First-principles study of structural stability, electronic and elastic properties of ZrC compounds

We theoretically study the possible pressure-induced structural phase transition, electronic and elastic properties of ZrC by using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), in the presence and absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The calculations indicate that there exists a phase transition from the NaCl-type (B1) structure to CsCl-type (B2) structure at the transition pressure of 313.2 GPa (without SOC) and 303.5 GPa (with SOC). The detailed structural changes during the phase transition were analyzed. The band structure shows that B1-ZrC is metallic. A pseudogap appears around the Fermi level of the total density of states (DOS) of the B1 phase of ZrC, which may contribute to its structural stability.     

Structural,electronic and mechanical properties of alkaline earth metal oxides MO (M=Be,Mg, Ca,Sr, Ba)

The structural, electronic and mechanical properties of alkaline earth metal oxides MO (M=Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) in the cubic (B1, B2 and B3) phases and in the wurtzite (B4) phase are investigated using density functional theory calculations as implemented in VASP code. The lattice constants, cohesive energy, bulk modulus, band structures and the density of states are computed. The calculated lattice parameters are in good agreement with the experimental and the other available theoretical results. Electronic structure reveals that all the five alkaline earth metal oxides exhibit semiconducting behavior at zero pressure. The estimated band gaps for the stable wurtzite phase of BeO is 7.2 eV and for the stable cubic NaCl phases of MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO are 4.436 eV, 4.166 eV, 4.013 eV, and 2.274 eV respectively. A pressure induced structural phase transition occurs from wurtzite (B4) to NaCl (B1) phase in BeO at 112.1 GPa and from NaCl (B1) to CsCl (B2) phase in MgO at 514.9 GPa, in CaO at 61.3 GPa, in SrO at 42 GPa and in BaO at 14.5 GPa. The elastic constants are computed at zero and elevated pressures for the B4 and B1 phases for BeO and for the B1 and B2 phases in the case of the other oxides in order to investigate their mechanical stability, anisotropy and hardness. The sound velocities and the Debye temperatures are calculated for all the oxides using the computed elastic constants.     

Theoretical investigation of the electronic structure and structural phase stability of CeGa2 under pressure

Recently, Chandra Shekar et al. (Phys. Stat. Sol. B 241(2004)2893), studied the structural stability of CeGa₂ under high pressure up to ∼32 GPa and reported a structural transition from hexagonal AlB₂-type to omega trigonal-type starting at ∼16 GPa with a volume collapse of ∼6%. The high-pressure omega triginal phase is found to coexist with the parent phase up to 32 GPa. In this paper, we report the results of our band structure calculations on this system as a function of reduced volume by the tight-binding linear muffin–tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method, in order to look into this structural transition and to understand it in terms of changes in its electronic structure. Our calculations indicate a structural transition at ∼30.6 GPa with a volume collapse of 3.5%, in good agreement with the experimental results. The possible mechanism of the phase transition may be due to f→d electron transfer under pressure. The theoretically calculated ground-state properties, namely the lattice parameters and the bulk modulus are also in good agreement with the experimental values.     

First principles study of structural phase transition of YSb and ScSb compounds

High pressure induced phase transition of YSb and ScSb compounds have been studied using Density Functional Theory method within Generalized Gradient Approximation. It was found that the phase transition from the NaCl-type (B1) to a CsCl-type structure (B2) began to occur at around 29 GPa for YSb compound, agreeing well with available experiments and theoretical calculations. For ScSb compound it was suggested that structural phase transition from B1 to B2 will occur at about 40 GPa, differing greatly with experimental and theoretical results. The finding that the transition pressures increase with decreasing lattice constant in the NaCl-type structure for YSb and ScSb compounds was found to be similar to the phenomena observed for LnSb (Ln: lanthanide) compounds. Mulliken charge and overlap population analysis revealed that YSb and ScSb compounds in B1 structure show similar interaction between anion and cation, while in B2 structure a higher degree of covalency was found for ScSb than that in YSb. Also, DOS and band structure of these two compounds in B1 and B2 structures were presented and analyzed.     

