3d过渡金属掺杂对Cd12O12纳米线电子和磁性能的影响

采用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算方法,系统研究了3d过渡金属元素(Sc、Ti、Cr、Mn、Co、Cu和Zn)掺杂Cd12O12纳米线的几何结构,电子结构和磁性。结果表明：所有掺杂体系均是热力学稳定的;掺杂Ti或Zn时体系保留了原有的非磁半导体特性,掺杂Mn、Co或Cu时能够实现磁性半导体态,而在掺杂Sc（Cr）时体系转变为非磁性金属态（磁性金属态）。研究结果表明,掺杂3d过渡金属元素的Cd12O12纳米线在电子、光电和自旋电子学领域具有潜在的应用价值。     

Role of Ti 3d carriers in mediating the ferromagnetism of Co∶TiO2 anatase thin films

We study the surface and bulk electronic structure of the room-temperature ferromagnet Co∶TiO(2) anatase films using soft- and hard-x-ray photoemission spectroscopy with probe sensitivities of ～1 and ～10 nm, respectively. We obtain direct evidence of metallic Ti(3+) states in the bulk, which get suppressed to give a surface semiconductor, thus indicating the difference in electronic structure between surface and bulk. X-ray absorption and resonant photoemission spectroscopy reveal Ti(3+) electrons at the Fermi level (E(F)) and high-spin Co(2+) electrons occurring away from E(F). The results show the importance of the charge neutrality condition: Co(2+)+V(O)(2-)+2Ti(4+)?Co(2+)+2Ti(3+) (V(O) is oxygen vacancy), which gives rise to the elusive Ti 3d carriers mediating ferromagnetism via the Co 3d-O 2p-Ti 3d exchange interaction pathway of the occupied orbitals.     

退火氛围对掺杂ZnO薄膜磁性的影响

采用直流磁控反应共溅法制备了非磁性元素Al和磁性元素Co掺杂的ZnO薄膜, 样品原位真空退火后再空气退火处理. 利用X射线衍射仪(XRD) 和物理性能测量仪(PPMS) 对薄膜的结构和磁性进行了表征. XRD和PPMS结果表明, 不同的退火氛围对掺杂薄膜的结构和磁性有着很大的影响. 真空退火的Al掺杂ZnO薄膜没有观察到铁磁性, 而空气退火的样品却显示出明显的室温铁磁性, 铁磁性的来源与空气退火后导致Al和ZnO基体间电荷转移增强有关. 而对于Co掺杂ZnO薄膜, 真空退火后再空气退火, 室温铁磁性明显减弱. 其磁性变化与Co离子和ZnO基体间电荷转移导致磁性增强和间隙Co原子被氧化导致磁性减弱有关.     

Characteristic and microstructure of the microarc oxidized TiO2-based film containing P before and after chemical- and heat treatment

Chemical- and heat treatment was performed to modify the surface of the microarc oxidized TiO₂-based (TOB) film containing P to produce nano-scale compounds containing Na, Ti and O elements. In the TOB film, anatase and rutile nanocrystals were randomly distributed in P-doped matrix. On the surface of the chemically treated TOB (C-TOB) film, amorphous titanium oxide containing Na shows nano-scale ribbonlike morphology. Na, Ti and O show uniform distribution in the outer layer of the C-TOB film along surface depth. Chemical treatment did not alter the surface roughness of the TOB film obviously; however, it improved its hydrophilic property. Heat treatment has no influence on the chemical states of Ti, Na and O, as well as wetting ability, elemental composition and atomic concentration in the outer layer of the C-TOB film. However, the phase compositions and surface morphology of the C-TOB film after heat treatment are dependent on the heat treatment temperature.     

Elastic scattering of surface states on three-dimensional topological insulators

Topological insulators as a new type of quantum matter materials are characterized by a full insulating gap in the bulk and gapless edge/surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry. We propose that the interference patterns caused by the elastic scattering of defects or impurities are dominated by the surface states at the extremal points on the constant energy contour. Within such a formalism, we summarize our recent theoretical investigations on the elastic scattering of topological surface states by various imperfections, including non-magnetic impurities, magnetic impurities, step edges, and various other defects, in comparison with the recent related experiments in typical topological materials such as BiSb alloys, Bi2Te3, and Bi2Se3 crystals.     

