers, the nearest neighboring S atoms (S_NN) are antiferromagnetically polarized with the doped atoms. While in Co, Ni, Cu, Zn-doped systems, the S_NN are ferromagnetically coupled with the doped atoms. Moreover, the nearest neighboring Mo atoms also demonstrate spin polarization. Compared with pristine monolayer MoS₂, little change is found for the band edges' positions in the doped systems. The Fermi level is located in the spin-polarized impurity bands, implying a half-metallic state. These results provide fundamental insights for doped monolayer MoS₂ applying in spintronic, optoelectronic and electronic devices.     

Structural and magnetic properties of MoS2 monolayer zigzag nanoribbon doped by Ti,V, Cr,and Mn

In order to find new functions of monolayer MoS₂ in nanoelectronics or spin electronic devices, using spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT) calculations with on-site coulomb interaction (U), we investigated substitutional doping of Mo atoms of monolayer zigzag MoS₂ nanoribbon (ZZ-MoS₂ NR) by transition metals (TM) (where TM = Ti, V, Cr, Mn) at the Mo-edge, S-edge, and the middle of the NRs. The results of this study indicate the NR widened irrespective of the doped TM position and type, and the Mo-edge was found as the easiest substitutional position. For ZZ-MoS₂ NR doped by Mn, Cr or V atoms, the preferred magnetic coupling state is the edge atoms of S at the S-edge, exhibiting the same spin polarization with TM (named the FM1 state), attributing the NR with metallic magnetism. For Ti-doped monolayer ZZ-MoS₂ NR, in addition to the FM1 state, other preferred magnetic coupling state was observed in which the edge atoms of S at the S-edge exhibit the opposite spin polarization with that of Ti (named the FM2 state). Thus, the NR doped by Ti atom possesses metallic (FM1 state) or half-metallic (FM2 state) magnetism. The total magnetic moments of the ZZ-MoS₂ NR doped by TM follows a linear relationship as a function of the TM dopants (Mn, Cr, V, and Ti). Under $>4\text{\%}$ applied strain, the NR doped by Ti atom only presents the characteristics of half-metallic magnetism as the initial one in the FM2 state, and its total magnetic moment always remained 0 μB, i.e., it was not affected by the width of the NR. This study provides a rational route of tuning the magnetic properties of ZZ-MoS₂ NRs for their promising applications in nanoelectronics and spin electronic devices.     

Structures,stabilities and electronic properties of manganese oxyfluoride (MnOxFy) species (x + y = 1–4; x,y = 0–4)

In this work, a density functional survey on manganese oxyfluoride (MnO_xF_y) species for x + y = 1–4 is performed, in which an Mn atom interacts simultaneously with O as well as F atoms. The stabilities of all these species are established against dissociation to manganese oxides as well as fluorides and their relative stabilities are also discussed. It is revealed that the most favourable oxidation state of Mn is +4 in its oxyfluorides, same as in fluorides. For the first time, the superhalogen properties of MnOF₃, MnO₃F and MnO₂F₂ species are introduced on the basis of their high electron affinities as compared to halogens. The interaction of MnO₂F₂ superhalogen with an alkali metal (K) is considered via F atoms as well as O atoms which is similar to that in KF and leads to the formation of stable KMnO₂F₂ complex. Thus, this study is expected to motivate theorist to design a new series of superhalogen species using transition metals with mixed F and O ligands, as well as experimentalists to synthesise such novel complex compounds.     

A study on monolayer MoS2 doping at the S site via the first principle calculations

Through the first principle calculation, electronic properties of monolayer MoS₂ doped with single, double, triple and tetra-atoms of P, Cl, O, Se at the surface S site are discussed. Among the substitutional dopant, our calculation results show that when P atoms are doped on a monolayer MoS₂, a shift in the Fermi energy into the valence band is observed, making the system p-type. Meanwhile, band gap gradually decreases as increasing the number of P atoms. On the contrary, Cl is identified as a suitable n-type dopant. It is observed that Cl for initial three dopant behaved as magnetic and afterwards returned to non-magnetic behavior. The band gap of the Cl doped system is also dwindling gradually. Finally, O and Se doped systems have little effect on electronic properties near band gap. Such doping method at the S site, and the TDOS and PDOSs of each doping system provide a detailed of understanding toward working mechanism of the doped and the intrinsic semiconductors. This doping model opens up an avenue for further clarification in the doping systems as well as other dopant using this method.     