Structural phase transition of ScSb and YSb with a NaCl-type structure at high pressures

By use of synchrotron radiation, powder X-ray diffraction of ScSb and YSb with a NaCl-type structure has been studied up to 45 GPa at room temperature. A first-order phase transition from the NaCl-type (B1) to a CsCl-type structure (B2) began to occur at around 28 GPa for ScSb and at around 26 GPa for YSb. Crystal data of the high-pressure phase of both antimonides are obtained. The high-pressure structural behavior of ScSb and YSb is similar to that of heavier LnSb (Ln=Dy-Lu). The B1-B2 transition for ScSb and YSb can be understood according to the rigid sphere model. The bulk moduli of ScSb and YSb are about 58 GPa at ambient pressure.     

Structural phase stability,elastic parameters and thermal properties of YN from first-principles calculation

The structural phase stability, elastic parameters and thermodynamic properties of YN at normal and under high pressure are reported. The calculations are mainly performed using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the density functional theory. Both local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) are used to model the correlation-exchange potential. The calculated equilibrium lattice parameter and the bulk modulus show good accordance with the experimental and previous theoretical reports. The phase transition from the NaCl (B1) structure to the CsCl (B2) structure is found to occur at 131?GPa within GGA and 115?GPa within LDA. The linear pressure coefficients of the different elastic moduli being addressed here are also determined along with the mechanical and dynamical stability criteria which are shown to be satisfied for YN with B1 phase under normal conditions. Besides, the heat capacity and other thermodynamic parameters are examined and discussed versus temperature.     

Elastic and thermodynamic properties in CdO at high pressures from first-principles calculations

In this study, we report first-principles calculations of the elastic and thermodynamic properties for CdO in both the B1 (rocksalt) phase and B2 (cesium chloride) phase. The calculations are performed within the framework of density functional theory, using the pseudopotential plane-wave method. From the theoretical results, we find that the high pressure structural phase transition of CdO from B1 structure to B2 structure is 90.31 GPa. The calculated values are, generally speaking, in good agreement with experiments and with similar theoretical calculations. According to the quasi-harmonic Debye model, we investigate the sound velocity and Debye temperature of CdO under pressures in the range of 0<P<150 GPa.     

Phase transitions of YbX (X = P,As and Sb) with a NaCl-type structure at high pressures

The powder X-ray diffraction of YbX (X?=?P, As and Sb) with a NaCl-type structure has been studied with synchrotron radiation up to 63?GPa at room temperature. YbSb undergoes the first-order structural phase transition from the NaCl-type (B1) to the CsCl-type (B2) structure at around 13?GPa. The structural change to the B2 structure occurs with the volume collapse of about 1% at 13?GPa. The transition pressure of YbSb is surprisingly lower than that of any other heavier LnSb (Ln?=?Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Lu). The pressure-induced phase transitions in YbP and YbAs are observed at around 51?GPa and 52?GPa respectively. The transition pressure of both compounds is much higher than that of YbSb. The high-pressure structural behaviour of YbX (X?=?P, As and Sb) is discussed. The volume versus pressure curve for YbX with the NaCl-type structure is fitted by a Birch equation of state. The bulk moduli of these compounds with the NaCl-type structure are 104?GPa for YbP, 85?GPa for YbAs and 52?GPa for YbSb.     

Structural, electronic and vibrational properties of InN under high pressure

The structural, electronic and vibrational properties of InN under pressures up to 20 GPa have been investigated using the pseudo-potential plane wave method (PP-PW). The generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) in the frame of density functional theory (DFT) approach has been adopted. It is found that the transition from wurtzite (B4) to rocksalt (B1) phase occurs at a pressure of approximately 12.7 GPa. In addition, a change from a direct to an indirect band gap is observed. The mechanism of these changes is discussed. The phonon frequencies and densities of states (DOS) are derived using the linear response approach and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT). The properties of phonons are described by the harmonic approximation method. Our results show that phonons play an important role in the mechanism of phase transition and in the instability of B4 (wurtzite) just before the pressure of transition. At zero pressure our data agree well with recently reported experimental results.     