Metal-Oxide Interfaces in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Metal-oxide interfaces play an important role in spintronics—a new area of microelectronics that exploits spin of electrons in addition to the traditional charge degree of freedom to enhance the performance of existing semiconductor devices. Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) consisting of spin-polarized ferromagnetic electrodes sandwiching an insulating barrier are such promising candidates of spintronic devices. The paper reviews recent results of first-principle density-functional studies of the atomic and electronic structure of metal-oxide interfaces in Co/Al₂O₃/Co and Co/SrTiO₃/Co MTJs. The most stable interface structures, O-terminated for fcc Co (111)/-alumina(0001) and TiO₂-terminated with oxygens on top of Co atoms for fcc Co (001)/SrTiO₃(001) were identified based on energetics of metal-oxide cohesion at the interface. The covalent character of bonding for both the Co/alumina and Co/SrTiO₃ interface structures has been determined based on the pattern of electron distribution across the interface. The Al-terminated Co/alumina interface that corresponds to an under-oxidized MTJ exhibits a metallic character of bonding. The unusual charge transfer process coupled with exchange interactions of electrons in Co results in quenching of surface magnetism at the interface and substantial reduction of work of separation. The electronic structure of the O-terminated Co/Al₂O₃/Co MTJ exhibits negative spin polarization at the Fermi energy within the first few monolayers of alumina but it eventually becomes positive for distances beyond 10 Å. The Co/SrTiO₃/Co MTJ shows an exchange coupling between the interface Co and Ti atoms mediated by oxygen, which results in an antiparallely aligned induced magnetic moment on Ti atoms. This may lead to a negative spin polarization of tunneling across the SrTiO₃ barrier from the Co electrode. The results illustrate the important fact that spin-polarized tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions is not determined entirely by bulk density of states of ferromagnet electrodes, but is also very sensitive to the nature of the insulating tunneling barrier, as well as the atomic structure and bonding at the ferromagnet/insulator interface.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of Ti(2)O(3), Cr(2)O(3), and Fe(2)O(3) calculated by the screened exchange hybrid density functional

The electronic and magnetic properties of the transition metal sesqui-oxides Cr(2)O(3), Ti(2)O(3), and Fe(2)O(3) have been calculated using the screened exchange (sX) hybrid density functional. This functional is found to give a band structure, bandgap, and magnetic moment in better agreement with experiment than the local density approximation (LDA) or the LDA+U methods. Ti(2)O(3) is found to be a spin-paired insulator with a bandgap of 0.22?eV in the Ti d orbitals. Cr(2)O(3) in its anti-ferromagnetic phase is an intermediate charge transfer Mott-Hubbard insulator with an indirect bandgap of 3.31?eV. Fe(2)O(3), with anti-ferromagnetic order, is found to be a wide bandgap charge transfer semiconductor with a 2.41?eV gap. Interestingly sX outperforms the HSE functional for the bandgaps of these oxides.     

Effects of oxygen vacancy location on the electronic structure and spin density of Co-doped rutile TiO₂ dilute magnetic semiconductors

According to density functional theory (DFT) using the plane wave base and pseudo-potential, we investigate the effects of the specific location of oxygen vacancy (VO) in a (Ti,Co)O 6 distorted octahedron on the spin density and magnetic properties of Co-doped rutile TiO2 dilute magnetic semiconductors. Our calculations suggest that the V O location has a significant influence on the magnetic moment of individual Co cations. In the case where two Co atoms are separated far away from each other, when the V O is located at the equatorial site of a Co-contained octahedron, the ground state of the two Co cations is d6 (t3 2g ↑, t 3 2g ↓) without any magnetic moment. However, if the V O is located at the apical site, these two Co sites have different ground states and magnetic moments. The spin densities are also observed to be modified by the exchange coupling between the Co cations and the location of V O . Some positive spin polarization is induced around the adjacent O ions.     

Strongly enhanced magnetic moments of vanadium impurities in thin films of sodium and potassium

Thin quench-condensed films of Na and K are covered with 1/100 of a monolayer of V. Then the impurities are covered with several atomic layers of the host. The magnetization of the films is measured by means of the anomalous Hall effect. For V impurities on the surface of Na and K, a magnetic moment of 7 Bohr magnetons is observed. After coverage with the host, the V moment became 6.5 mu(B) for the Na host. These results contradict the favored atomic model (predicting 3/5 mu(B)) and the resonance model. A polarization of the alkali host appears to be the only resolution.     

Engineering near-surface electron states in three-dimensional topological insulators

Using the continual model of a semi-infinite three dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) we study the effect of the surface potential (SP) on the formation of helical topological states near the surface. The results reveal that spatial profile and spectrum of these states strongly depend on the SP type and strength. We pay special attention to the 3D TI substrate/non-magnetic insulating overlayer system to illustrate the principles of the topological near-surface states engineering.     

Near neutrality of an oxygen molecule adsorbed on a Pt(111) surface

The charge state of paramagnetic or nonmagnetic O2 adsorbed on a Pt(111) surface is analyzed using density functional theory. We find no significant charge transfer between Pt and the two adsorbed molecular precursors, suggesting these oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) intermediates are nearly neutral, and changes in magnetic moment come from self adjustment of O2 spin-orbital occupations. Our findings support a greatly simplified model of electrocatalyzed ORR, and also point to more subtle pictures of adsorbates or impurities interacting with crystal than literal integer charge transfers.     

