Thermal properties of high-k Hf_1-xSi_xO₂

Classical atomistic simulations based on the lattice dynamics theory and the Born core-shell model are performed to systematically study the crystal structure and thermal properties of high-k Hf1-xSixO2 . The coefficients of thermal expansion, specific heat, Grneisen parameters, phonon densities of states and Debye temperatures are calculated at different temperatures and for different Si-doping concentrations. With the increase of the Si-doping concentration, the lattice constant decreases. At the same time, both the coefficient of thermal expansion and the specific heat at a constant volume of Hf1-xSixO2 also decreases. The Grneisen parameter is about 0.95 at temperatures less than 100 K. Compared with Si-doped HfO2 , pure HfO2 has a higher Debye temperature when the temperature is less than 25 K, while it has lower Debye temperature when the temperature is higher than 50 K. Some simulation results fit well with the experimental data. We expect that our results will be helpful for understanding the local lattice structure and thermal properties of Hf1-xSixO2 .     

Spectroscopic characterization of Yb:Sc₂O₃ transparent ceramics

Yb:Sc2O3 transparent ceramics are fabricated by a conventional ceramic process and sintering in H2 atmosphere. The room-temperature spectroscopic properties are investigated, and the Raman spectrum shows an obvious vibration characteristic band centred at 415 cm 1 . There are three broad absorption bands around 891, 937, and 971 nm, respectively. The strongest emission peak is centred at 1.04 μm with a broad bandwidth (11 nm) and an emission cross-section of 1.8×10 20 cm 2 . The gain coefficient implies a possible laser ability in a range from 990 nm to 1425 nm. The energy-level structure shows that Yb:Sc 2 O 3 ceramics have large Stark splitting at the ground state level due to their strong crystal field. All the results show that Yb:Sc2O3 transparent ceramics are a promising material for short pulse lasers.     

Effects of N-doping concentration on the electronic structure and optical properties of N-doped β-Ga₂O₃

The electronic structures and the optical properties of N-doped β-Ga2O3 with different N-doping concentrations are studied using the first-principles method.We find that the N substituting O(1) atom is the most stable structure for the smallest formation energy.After N-doping,the charge density distribution significantly changes,and the acceptor impurity level is introduced above the valence band and intersects with the Fermi level.The impurity absorption edges appear to shift toward longer wavelengths with an increase in N-doping concentration.The complex refractive index shows metallic characteristics in the N-doped β-Ga2O3.     

Electronic structures and optical properties of TiO₂:Improved density-functional-theory investigation

TiO2 has been recently used to realize high-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductors.In fact,it has been widely used for a long time as white pigment and sunscreen because of its whiteness,high refractive index,and excellent optical properties.However,its electronic structures and the related properties have not been satisfactorily understood.Here,we use Tran and Blaha’s modified Becke-Johnson(TB-mBJ) exchange potential(plus a local density approximation correlation potential) within the density functional theory to investigate electronic structures and optical properties of rutile and anatase TiO2.Our comparative calculations show that the energy gaps obtained from mBJ method agree better with the experimental results than that obtained from local density approximation(LDA) and generalized gradient approximation(GGA),in contrast with substantially overestimated values from many-body perturbation(GW) calculations.As for optical dielectric functions(both real and imaginary parts),refractive index,and extinction coefficients as functions of photon energy,our mBJ calculated results are in excellent agreement with the experimental curves.Our further analysis reveals that these excellent improvements are achieved because mBJ potential describes accurately the energy levels of Ti 3d states.These results should be helpful to understand the high temperature ferromagnetism in doped TiO2.This approach can be used as a standard to understand electronic structures and the related properties of such materials as TiO2.     

Orientation effects on the bandgap and dispersion behavior of 0.91Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.09PbTiO₃ single crystals

0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.09PbTiO 3(PZN-9%PT) single crystals with different orientations are investigated by using a spectroscopic ellipsometer,and the refractive indices and the extinction coefficients are obtained.The Sellmeier dispersion equations for the refractive indices are obtained by the least square fitting,which can be used to calculate the refractive indices in a low absorption wavelength range.Average Sellmeier oscillator parameters E o,λ o,S o,and E d are calculated by fitting with the single-term oscillator equation,which are related directly to the electronic energy band structure.The optical energy bandgaps are obtained from the absorption coefficient spectra.Our results show that the optical properties of [001] and [111] poled crystals are very similar,but quite different from those of the [011] poled crystal.     