高压下钡的硫化物的结构相变和光学性质研究(英文)

利用基于密度泛函的第一性原理,计算了高压下钡的硫化物(BaS、BaSe和BaTe)的结构相变和光学性质。计算结果表明,这些化合物的压致结构相变是从NaCl型结构转变为CsCl型结构;对于结构转变压力和金属化转变压力,BaS为8.57 GPa和45.4 GPa,BaSe为7.44 GPa和36.5 GPa,BaTe则分别为5.67 GPa和16.7 GPa。光学性质计算结果显示:随着压力的增加,静态介电常数ε0不断增加,介电常数虚部ε2的峰值向高能方向移动(蓝移)。     

SmN晶体的电子结构和高压相变的第一性原理

利用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理,研究了SmN晶体的电子结构和高压相变. SmN晶体的电子结构具有半金属特征,多数自旋电子显示金属导电性,少数自旋电子显示半导体导电性. 高压相变的结果显示,SmN晶体经历从NaCl型(B1)到CsCl型(B2)结构转变的压致结构相变,相变压力117 GPa. 弹性系数的结果显示,在环境压力下SmN晶体的弹性系数满足玻恩稳定条件,标志着B1相是力学稳定结构. 声子谱结果显示,在环境压力下B1相是热力学稳定结构,与弹性系数的计算结果一致.     

FP-LMTO investigations of mechanical stability and high pressure of platinum nitride compounds

We report local density functional calculations using the full potential linear muffin-tin orbital (FP-LMTO) method for binary platinum nitride (PtN), in five different crystal structures, the rock salt (B1), zinc-blende (B3), wurtzite (B4), nickel arsenide (B8), and PbS (B10) phases. The ground state properties such as the equilibrium lattice constant, elastic constants, the bulk modulus and its pressure derivative of PtN in these phases are determined and compared with the other available experimental and theoretical works.Our calculations confirm in the B3 structure that PtN is found to be mechanically stable with a large bulk modulus B=232.45 GPa and at a sufficiently high pressure the B8₁ structure would be favoured.The theoretical transition pressure from zinc blende (B3) to NiAs (B8₁), zinc-blende (B3) to rock-salt (B1) and zinc-blende (B3) to PbO (B10) is determined to be 9.10 GPa, 9.85 GPa and 69.35 GPa, respectively. Our calculation shows also in five different structures for PtN a high bulk modulus is a good indicator of a hard material.     

Pressure induced phase transition in ZnS

The phase transition of ZnS from the zincblende (ZB) structure to the rocksalt (RS) structure is investigated by the ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method. It is found that the pressures for transition from the ZB structure to the RS structure are 17.5 GPa from total energy-volume data and 15.4 GPa from equal enthalpies, consistent with the experimental data. From the high pressure elastic constants obtained, we find that the ZB structure ZnS is unstable when the applied pressure is larger than 17 GPa. Moreover, the dependence of the normalized primitive cell volume V/V₀ on pressure P can also be successfully obtained.     

Pressure-induced structural phase transition in transition metal carbides TMC (TM = Ru,Rh, Pd,Os, Ir,Pt): a DFT study

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory was performed to analyse the structural stability of transition metal carbides TMC (TM = Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt). It is observed that zinc-blende phase is the most stable one for these carbides. Pressure-induced structural phase transition from zinc blende to NiAs phase is predicted at the pressures of 248.5 GPa, 127 GPa and 142 GPa for OsC, IrC and PtC, respectively. The electronic structure reveals that RuC exhibits a semiconducting behaviour with an energy gap of 0.7056 eV. The high bulk modulus values of these carbides indicate that these metal carbides are super hard materials. The high B/G value predicts that the carbides are ductile in their most stable phase.     

Structural stability,electronic structure and mechanical properties of 4d transition metal nitrides TMN (TM=Ru,Rh, Pd)

Ab initio calculations are performed to investigate the structural stability, electronic, structural and mechanical properties of 4d transition metal nitrides TMN (TM=Ru, Rh, Pd) for five different crystal structures, namely NaCl, CsCl, zinc blende, NiAs and wurtzite. Among the considered structures, zinc blende structure is found to be the most stable one among all three nitrides at normal pressure. A structural phase transition from ZB to NiAs phase is predicted at a pressure of 104 GPa, 50.5 GPa and 56 GPa for RuN, RhN and PdN respectively. The electronic structure reveals that these nitrides are metallic. The calculated elastic constants indicate that these nitrides are mechanically stable at ambient condition.     