Temperature evolution of the cluster state in La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 and La0.8Ca0.2CoO3

The results of investigations of the transport and magnetic properties (ac linear and nonlinear (second- and third-order) susceptibilities) of La_0.8Ca_0.2MnO₃ and La_0.8Ca_0.2CoO₃ single crystals have been presented. It has been found that both compounds in the paramagnetic phase contain ferromagnetic clusters with close magnetic characteristics. At high temperatures, ferromagnetic clusters nucleate in preferred sites associated with chemical inhomogeneities. Cooling below a specific temperature is accompanied by homogeneous nucleation of clusters. These two stages are observed in both compounds. In the doped cobaltite, the coalescence of clusters begins to develop at the third stage, whereas in the manganite, their behavior changes due to the development of ferromagnetic ordering of the matrix. These features indicate that the cluster state in doped manganites and cobaltites has a common nature. The difference in the behavior of ferromagnetic clusters is a consequence of the magnetically active character of the matrix in the case of manganites and the neutral character of the matrix in the case of cobaltites.     

Strain-dependent electronic and magnetic of Co-doped monolayer of WSe2

We perform first-principles calculation to investigate electronic and magnetic properties of Co-doped WSe₂ monolayer with strains from −10% to 10%. We find that Co can induce magnetic moment about 0.894 μ_B, the Co-doped WSe₂ monolayer is a magnetic semiconductor material without strain. The doped system shows half-metallic properties under tensile strain, and the largest half-metal gap is 0.147 eV at 8% strain. The magnetic moment (0.894 μ_B) increases slightly from 0% to 6%, and jumps into about 3 μ_B at 8% and 10%, which presents high-spin state configurations. When we applied compressive strain, the doped system shows a half-metallic feature at −2% strain, and the magnetic moment jumps into 1.623 μ_B at −4% strain, almost two times as the original moment 0.894 μ_B at 0% strain. The magnetic moment vanishes at −7% strain. The Co-doped WSe₂ can endure strain from −6% to 10%. Strain changes the redistribution of charges and magnetic moment. Our calculation results show that the Co-doped WSe₂ monolayer can transform from magnetic semiconductor to half-metallic material under strain.     

Metal oxide-embedded porous carbon nanoparticles as high-performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) was used as a precursor to fabricate porous carbon nanoparticles (PCNs) embedded with different metal oxides (NiO_x, CoO_x, and MnO_x). Rate performance tests indicate that 10% MnO_x embedded PCNs (MnO_x10-PCN) show superior rate performance over PCN. MnO_x10-PCN and PCN were further investigated by XRD, XPS, TG, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, BET, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic discharge–charge test. XRD and XPS results reveal that MnO and MnO₂ phase co-exist in the MnO_x10-PCN. SEM results indicate that both MnO_x10-PCN and PCN are spherical particles with a size ranging from 20 to 50 nm. TEM results imply that MnO_x nanoparticles are incorporated inside some porous carbon nanoparticles. FT-IR results indicate some residuary benzene rings remain in the MnO_x10-PCN and PCN. BET analysis reveals that pore properties of MnO_x10-PCN are very near to that of CMP. These unique features ensure MnO_x10-PCN possesses high reversible capacity, excellent rate performance, and long cycling life. MnO_x10-PCN delivers an initial reversible capacity of 986 mAh g^?1 at 0.2 C. In addition, the capacity cycled at 2 C for 700 cycles is even higher than its original capacity.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of Mn-doped WSe2 monolayer under strain

Electronic and magnetic properties of Mn-doped WSe₂ monolyer subject to isotropic strain are investigated using the first-principles methods based on the density functional theory. Our results indicate that Mn-doped WSe₂ monolayer is a magnetic semiconductor nanomaterial with strong spontaneous magnetism without strain and the total magnetic moment of Mn-doped system is 1.038μ_B. We applied strain to Mn-doped WSe₂ monolayer from -10% to 10%. The doped system transforms from magnetic semiconductor to half-metallic material from −10% to −2% compressive strain and from 2% to 6% tensile strain. The largest half-metallic gap is 0.450 eV at −2% compressive strain. The doped system shows metal property from 7% to 10%. Its maximum magnetic moment comes to 1.181μ_B at 6% tensile strain. However, the magnetic moment of system decreases to zero sharply when tensile strain arrived at 7%. Strain changes the redistribution of charges and arises to the magnetic effect. The coupling between the 3d orbital of Mn atom, 5d orbital of W atom and 4p orbital of Se atom is analyzed to explain the strong strain effect on the magnetic properties. Our studies predict Mn-doped WSe₂ monolayers under strain to be candidates for thin dilute magnetic semiconductors, which is important for application in semiconductor spintronics.     

First-principle investigation on multiferroicity and interfacial coupling of nonstoichiometric tetragonal La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/BiCoO3 interface

The energetically stable tetragonal nonstoichiometric La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃/BiCoO₃ (LSMO/BCO) interface, whose chemical formula is (BiO)₃(CoO₂)₄/(LaO)₃(SrO)₁(MnO₂)₃, was investigated by using first-principle calculations. A magnetoelectric coupling effect, i.e., an electric control of the magnetism, was approved by a maximum variation of 17.9% in magnetic moments tuned by the electric polarization reversal. The interfacial coupling was controlled by the polar shifts of the interfacial Co and/or O atoms. A huge variation in spin-polarization from 6.3% to 72.7% was achieved upon switching the electric polarization. These findings are useful for magnetoelectric coupled spintronic device applications.     