The influence of interfacial barrier engineering on the resistance switching of In₂O₃:SnO₂/TiO₂/In₂O₃:SnO₂ device

The I–V characteristics of In2O3:SnO2/TiO2/In2O3:SnO2 junctions with different interfacial barriers are inves- tigated by comparing experiments. A two-step resistance switching process is found for samples with two interfacial barriers produced by specific thermal treatment on the interfaces. The nonsynchronous occurrence of conducting filament formation through the oxide bulk and the reduction in the interfacial barrier due to the migration of oxygen vacancies under the electric field is supposed to explain the two-step resistive switching process. The unique switching properties of the device, based on interfacial barrier engineering, could be exploited for novel applications in nonvolatile memory devices.     

Synthesis and thermoelectric properties of Mn-doped AgSbTe₂ compounds

Polycrystalline p-type Ag 0.9 Sb 1.1 x Mn x Te 2.05(x = 0.05,0.10,and 0.20) compounds have been prepared by a combined process of melt-quenching and spark plasma sintering.The sample composition of Ag 0.9 Sb 1.1 x Mn x Te 2.05 has been specially designed in order to achieve the doping effect by replacing part of Sb with Mn and to present the uniformly dispersed Ag 2 Te phase in the matrix by adding insufficient Te,which is beneficial for optimizing the electrical transport properties and enhancing the phonon scattering effect.All the samples have the NaCl-type structure according to our X-ray powder diffraction analysis.After the treatment of spark plasma sintering,only the sample with x = 0.20 has a small amount of MnTe 2 impurities.The thermal analysis indicates that a tiny amount of Ag 2 Te phase exists in all these samples.The presence of the MnTe 2 impurity with high resistance and high thermal conductivity leads to the deteriorative thermoelectric performance of the sample with x = 0.20 due to the decreased electrical transport properties and the increased thermal conductivity.In contrast,the sample with x = 0.10 exhibits enhanced thermoeletric properties due to the Mn-doping effect.A dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit of 1.2 is attained for the sample with x = 0.10 at 573 K,showing promising thermoelectric properties in the medium temperature range.     

Calculations of the vibrational frequency and isotopic shift of UF₆ and U₂ F₆

Molecular structure, vibrational frequency and infrared intensity of UF 6 are investigated by using the revised Perdew-Burke-Enzerhof function with the triple-zeta polarized basis set. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental values and indicate the existence of a stable U2F6 molecule with a multiple bonded U2 unit. The calculation results also predict that the D3d symmetry of U2F6 is more stable than D3h . The optimized geometries, vibrational frequencies, and infrared intensities are also reported for U2F6 molecules in D3d symmetry. In addition, the isotopic shift of vibrational frequencies of the two molecules under isotopic substitution of uranium atom are also investigated with the same method. The U2F6 molecule is predicted to be better than UF6 for laser uranic isotope separation.     

Stereodynamics of the reactions Ne+H₂⁺/Ne+D₂⁺/Ne+T₂

The vector correlations between products and reagents for the reactions Ne+H + 2 , Ne+D + 2 , and Ne+T + 2 are calculated by means of the quasi-classical trajectory method on a new potential energy surface constructed by Lü et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 2010 132, 014303]. The polarization-dependent differential cross-sections (2π/σ)(dσ 00 /dω t ), (2π/σ)(dσ 20 /dω t ), (2π/σ)(dσ 22+ /dω t ), and (2π/σ)(dσ 21 /dω t ), and the distributions of P (θ r ), P (φ r ), and P (θ r ,φ r ) are calculated. The isotopic effect, which is associated with the difference in mass factor among the three reactions, is revealed.     

High temperature thermoelectric properties of highly c-axis oriented Bi₂Sr₂Co₂O_y thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition

High-temperature thermoelectric transport property measurements have been performed on the highly c-axis oriented Bi2Sr2Co2Oy thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition on LaAlO3(001).Both the electric resistivity ρ and the seebeck coefficient S of the film exhibit an increasing trend with the temperature from 300 K-1000 K and reach up to 4.8 m·Ω· cm and 202 μV/K at 980 K,resulting in a power factor of 0.85 mW/mK which are comparable to those of the single crystalline samples.A small polaron hopping conduction can be responsible for the conduction mechanism of the film at high temperature.The results demonstrate that the Bi2Sr2Co2Oy thin film has potential application in high temperature thin film thermoelectric devices.     

