Synthesis and some properties of BeTe,BeSe and BeS

Single-crystal platelets of BeTe have been obtained in an autoclave synthesis, and crystalline powders of BeSe and BeS have been prepared by reaction of Be metal with H₂Se and H₂S, respectively. Optical absorption measurements on the BeTe platelets gave a bandgap of about 2.7 eV at room temperature. BeTe prepared without intentional doping is a p-type semiconductor. Optical absorption measurements at room temperature on cold-pressed powder specimens indicated that the bandgap of BeSe is in the range of 4–4.5 eV, and that the bandgap of BeS exceeds 5.5 eV.     

Density functional study of optical properties of beryllium chalcogenides compounds in nickel arsenide B8 structure

The structural, electronic and optical properties of beryllium chalcogenides BeS, BeSe and BeTe using the full-potential linear augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method are investigated. The exchange-correlation energy within the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) are described. The Engel-Vosko (EVGGA) formalism is applied for electronic and optical properties. The structural parameters of our model and the transition pressure from zinc-blende (B3) to the NiAs (B8) phase are confirmed. It is found that these compounds have indirect band gaps except for BeTe in NiAs (B8) phase. The results of reflectivity, refractive index and optical dielectric functions of Be compounds are investigated. An agreement is found between our results and those of other theoretical calculations and the experimental data.     

First-principles calculation of structural stability,lattice dynamic and thermodynamic properties of BeX (X = S,Se and Te) compounds under high pressure

The phase transitions, lattice dynamical and thermodynamic properties of BeS, BsSe and BeTe at high pressure have been investigated with the density functional theory. The calculated equilibrium structural parameters agree well with the available experimental and theoretical values. The phase transition pressures from the zinc-blende (ZB) to the nickel arsenide (NiAs) phase of these compounds are determined. The calculated phonon dispersion curves of these compounds in ZB phase at zero pressure do not show any anomaly or instability. Dynamically, the ZB phase of BeS, BeSe and BeTe is found to be stable near transition pressures P_T. Within the quasiharmonic approximation, the thermodynamic properties including the thermal expansion coefficient, heat capacity at constant volume, heat capacity at constant pressure and entropy are predicted.     

A first-principles study on the structural, lattice dynamical and thermodynamic properties of beryllium chalcogenides

First-principles calculations, which are based on the plane-wave pseudopotential approach to the density functional theory and the density functional perturbation theory within the local density approximation, have been performed to investigate the structural, lattice dynamical and thermodynamic properties of zinc blende (B3) structure beryllium chalcogenides: BeS, BeSe and BeTe. The results of ground-state parameters and phonon dispersion are compared and contrasted with the experimental and theoretical data of previous literature. The phonon frequencies at the zone-center are analyzed. We also used the phonon density of states and quasiharmonic approximation to calculate and predict some thermodynamic properties such as entropy, heat capacity, internal energy and free energy of the B3 phase beryllium chalcogenides.     

Development of epitaxial silicon lattice-matched insulators: silicon heterostructures for quantum confinement

Epitaxial films of the wide-bandgap II–VI beryllium chalcogenide semiconductors, BeTe, BeSe, and BeSeTe were grown on arsenic-terminated silicon substrates by MBE. Silicon was also epitaxially regrown on Be-chalcogenide films. Initial structural characterization revealed the desired smooth two-dimensional nature of the layer growth. The composition of BeSeTe ternary films was governed by the Be/Se flux ratio during deposition rather than by the Se/Te flux ratio. The variation in Be/Se flux ratio or in the sticking coefficients due to temperature gradients led to radial compositional inhomogeneity. Current versus temperature measurements of the Be-chalcogenide films at elevated temperatures analyzed assuming thermionic emission over the heterojunction barrier, showed conduction band offsets of 1.2 eV for the BeSe_0.41Te_0.59/As/Si and 1.3 eV for the BeSe/As/Si heterostructures. At room temperature, current density through BeSe/Si and BeSe_0.41Te_0.59/Si films was mid-10 ^{− 9}A cm ^{− 2}at 0.1 MV cm ^{− 1}, similar to previously reported values for ZnS/Si, while BeTe/Si films had orders of magnitude higher current density, possibly due to interfacial recombination.     