Alkali-metal-embedded in monolayer MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript>: optical properties and work functions

Embedding alkali-metal in monolayer MoS₂ has been investigated by using first principles with density functional theory. The calculation of the electronic and optical properties indicates that alkali-metal was embedded in monolayer MoS₂ appearing almost metallic behavior, and the MoS₂ layer shows clear p-type doping behavior. The covalent bonding appears between the alkali-metal atoms and defective MoS₂. More importantly, embedding alkali-metal can increase the work function for monolayer MoS₂. Furthermore, the absorption spectrum of monolayer MoS₂ is red shifted because of alkali metal embedding. Accordingly, this study will provide the theoretical basis for producing the alkali-metal-doped monolayer MoS₂ radiation shielding and photoelectric devices.     

Comparative study of heterogeneous magnetic state above TC in La0.82Sr0.18CoO3 cobaltite and La0.83Sr0.17MnO3 manganite

The magnetic, transport and structural properties are studied for La_0.83Sr_0.17MnO₃ and La_0.82Sr_0.18CoO₃ single crystals with nearly the same doping and the metallic ground state. Their comparisons have shown that ferromagnetic clusters originate in the paramagnetic matrix below Т^?>T_C in both samples and exhibit similar properties. This suggests the possible universality of such phenomena in doped mixed-valence oxides of transition metals with the perovskite-type structure. The cluster density increases on cooling and plays an important role on the physical properties of these systems. The differences in cluster evolutions and scenarios of their insulator–metal transitions are related to different magnetic behaviors of the matrixes in these crystals that is mainly due to distinct spin states of the Mn³⁺ and Co³⁺ ions.     

Magnetism of mass-filtered nanoparticles on ferromagnetic supports

The magnetic properties of 3d-metal clusters significantly differ from bulk behavior and, for small clusters, strongly depend on the number of atoms within each cluster. Such phenomena are caused by a narrowing of electronic states and the high ratio of surface to volume atoms giving rise to enhanced magnetic orbital moments. However, even large Fe nanoparticles (6–12 nm) deposited onto ferromagnetic surfaces show enhanced orbital moments. At a low coverage large iron clusters on a cobalt film exhibit a nearly doubled value for the orbital moments when compared to bulk behaviour. With increasing coverage, the orbital moment is clearly reduced. Additionally, the spin and orbital moments of iron and cobalt in Fe₅₀Co₅₀ alloy clusters with a size of 7.5 nm on a nickel substrate have been investigated. FeCo alloys are known to exhibit very high magnetic moments for soft magnetic materials. PACS 73.22.-f; 75.75.+a; 81.07.-b     

Structure and magnetism on iron oxide clusters Fe nO m ( n = 1-5): Calculation from first principles

We have studied structural and magnetic properties in small iron oxide clusters, Fe_nO_m (n = 1-5), by means of the first-principles calculation based on the density functional theory. We have used not only the usual spin polarized scheme, but also the scheme for noncollinear magnetism to carry out efficient optimization in magnetic structure. The result of FeO_m (m = 1-4) is in good agreement with the previous work. We found the stable adduct clusters in FeO₅ and FeO₆. The bridge site of oxygen atom is more favorable in energy than any other site for the clusters of Fe_nO (n = 2-5). As increasing the number of oxygen atoms, the alignment of Fe magnetic moments changes from ferromagnetic configuration to antiferromagnetic one at Fe_nO_n (n = 2-4). Received 10 September 2002 Published online 3 July 2003     

First-principles study of ferromagnetism in Zn- and Cd-doped SnO2

The electronic structures and magnetic properties of Zn- and Cd-doped SnO₂ are investigated using first-principles calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U scheme. The substitutional Zn and Cd atoms introduce holes in the 2p orbitals of the O atoms and the introduced holes are mostly confined to the minority-spin states. The magnetic moment induced by doping mainly comes from the 2p orbitals of the O atoms, among which the moment of the first neighboring O atoms around the dopant are the biggest. The U correction for the anion-2p states obviously increases the moment of the first neighboring O atoms and transforms the ground states of the doped SnO₂ from half-metallic to insulating. The magnetic coupling between the moments induced by two dopants is ferromagnetic and the origin of ferromagnetic coupling can be attributed to the p–d hybridization interaction involving holes.     

