Conformational change-modulated spin transport at single-molecule level in carbon systems

Controlling the spin transport at the single-molecule level, especially without the use of ferromagnetic contacts, becomes a focus of research in spintronics. Inspired by the progress on atomic-level molecular synthesis, through first-principles calculations, we investigate the spin-dependent electronic transport of graphene nanoflakes with side-bonded functional groups, contacted by atomic carbon chain electrodes. It is found that, by rotating the functional group, the spin polarization of the transmission at the Fermi level could be switched between completely polarized and unpolarized states. Moreover, the transition between spin-up and spin-down polarized states can also be achieved, operating as a dual-spin filter. Further analysis shows that, it is the spin-dependent shift of density of states, caused by the rotation, that triggers the shift of transmission peaks, and then results in the variation of spin polarization. Such a feature is found to be robust to the length of the nanoflake and the electrode material, showing great application potential. Those findings may throw light on the development of spintronic devices.     

Two-dimensional topological semimetals

The field of two-dimensional topological semimetals, which emerged at the intersection of two-dimensional materials and topological materials, has been rapidly developing in recent years. In this article, we briefly review the progress in this field. Our focus is on the basic concepts and notions, in order to convey a coherent overview of the field. Some material examples are discussed to illustrate the concepts. We discuss the outstanding problems in the field that need to be addressed in future research.     

Mg,N掺杂β-Ga2O3光电性质的第一性原理计算

通过基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算,研究了Mg单掺杂、N单掺杂和不同浓度的Mg-N共掺杂β-Ga₂O₃的结构性质、电子性质和光学性质,以期获得性能比较优异的p型β-Ga₂O₃材料。建立了五种模型:Mg单掺杂、N单掺杂、1个Mg-N共掺杂、2个Mg-N共掺杂和3个Mg-N共掺杂β-Ga₂O₃。经过计算,3个Mg-N共掺杂β-Ga₂O₃体系的结构最稳定。此外,在5种模型中,3个Mg-N共掺杂β-Ga₂O₃体系的禁带宽度是最小的,并且N 2p和Mg 3s贡献的占据态抑制了氧空位的形成,从而增加了空穴浓度。因此,3个Mg-N共掺杂β-Ga₂O₃体系表现出优异的p型性质。3个Mg-N共掺杂体系的吸收峰出现明显红移,在太阳盲区的光吸收系数较大,这归因于导带Ga 4s、Ga 4p、Mg 3s向价带O 2p、N 2p的带间电子跃迁。本工作将为p型β-Ga₂O₃日盲光电材料的研究和应用提供理论指导。     

体积应变对立方钛酸铅电子结构和光学性质的影响

本文利用第一性原理方法计算并分析了体积应变(-11%~11%)对立方顺电相PbTiO₃的结构、稳定性、电子结构和光学性质的影响。研究发现体积应变后PbTiO₃形成焓增大,稳定性下降,其中压应变对其稳定性的影响比拉应变大。当受到拉伸应变时,立方PbTiO₃由直接带隙半导体变为间接带隙半导体,且带隙随应变增大呈先增大后降低的趋势。在发生压应变时,从复介电函数、复折射率及吸收系数的分析结果可知,在自然光照下PbTiO₃的光吸收能力仅在个别波段有所增大,但总体呈减弱趋势,当产生拉伸应变时,介电峰、吸收峰红移,表明PbTiO₃在可见光范围内光吸收能力增强,并且当应变增大到11%时,PbTiO₃的吸收能力远高于本征立方相。     

Advantageous Interfacial Effects of AgPd/g-C3N4 for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: Electronic Structure and H2O Dissociation

