Chen’s lattice inversion embedded-atom method for Ni-Al alloy

The structural properties,the enthalpies of formation,and the mechanical properties of some Ni-Al intermetallic compounds(NiAl,Ni3Al,NiAl3,Ni5Al3,Ni3Al4) are studied by using Chen’s lattice inversion embedded-atom method(CLI-EAM).Our calculated lattice parameters and cohesive energies of Ni-Al compounds are consistent with the experimental and the other EAM results.The results of enthalpy of formation indicate a strong chemical interaction between Ni and Al in the intermetallic compounds.Through analyzing the alloy elastic constants,we find that all the Ni-Al intermetallic compounds discussed are mechanically stable.The bulk moduli of the compounds increase with the increasing Ni concentration.Our results also suggest that NiAl,Ni3Al,NiAl3,and Ni5Al3 are ductile materials with lower ratios of shear modulus to bulk modulus;while Ni3Al4 is brittle with a higher ratio.     

The influence of 3d-metal alloy additions on the elastic and thermodynamic properties of CuPd3

Embedded-atom method （EAM） potentials are used to investigate the effects of alloying （e.g. 3d-metals） on the trends of elastic and thermodynamic properties for CuPd3 alloy. Our calculated lattice parameter, cohesive energy, and elastic constants of CuPd3 are consistent with the available experimental and theoretical data. The results of elastic constants indicate that all these alloys are mechanically stable. Further mechanical behavior analysis shows that the additions of Cr, Fe, Co, and Ni could improve the hardness of CuPd3 while V could well increase its ductility. Moreover, in order to evaluate the thermodynamic contribution of 3d-metals, the Debye temperature, phonon density of states, and vibrational entropy for CuMPd6 alloy are also investigated.     

The 13-atom encapsulated gold cage clusters

The structure and the magnetic moment of transition metal encapsulated in a Au 12 cage cluster have been studied by using the density functional theory.The results show that all of the transition metal atoms(TMA) can embed into the Au 12 cage and increase the stability of the clusters except Mn.Half of them have the I h or O h symmetry.The curves of binding energy have oscillation characteristics when the extra-nuclear electrons increase;the reason for this may be the interaction between parity changes of extra-nuclear electrons and Au atoms.The curves of highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(HOMO-LUMO) gap also have oscillation characteristics when the extra-nuclear electrons increase.The binding energies of many M@Au 12 clusters are much larger than that of the pure Au 13 cluster,while the gaps of some of them are less than that of Au 13,so maybe Cr@Au 12,Nb@Au 12,and W@Au 12 clusters are most stable in fact.For magnetic calculations,some clusters are quenched totally,but the Au 13 cluster has the largest magnetic moment of 5 μ B.When the number of extra-nuclear electrons of the encapsulated TMA is even,the magnetic moment of relevant M@Au 12 cluster is even,and so are the odd ones.     

First-principles calculation of electronic structure of MgxZn1-xO codoped with aluminium and nitrogen

Aiming at developing p-type semiconductors and modulating the band gap for photoelectronic devices and band engineering, we present the ab initio numerical simulation of the effect of codoping ZnO with Al, N and Mg on the crystal lattice and electronic structure. The simulations are based on the Perdew--Burke--Ernzerhof generalised-gradient approximation in density functional theory. Results indicate that electrons close to the Fermi level transfer effectively when Al, Mg, and N replace Zn and O atoms, and the theoretical results were consistent with the experiments. The addition of Mg leads to the variation of crystal lattice, expanse of energy band, and change of band gap. These unusual properties are explained in terms of the computed electronic structure, and the results show promise for the development of next-generation photoconducting devices in optoelectronic information science and technology.