Doping level and environment dependence of structural stability and magnetic properties in Mn-doped WS2 bilayer in first principles

We carried out first-principles electronic structure calculation to study the structural stability and magnetic properties of Mn-doped WS₂ ultra-thin films within the density functional theory. Adopting various configurations of Mn doping into WS₂ bilayer, we find that the magnetic phase can be manipulated among the ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic phases by altering doping level and growth environment. Magnetic phase and strength are determined by magnetic coupling of Mn dopants 3d electrons which can be attributed crucially to the exchange interaction mediated by neighboring S atoms 3p electrons. Accompanying to the magnetic phase transition, the electronic structure reveals that transport properties switch from semiconducting with various bandgap to half-metallic states. This result implicates possible way to develop magnetic semiconductors based on Mn doped 2D WS₂ ultra-thin films for spintronics applications.     

First principles study of structural, vibrational and electronic properties of graphene-like MX2 (M=Mo, Nb, W, Ta; X=S, Se, Te) monolayers

Using first principles calculations, we investigate the structural, vibrational and electronic structures of the monolayer graphene-like transition-metal dichalcogenide (MX₂) sheets. We find the lattice parameters and stabilities of the MX₂ sheets are mainly determined by the chalcogen atoms, while the electronic properties depend on the metal atoms. The NbS₂ and TaS₂ sheets have comparable energetic stabilities to the synthesized MoS₂ and WS₂ ones. The molybdenum and tungsten dichalcogenide (MoX₂ and WX₂) sheets have similar lattice parameters, vibrational modes, and electronic structures. These analogies also exist between the niobium and tantalum dichalcogenide (NbX₂ and TaX₂) sheets. However, the NbX₂ and TaX₂ sheets are metals, while the MoX₂ and WX₂ ones are semiconductors with direct-band gaps. When the Nb and Ta atoms are doped into the MoS₂ and WS₂ sheets, a semiconductor-to-metal transition occurs. Comparing to the bulk compounds, these monolayer sheets have similar structural parameters and properties, but their vibrational and electronic properties are varied and have special characteristics. Our results suggest that the graphene-like MX₂ sheets have potential applications in nano-electronics and nano-devices.     

A prospective DFT study for assembling highly reactive clusters based on lithium boranes and alanates

In this work, first-principles calculations using the density functional theory are performed to study the structure, stability and electronic properties of lithium borohydrides (boranes) and lithium aluminohydrides (alanates). With the attachment of BH₄ and AlH₄ complexes to the Li atom, the electron affinity increases to 5.22 eV and 4.34 eV, in the clusters Li(BH₄)₂ and Li(AlH₄)₂, respectively, which indicate superhalogen behaviour. For the alanates, by decorating the Li atom with the superhalogen moiety, the electron affinity increases to 4.64 eV, in the large-sized cluster Li[Li(AlH₄)₂]₂. The substitution of Al for B leads to larger NBO charges on the H atoms, as a result of the electron- donating character of the Al atom. The results show that, besides larger gravimetrical storage capacities, the boranes also have higher electron affinities than the alanates in the large-sized clusters. The significant HOMO-LUMO differences indicate that the new moieties, which are highly reactive, are chemically very stable species.     

Size effect in nanocrystalline manganites La<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis><Subscript>x</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>=Ag,Sr)

Nanocrystalline samples of the manganites La_0.9Ag_0.1MnO₃, La_0.7Ag_0.3MnO₃, and La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ were synthesized through pyrolysis and isothermally annealed. The atomic, subatomic, and magnetic structures of these manganites were studied using magnetic, x-ray, and neutron diffraction measurements. Increasing the annealing temperature from 600 to 1200°C coarsens the grains from 30–40 to 600–700 nm in size. All the samples studied have rhombohedral structure and are ferromagnets. The Curie temperature decreases for the samples doped by silver and increases for the samples doped by strontium as the anneal temperature is increased. The magnetization of the Mn ions increases with nanoparticle size in all the three systems, which indicates the presence of a size effect.     

Stabilities,electronic and magnetic properties of Cu-doped nickel clusters: a DFT investigation

In this paper, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of Cu-doped nickel clusters by means of density functional theory. The stabilities of these clusters have also been studied in terms of the binding energies, second-order difference of energies, fragmentation energies and HOMO–LUMO energy gaps. The obtained results reveal that the N₄Cu, N₅Cu and Ni₇Cu clusters are found to be more stable that than all other clusters. Higher HOMO–LUMO gap was observed for Ni₅Cu cluster (2.265 eV), indicating its higher chemical stability. A half-metallic behaviour has also been observed for the Ni_nCu clusters, which suggests that these clusters can be employed as nanocatalysts for several catalytic processes, particularly for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions. The magnetism calculations show that the magnetic moment is mostly located on the Ni atoms, and the contribution of the Cu atom to the total magnetic moment in the Ni_nCu clusters is very small. Furthermore, partial density of states analysis indicates that the 3d orbitals in Ni atoms are mostly responsible for the magnetic behaviour of these clusters, and the s orbitals have a very little contribution to the total magnetic moment.