First-principles calculations for electronic and optical properties of the zinc-blende structured BeS compound under pressure

The electronic and the optical properties of the cubic zinc-blende (ZB) BeS under high pressure have been investigated by using \it ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method in the generalised gradient approximation (GGA) for exchange-correlation interaction. The electronic band structure and the pressure dependence of the total and partial densities of state under pressure are successfully described. Our calculations show that the ZB BeS has large and indirect band gaps associated with (Γ → X) transitions in ambient conditions. The results obtained are consistent with the experimental data available and other calculations. The optical properties, including dielectric function, energy-loss function, complex refractive index, reflection and absorption spectra, are investigated and analysed at different external pressures. The results suggest that the optical absorption appears mostly in the ultra-violet region and the curve of refractive index shift toward high energies (blue shift) with pressure increasing.     

Structural,electronic, and optical properties of beryllium monochalcogenides

The results of first-principles theoretical study of the structural, electronic and optical properties of beryllium monochalcogenides BeTe, BeSe and BeS, performed using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method are presented. The calculated structural parameters and band gaps compare very well with previous theoretical results. The trends of the band gap pressure coefficients and volume deformation potentials for these II-VI compounds are investigated. The linear pressure coefficients for the X and band gaps increase with decrease in anion atomic weight. The dependence of the direct and indirect band gaps on the relative change of lattice constant are found to follow almost the same type of trends in each of these compounds. The volume deformation potential ( ) for the direct ( ) and indirect ( ) gaps are positive, but negative for the indirect ( ) gap. Furthermore, , for transitions decreases with increase in anion atomic number whereas , increases. The optical properties have also been calculated. From the reflectivity spectra, the compounds will be useful for optical applications. The variation of the band gaps with respect to the application of pressure and the origin of some of the peaks in the optical spectra are discussed in terms the calculated electronic structure.Received: 26 September 2003, Published online: 18 June 2004PACS: 71.15.Ap Basis sets (LCAO, plane-wave, APW, etc.) and related methodology (scattering methods, ASA, linearized methods, etc.) - 71.15.Mb Density functional theory, local density approximation, gradient and other corrections - 71.20.Nr Semiconductor compounds     

Formation of metastable above-barrier hole states in ZnSe/BeTe type II heterostructures under high-density optical excitation

A considerable slowing down of the luminescence kinetics of the direct optical transitions has been discovered in ZnSe/BeTe type II heterostructures under high-density optical pumping by femtosecond laser pulses. The effect is attributed to the potential barrier that appears due to the strong band bending at a high density of spatially separated photoexcited carriers and forms a metastable above-barrier hole state in the ZnSe layer. This yields a longer energy relaxation time of the holes migrating to the adjacent BeTe layer. The experimental results agree well with the numerical calculations.     

Optical anisotropy of surface-emitting ZnSe/BeTe LEDs

The electric field-induced in-plane optical anisotropy (Pockels effect) of ZnSe/BeTe multi-layered heterostructures has been studied by analysing the linear polarization of the spatially indirect photoluminescence. A pronounced quantum-confined Pockels effect was found in ZnSe/BeTe double-barrier structures. A tight-binding model is proposed which consistently interprets the experimental findings and suggests a new mechanism for the effect as realized in type-II heterostructures. The model takes into account that the ZnSe/BeTe heterosystem exhibits a type-II band alignment with large band offsets and that in the zinc-blende lattice the chemical bonds are oriented in 〈111〉 directions and, when shifted along the [001] principal axis, alternatively change their orientation in the (001) plane from [1 1 0] to [110] and vice versa. A light-emitting diode based on a single ZnSe/BeTe interface is demonstrated.     