Bimetallic AgPd nanoparticles have been synthesized before, but the interfacial electronic effects of AgPd on the photocatalytic performance have been investigated less. In this work, the results of hydrogen evolution suggest that the bimetallic AgPd/g-C₃N₄ sample has superior activity to Ag/g-C₃N₄ and Pd/g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts. The UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, CO adsorption diffuse reflectance FTIR spectroscopy, and FTIR results demonstrate that in the AgPd/g-C₃N₄, the surface electronic structures of Pd and Ag are changed, which is beneficial for faster photogenerated electron transfer and greater H₂O molecule adsorption. In situ ESR spectra suggest that, under visible light irradiation, there is more H₂O dissociation to radical species on the AgPd/g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst. Furthermore, DFT calculations confirm the interfacial electronic effects of AgPd/g-C₃N₄, that is, Pd^δ−⋅⋅⋅Ag^δ+, and the activation energy of H₂O molecule dissociation on AgPd/g-C₃N₄ is the lowest, which is the main contributor to the enhanced photocatalytic H₂ evolution.     

Ring-Stacking Water Clusters: Morphology and Stabilities

The structures and interaction energies of water clusters with ring stacking motifs are studied by using ab initio calculations. The structures of the water clusters are constructed by stacking either single rings or multi-rings of tetramer, pentamer, and hexamer. We found that, in the single-ring-stacking motif, the most stable isomers exhibit an alternative clockwise-anticlockwise stacking pattern. We also show that four-layer single-ring-stacking isomers are not energetically favorable in comparison with those of two-layer multi-ring-stacking isomers. The relative stability of the isomers is also analyzed in terms of H-bond strength and elastic distortions of the water molecules.     

Electronic and ligating properties of carbocyclic carbenes: A theoretical investigation

Carbocyclic carbenes (CCCs) are a class of nucleophilic carbenes which are very similar to N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) in terms of their reactivity, but they do not contain a stabilizing heteroatom in their cyclic ring system. In this study, 17 representative known CCCs and 34 newly designed CCCs are evaluated using quantum chemical methods, and the results are compared in terms of their stability, nucleophilicity, and proton affinity (PA) parameters. The results are divided on the basis of ring size of the known and reported CCCs. The stability, nucleophilicity, PA, complexation energy, and bond strength–related parameters were estimated using M06/6-311++G(d,p) method. The results indicated that the CCCs known in the literature are strong σ-electron donating species and have considerable π-accepting properties. This study led to the design and identification of a few new CCCs with dimethylamine and diaminomethynyl substituents which can be singlet stable and are substantially nucleophilic. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

W掺杂ZnO电子结构与光学性质第一性原理计算

采用了基于密度泛函理论(DFT)的第一性原理平面波超软赝势方法,计算本征ZnO和不同W掺杂浓度下W:ZnO体系的电子结构和光学性质.计算结果表明:W掺杂可以提高ZnO的载流子浓度,从而改善ZnO的导电性.掺杂后,吸收光谱发生红移现象,且光学性质变化集中在低能量区,而高能量区的光学性质没有太大变化,计算结果与相关实验结果相符合.最后,结合电子结构定性分析了光学性质的变化.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of the electronic structure and local coordination of 1st row transition metal-promoted Chevrel-phase sulfides

Abstract

The electronic structures of S and Mo as well as the local coordination of Mo are investigated as a function of metal promotion Chevrel-phase (CP) sulfides. We observe the effect of metal promoter-induced electron donation into the stoichiometric range M_xMo₆S₈ (M?=?Fe, Ni, Cu; x?=?0–2) through analysis of X-ray absorption near-edge structure regions. We further observe the effect of this promotion on the bonding environment of Mo₆ metal centers through extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. We monitor expansion and contraction of Mo₆ octahedra with and without metal promotion, as has been predicted by Hückel molecular orbital theory. We further observe a marked tunability in the electronic structure of sulfur upon charge transfer between promoting species and Mo₆S₈ units. Average Mo₆ octahedron Mo–Mo bond contraction from 2.76 Å to as short as 2.69 Å was observed upon incorporation of metal promoters, while intercluster separation displays a pronounced increase for promoter-host lattices compared to un-promoted Mo₆S₈. To corroborate spectroscopically observed phenomena, we performed computational analyses of spin-polarized densities of state for the CP materials investigated herein, where a detectable increase in sulfur-based frontier orbital population is observed in accordance with experimentally validated orbital filling.