Defect properties of CuCrO₂:A density functional theory calculation

Using the first-principles methods,we study the formation energetics properties of intrinsic defects,and the charge doping properties of extrinsic defects in transparent conducting oxides CuCrO2.Intrinsic defects,some typical acceptortype,and donor-type extrinsic defects in their relevant charge state are considered.By systematically calculating the formation energies and transition energy,the results of calculation show that,V Cu,O i,and O Cu are the relevant intrinsic defects in CuCrO2 ;among these intrinsic defects,V Cu is the most efficient acceptor in CuCrO2.It is found that all the donor-type extrinsic defects have difficulty in inducing n-conductivity in CuCrO2 because of their deep transition energy level.For all the acceptor-type extrinsic defects,substituting Mg for Cr is the most prominent doping acceptor with relative shallow transition energy levels in CuCrO2.Our calculation results are expected to be a guide for preparing promising n-type and p-type materials in CuCrO2.     

Properties of a Si₂N molecule under an external electric field

In the present work,we adopt the ccsd/6-31g(d) method to optimize the ground state structure and calculate the vibrational frequency of the Si2N molecule.The calculated frequencies accord satisfactorily with the experimental values,which helps confirm the ground state structure of the molecule.In order to find how the external electric field affects the Si2N molecule,we use the density functional method B3P86/6-31g(d) to optimize the ground state structure and the time-dependent density functional theory TDDFT/6-31g(d) to study the absorption spectra,the excitation energies,the oscillator strengths,and the dipole moments of the Si2N molecule under different external electric fields.It is found that the absorption spectra,the excitation energies,the oscillator strengths,and the dipole moments of the Si2N molecule are affected by the external electric field.One of the valuable results is that the absorption spectra of the yellow and the blue-violet light of the Si2N molecule each have a red shift under the electric field.The luminescence mechanism in the visible light region of the Si2N molecule is also investigated and compared with the experimental data.     

Transport properties of a binary mixture of CO₂-N₂ from the pair potential energy functions based on a semi-empirical inversion method

The potential energy surface of a CO 2 –N 2 mixture is determined by using an inversion method, together with a new collision integral correlation [J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 19 1179 (1990)]. With the new invert potential, the transport properties of CO2–N2 mixture are presented in a temperature range from 273.15 K to 3273.15 K at low density by employing the Chapman–Enskog scheme and the Wang Chang–Uhlenbeck–de Boer theory, consisting of a viscosity coefficient, a thermal conductivity coefficient, a binary diffusion coefficient, and a thermal diffusion factor. The accuracy of the predicted results is estimated to be 2% for viscosity, 5% for thermal conductivity, and 10% for binary diffusion coefficient.     

The crystal structure,magnetism,and colossal magnetoresistance of Y₂CrS₄

Ternary yttrium chromium sulfide,Y2CrS4,prepared by the solid-state reaction of Y2S3,Cr,and S,was found to exhibit an antiferromagnetic transition at about 64 K.The X-ray diffraction pattern at 300 K was refined with space group Pca2 1,and the structure parameters were determined to be a = 12.51 ,b = 7.53,and c = 12.49.We investigated the magnetotransport properties,and observed negative colossal magnetoresistance reaching up to 2.5 × 10 4 % in the semiconducting compound of Y2CrS4.     

First-principles investigation on the elastic stability and thermodynamic properties of Ti₂SC

Using Vanderbilt-type plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotentials within the generalized gradient approximation(GGA) in the frame of density functional theory(DFT),we have investigated the crystal structures,elastic,and thermodynamic properties for Ti2SC under high temperature and high pressure.The calculated pressure dependence of the lattice volume is in excellent agreement with the experimental results.The calculated structural parameter of the Ti atom experienced a subtle increase with applied pressures and the increase suspended under higher pressures.The elastic constants calculations demonstrated that the crystal lattice is still stable up to 200 GPa.Investigations on the elastic properties show that the c axis is stiffer than the a axis,which is consistent with the larger longitudinal elastic constants(C 33,C 11) relative to transverse ones(C 44,C 12,C 13).Study on Poisson’s ratio confirmed that the higher ionic or weaker covalent contribution in intra-atomic bonding for Ti2SC should be assumed and the nature of ionic increased with pressure.The ratio(B/G) of bulk(B) and shear(G) moduli as well as B/C 44 demonstrated the brittleness of Ti2SC at ambient conditions and the brittleness decreased with pressure.Moreover,the isothermal and adiabatic bulk moduli displayed opposite temperature dependence under different pressures.Again,we observed that the Debye temperature and Gru¨neisen parameter show weak temperature dependence relative to the thermal expansion coefficient,entropy,and heat capacity,from which the pressure effects are clearly seen.     