Indirect to direct gap transition in low-dimensional nanostructures of Silicon and Germanium

The electronic band structures of Si and Ge low-dimensional nanostructure such as nanofilms and nanowires have been calculated using first principles based on density functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The calculation results show that a direct band gap can be obtained from Si orientation [100] or in Ge orientation [111] confined low dimensional nanostructure. However, an indirect band gap is still kept in the Si orientation [111] or in the Ge orientation [110] confined low dimensional nanostructure. The calculation results are interesting and the transition mechanism from indirect to direct band gap in low dimensional nanostructures is given in the physical structures model.     

First-principles investigations on elastic and thermodynamic properties of zinc-blende structure BeS

In this paper the elastic and thermodynamic properties of the cubic zinc-blende structure BeS at different pressures and temperatures are investigated by using \textit{ab initio} plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The calculated results are in excellent agreement with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. It is found that the zinc-blende structure BeS should be unstable above 60GPa. The thermodynamic properties of the zinc-blende structure BeS are predicted by using the quasi-harmonic Debye model. The pressure-volume-temperature ($P-V-T$) relationship, the variations of the thermal expansion coefficient $\alpha$ and the heat capacity $C_{V}$ with pressure $P$ and temperature $T$, as well as the Gr\"{u}neisen parameter-pressure-temperature ($\gamma -P-T$) relationship are obtained systematically in the ranges of 0--90GPa and 0--2000K.     

Ab initio study of the electronic and atomic structure of the wolframite-type ZnWO4

Ab initio quantum chemistry calculations of the structural and electronic properties of monoclinic wolframite-type ZnWO₄ crystal have been performed within the periodic linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method using six different Hamiltonians, based on density functional theory (DFT) and hybrid Hartree-Fock-DFT theory. The obtained results for optimized structural parameters, band gap and partial density of states are compared with available experimental data, and the best agreement is observed for hybrid Hamiltonians. The calculations show that zinc tungstate is a wide band gap material, with the direct gap about 4.6 eV, whose valence band has largely O 2p character, whereas the bottom of conduction band is dominated by W 5d states.     

On site coulomb repulsion dominates over the non-local Hartree-Fock exchange in determining the band gap of polymers

The present study deals with the relative performance of the various density functional approaches in evaluating the band gap of polymer materials. Several density functional approximations that includes pure generalized gradient approximated (GGA) functional, meta-GGA, hybrid and range separated hybrid functionals have been used to evaluate the electrical band gap or transport gap of the studied polymers and compared with that obtained using Hubbard U corrected GGA functional (GGA+U). It has been observed that the experimental band gap of the polymers studied is satisfactorily reproducible when GGA+U approach is adopted. The band gap analyses further suggest that range separated hybrid functional, CAM-B3LYP, largely overestimates the band gap of all the polymers studied while the performance of hybrid B3LYP functional and other range separated hybrid functional like HSE is moderate. Better performance of the GGA+U method clearly indicates that short range coulomb correlation plays more significant role over the non-local Hartree-Fock (HF) exchange in determining the electrical band gap of polymer materials. It is also noticeable that the Hubbard U parameter used for the various polymers under consideration is relatively large, indicating the semi-empirical nature of the GGA+U level of calculations. The present finding will help us design new low band gap polymer through estimating band gap by the GGA+U method and this could be very useful for solar cell research.     

过渡金属(Ni)掺杂ZnV2O4的第一性原理计算

采用基于密度泛函理论下的MS软件模拟了过渡金属Ni掺杂ZnV₂O₄前后的能带结构、态密度以及光学性质.结果表明：ZnV₂O₄具有间接的光学跃迁且能带间隙为0.355 eV,Ni掺杂后能带间隙增加为0.785 eV,且带隙类型不变,引入的Ni-3d轨道电子对ZnV₂O₄的价带和导带组成提供了较大贡献.光学性质结果表明ZnV₂O₄为一种低介电材料,在可见光区的吸收系数和折射率较低,主要表现为紫外吸收.掺杂Ni后,在可见光区的吸收特性和光电导率均增大,有效改善了ZnV₂O₄在可见光区的光电性能.     