High pressure polymorph of CdS predicted by first principles

Ab initio phonon calculations on CdS are performed to probe the high pressure structural behaviors. We predicted an unstable transverse acoustic (TA) mode for NaCl-CdS (B1) and a phase transition of B1→Pmmn driven by this soft mode is thus identified, excluding probable high pressure Cmcm phase. Furthermore, a softening TA phonon mode at the zone boundary M point of CsCl-CdS (B2) is predicted, which results in the phase transition from Pmmn to tetrahedral P4/nmm (B10). Enthalpy calculation reveals that Pmmn phase becomes energetically more favorable than the B1 phase over 51.2 GPa, and B10 phase is stable in a pressure range of 80.3-85.5 GPa, above which B10 phase will decompose into Cd and S.     

First-principles study of phase transition and elastic properties of ScSb and YSb compounds

The phase transition of ScSb and YSb from the NaCl-type (B1) structure to the CsCl-type (B2) structure is investigated by the ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method. It is found that the pressures for transition from the B1 structure to the B2 structure obtained from the equal enthalpies are 38.3 and 32.1 GPa for ScSb and YSb, respectively. From the variations of elastic constants with pressure, we find that the B1 phase of ScSb and YSb compounds are unstable when applied pressures are larger than 46.3 and 64.2 GPa, respectively. Moreover, the detailed volume changes during phase transition are analyzed.     

高压下TiN的结构转变、弹性和热力学性质的第一性原理计算

 利用基于密度泛函的第一性原理,计算了高压下TiN的结构转变、弹性和热力学性质。计算结果表明：在压力作用下,TiN经历了从NaCl型结构到CsCl型结构的转变,转变压力为348 GPa;TiN的弹性系数随着压力的增加呈线性增加规律。此外,还给出了德拜温度和热容量这两个重要热力学量与温度和（或）压力的依赖关系。     

Theoretical study of elastic and thermodynamic properties of CuSc intermetallic compound under high pressure

The structural, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of copper scandium CuSc intermetallic compound under temperature and pressure have been investigated using the plane wave (PW) - pseudopotential (PP) approach in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT). The structural parameters at equilibrium, the elastic moduli, the mechanical stability criteria and the sound velocity are studied in the pressure range 0–12 GPa. In addition, the heat capacity, the Grüneisen parameter, the Debye temperature, the entropy, and the thermal expansion coefficient are studied for temperatures ranging from 0 up to 1000 K. The equilibrium lattice parameter found is around 3.261 Å. It is in good agreement with the experimental one of 3.25 Å reported in the literature. According to the generalized elastic stability criteria, we predict the occurrence of a phase transition of the B2-type structure at 25.5 GPa. At room temperature and zero-pressure, the isothermal bulk modulus and the Grüneisen parameter found were 80.86 GPa and 2.04 respectively.     

Structural phase stability,electronic structure and mechanical properties of alkali metal hydrides AMH4 (A=Li,Na; M=B,AL)

The structural stability of Alkali metal hydrides AMH₄ (A=Li, Na; M=B, Al) is analyzed among the various crystal structures, namely hexagonal (P6₃mc), tetragonal (P4₂/nmc), tetragonal (P-42₁c), tetragonal (I4₁/a), orthorhombic (Pnma) and monoclinic (P2₁/c). It is observed that, orthorhombic (Pnma) phase is the most stable structure for LiBH₄, monoclinic (P2₁/c) for LiAlH₄, tetragonal (P4₂/nmc) for NaBH₄ and tetragonal (I4₁/a) for NaAlH₄ at normal pressure. Pressure induced structural phase transitions are observed in LiBH₄, LiAlH₄, NaBH₄ and NaAlH₄ at the pressures of 4 GPa, 36.1 GPa, 26.5 GPa and 46 GPa respectively. The electronic structure reveals that these metal hydrides are wide band gap insulators. The calculated elastic constants indicate that these metal hydrides are mechanically stable at normal pressure.