10BaF₂:NaF,Na₃AlF₆/TiO₂ composite as a novel visible-light-driven photocatalyst based on upconversion emission

A rare-earth free upconversion luminescent material, 10BaF 2 :NaF, Na 3 AlF 6 , is synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The study of fluorescent spectrum indicates that it can convert visible light (550 nm–610 nm) into ultraviolet light (290 nm–350 nm), and two emission peaks at 304 nm and 324 nm are observed under the excitation of 583 nm at room temperature. Subsequently, 10BaF 2 :NaF, Na 3 AlF 6 /TiO 2 composite photocatalyst is prepared and its catalytic activity is evaluated by the photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 under visible light irradiation (λ > 515 nm). The results show that 10BaF 2 :NaF, Na 3 AlF 6 /TiO 2 is a more effective photocatalyst for CO 2 reduction than pure TiO 2 , their corresponding methanol yields are 179 and 0 μmol/g-cat under the same conditions. Additionally, the mechanism of photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 on 10BaF 2 :NaF, Na 3 AlF 6 /TiO 2 is proposed.     

Interface-related switching behaviors of amorphous Pr_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃-based memory cells

The resistive switching properties in amorphous Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 films deposited by pulsed laser deposition are investigated.Reproducible and bipolar counter-8-shape and 8-shape switching behaviours of Au/Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 /F:SnO2 junctions are obtained at room temperature.Dramatically,the coexistence of two switching polarities could be reversibly adjusted by an applied voltage range.The results allocated those two switching types to areas of different defect densities beneath the same electrode.The migration of oxygen vacancies and the trapping effect of electrons under an applied electric field play an important role.An interface-effect-related resistance switching is proposed in an amorphous Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3-based memory cell.     

Theoretical investigation on the electronic structure,elastic properties,and intrinsic hardness of Si₂N₂O

According to the density functional theory we systematically study the electronic structure, the mechanical prop- erties and the intrinsic hardness of Si2N2O polymorphs using the first-principles method. The elastic constants of four Si2N2O structures are obtained using the stress-strain method. The mechanical moduli (bulk modulus, Young’s mod- ulus, and shear modulus) are evaluated using the Voigt-Reuss-Hill approach. It is found that the tetragonal Si2N2O exhibits a larger mechanical modulus than the other phases. Some empirical methods are used to calculate the Vickers hardnesses of the Si2N2O structures. We further estimate the Vickers hardnesses of the four Si2N2O crystal structures, suggesting all Si2N2O phases are not the superhard compounds. The results imply that the tetragonal Si2N2O is the hardest phase. The hardness of tetragonal Si2N2O is 31.52 GPa which is close to values of β-Si3N4 and γ-Si3N4.     

Amorphous-crystalline dual-layer structures resulting from metastable liquid phase separation in(Fe₅₀Co₂₅B₁₅Si₁₀)₈₀Cu₂₀ melt-spun ribbons

(Fe50Co25B15Si10)80Cu20 ribbons are prepared by using the single-roller melt-spinning method.A dual-layer structure consisting of a(Fe,Co)-rich amorphous phase and a Cu-rich crystalline phase forms due to metastable liquid phase separation before solidification.The magnetic hysteresis loops of the as-quenched and annealed samples are measured at room temperature.It is indicated that the coercivity of the ribbon is almost zero in the as-quenched state.The crystallization leads to the increase of coercivity and decrease of saturation magnetization.     

Ca₂BO₃Cl:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺:A novel tunable emitting phosphor for white light-emitting diode

<正>Ca₂BO₃Cl:Ce³⁺,Ca₂BO₃Cl:Tb³⁺,and Ca₂BO₃Cl:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺ phosphors are synthesized by a high temperature solid-state reaction.The emission intensity of Ce³⁺ or Tb³⁺ in Ca₂BO₃Cl is influenced by the Ce³⁺ or Tb³⁺ doping content,and the optimum concentrations of Ce³⁺ and Tb³⁺ are 0.03 mol and 0.05 mol,respectively.The concentration quenching effect of Ce³⁺ or Tb³⁺ in Ca₂BO₃Cl occurs,and the concentration quenching mechanism is d-d interaction for either Ce³⁺ or Tb³⁺.The Ca₂BO₃Cl:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺ can produce colour emission from blue to green by properly tuning the relative ratio between Ce³⁺ and Tb³⁺,and the emission intensity of Tb³⁺ in Ca₂BO₃Cl can be enhanced by the energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Tb³⁺.The results indicate that Ca₂BO₃Cl:Ce³⁺,Tb³⁺ may be a promising double emission phosphor for UV-based white light emitting diodes.