First principles study on Mn-doped LiFePO4 as cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries

The electronic structure and diffusion energy barriers of Li ions in pure and Mn-doped LiFePO4 have been studied using density functional theory(DFT).The results demonstrate clearly that Fe-O covalent bond is weaker than P-O covalent bond.Pure LiFePO4 has band gap of 0.56 eV and diffusion energy barrier of 2.57 eV for Li ions,while the dopant has small band gap of 0.25 eV and low diffusion energy barrier of 2.31 eV,which indicates that the electronic and ionic conductivity of LiFePO4 have been improved owing to doping.     

BaSe的准粒子能带结构

运用标准的准粒子GW方法重新考察了BaSe的准粒子能带结构.为便于比较，同时计算了局域密度近似(LDA)和广义梯度近似(GGA)下的能带.结果表明，LDA和GGA方法都不能准确描述这个材料的带隙.与实验测量值对比，其误差分别达到39.9%和32.6%.GW准粒子能带的结果则可以对其带隙作出大幅度的修正，得到与实验测量相当符合的理论结果.与已有的计算结果不同，B1结构BaSe准粒子能带具有Γ点直接带隙特性，表明在Ba价电子组态中考虑4d电子的作用至关重要. 关键词： BaSe GW 能带结构 带隙     

锰掺杂二硅化铬电子结构和光学性质的第一性原理计算

采用基于第一性原理的密度泛函理论(DFT)赝势平面波方法计算了锰掺杂二硅化铬(CrSi2)体系的能带结构、态密度和光学性件质.计算结果表明末掺杂CrSi2属于间接带隙半导体间接带隙宽度△ER=0.35 eV;Mn掺杂后费米能级进入导带,带隙变窄,且间接带隙宽度△Eg=0.24 eV,CrSi2转变为n型半导体.光学参数发生改变,静态介电常数由掺杂前的ε1(O)=32变为掺杂后的ε1(O)=58;进一步分析了掺杂对CrSi2的能带结构、态密度和光学性质的影响,为CrSi2材料掺杂改件的研究提供r理论依据.     

Structural,electronic, optical and bonding properties of strontianite,SrCO3: First-principles calculations

The first-principles calculations are performed within the density functional theory to investigate the crystal structure, energy band structure, density of states, optical properties, and bonding properties of strontianite. The optimized structure parameters and bonding results with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional and the localized density approximation (LDA) functional are in good agreement with the earlier experimental data. The band structure, density of states and chemical bonding of strontianite have been calculated and analyzed. The indirect band gap of strontianite is estimated to be ~4.45 eV (GGA) or ~4.24 eV (LDA). The absorption, reflectivity, refractive index and extinction coefficient have been calculated using the imaginary part of the dielectric function. The calculated results of the optical properties show that strontianite has an optical anisotropy along [100] (or [010]) and [010] polarization directions of incoming light. Furthermore, the calculated results of the density of states and Mulliken population indicate that the interactions among atoms are both ionic and covalent bonding in strontianite.     

Tuning of electronic properties and dynamical stability of graphene oxide with different functional groups

The structural, electronic and vibrational properties of graphene oxide (GO) with varying proportion of epoxy and hydroxyl functional groups have been studied using density functional theory. The functional groups and oxygen density have an obvious influence on the electronic and vibrational properties. The dependence of band gap on associated functional groups and oxygen density shows a possibility of tuning the band gap of graphene by varying the functional groups as well as oxidation level. The absorption of high oxygen content in graphene leads to the gap opening and resulting in a transition from semimetal to semiconductor. Phonon dispersion curves show no imaginary frequency or no softening of any phonon mode throughout the Brillouin zone which confirms the dynamical stability of all considered GO models. Different groups and different oxygen density result into the varying characteristics of phonon modes. The computed results show good agreement with the experimental observations. Our results present interesting possibilities for engineering the electronic properties of graphene and GO and impact the fabrication of new electronics.