NMR study of the magnetic and metal-insulator transitions in Na0.5CoO2: a nesting scenario

Co and Na NMR are used to probe the local susceptibility and charge state of the two Co sites of the Na-ordered orthorhombic Na(0.5)CoO(2). Above T(N) = 86 K, both sites display a similar T dependence of the spin shift, suggesting that there is no charge segregation into Co(3+) and Co(4+) sites. Below T(N), the magnetic long range commensurate order found is only slightly affected by the metal-insulator transition at T(MIT) = 51 K. Furthermore, the electric field gradient at the Co site does not change at these transitions, indicating the absence of charge ordering. All these observations can be explained by successive spin-density wave induced by two nestings of the Fermi surface specific to the x = 0.5 Na ordering.     

Magnetism without magnetic ions in non-magnetic perovskites SrTiO3, SrZrO3 and SrSnO3

Using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation potential, we studied spin polarization induced by replacement of oxygen atoms by non-magnetic 2p impurities (B, C and N) in non-magnetic cubic SrMO₃ perovskites, where M=Ti, Zr and Sn. The results show that the magnetization may appear because of the spin–split impurity bands inside the energy gap of the insulating SrMO₃ matrix. Large magnetic moments are found for the impurity centers. Smaller magnetic moments are induced on the oxygen atoms around impurities. It is shown that SrTiO₃:C and SrSnO₃:C should be magnetic semiconductors while other compounds in this series (SrTiO₃:B, SrTiO₃:N and SrZrO₃:C) are expected to exhibit magnetic half-metallic or pseudo-half-metallic properties.     

The effect of impurity scattering on the thermally induced charge imbalance in a clean superconductor

We calculate the charge imbalance generated in a current-carrying clean superconductor by a temperature gradient, assuming that non-magnetic or magnetic impurities are the only source of scattering. The charge imbalance is obtained from exact solutions of the quasiparticle Boltzmann equation, valid at any temperature and superfluid velocity.     

The magnetic behavior of Co atoms on the surface and in the interior of the noble metals Au,Ag and Cu

The magnetism of Co atoms in the interior and on the surface of the noble metals has been studied by means of the anomalous Hall effect. On the surface of all three noble metals Co possesses a magnetic moment even at lowest studied coverages of 0.02 atomic layers. Ferromagnetic ordering appears at Co thicknesses of about one atomic layer. Co as a bulk impurity is non-magnetic in Cu whereas it is magnetic in Ag.     

First-principles phonon calculations of Fe?? impurity in SrTiO?

The results of hybrid density functional theory calculations on phonons in Sr(Fe(x)Ti(1-x))O(3) solid solution within the formalism of a linear combination of atomic orbitals are presented. The phonon density of states (DOS) calculated for 6.25% Fe(4+) impurities is reported and defect-induced phonon modes are identified. Based on our calculations and group-theoretical analysis, we suggest for the first time an interpretation of experimentally observed Raman- and IR-active modes.     

Tuning electrochemical potential of LiCoO2 with cation substitution: first-principles predictions and electronic origin

With a goal to improve the performance of LiCoO₂ as a cathode material in Li-ion batteries, we simulate substitution of various elements (X = Be, Mg, Al, Ga, Si and Ti) for Co using first-principles density functional theory and predict changes in its electrochemical potential. While the electrochemical potential of LiCoO₂ is enhanced with substitution of Be, Mg, Al and Ga for Co, an opposite effect is predicted of Si and Ti substitution. We determine the electronic origin of these changes in electrochemical potential using (a) Bader method of topological analysis of charge density, (b) partial density of electronic states to estimate oxidation states of metal and oxygen, and charge re-distribution upon lithiation. We find that the distribution of electronic charge donated by Li is influenced by the nature of the X–O bond. A larger electron transfer to O (in XO₆ octahedron) upon lithiation leads to stronger Li intercalation and thereby higher electrochemical voltage. Our findings provide a platform for a rational design of cathode materials in Li batteries with enhanced voltage.     

Ab-initio calculations of electronic structure and optical properties of TiAl alloy

The electronic structures and optical properties of TiAl intermetallic alloy system are studied by the first-principle orthogonalized linear combination of atomic orbitals method. Results on the band structure, total and partial density of states, localization index, effective atomic charges, and optical conductivity are presented and discussed in detail. Total density of states spectra reveal that (near the Fermi level) the majority of the contribution is from Ti-3d states. The effective charge calculations show an average charge transfer of 0.52 electrons from Ti to Al in primitive cell calculations of TiAl alloy. On the other hand, calculations using supercell approach reveal an average charge transfer of 0.48 electrons from Ti to Al. The localization index calculations, of primitive cell as well as of supercell, show the presence of relatively localized states even above the Fermi level for this alloy. The calculated optical conductivity spectra of TiAl alloy are rich in structures, showing the highest peak at 5.73 eV for supercell calculations. Calculations of the imaginary part of the linear dielectric function show a prominent peak at 5.71 eV and a plateau in the range 1.1-3.5 eV.