Effects of the 3d transition metal doping on the structural,electronic, and magnetic properties of BeO nanotubes

First-principles calculations have been performed on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of seven 3d transition-metal(TM) impurities(V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) doped armchair(5,5) and zigzag(8,0) beryllium oxide nanotubes(BeONTs). The results show that there exists a structural distortion around the 3d TM impurities with respect to the pristine BeONTs. The magnetic moment increases for V- and Cr-doped BeONTs and reaches a maximum for Mn-doped BeONT, and then decreases for Fe-, Co-, Ni-, and Cu-doped BeONTs successively, consistent with the predicted trend of Hund’s rule to maximize the magnetic moments of the doped TM ions. However, the values of the magnetic moments are smaller than the predicted values of Hund’s rule due to the strong hybridization between the 2p orbitals of the near O and Be ions of BeONTs and the 3d orbitals of the TM ions. Furthermore, the V-, Co-, and Ni-doped(5,5) and(8,0) BeONTs with half-metal ferromagnetism and thus 100% spin polarization character are good candidates for spintronic applications.     

Ab initio investigation of local magnetic structures around substitutional 3d transition metal impurities at cation sites in III-V and II-VI semiconductors

The local magnetic structures around substitutional 3d transition metal impurities at cation sites in zinc blende structures of III-V (GaN, GaAs) and II-VI (ZnTe) semiconductors are investigated by using a spin-polarized density functional theory. We find that Cr-, Co-, Cu-doped GaN, Cr-, Mn-doped GaAs and Cr-, Fe-, Ni-doped ZnTe are half metallic with 100% spin polarization. The magnetic moments due to these 3d transition metal (TM) ions are delocalized quite significantly on the surrounding ions of host semiconductors. These doped TM ions have long range interactions mediated through the induced magnetic moments in anions and cations of host semiconductors. For low impurity concentrations Mn in GaAs also has zero magnetic moment state due to Jahn-Teller structural distortions. Based upon half metallic character and delocalization of magnetic moments in the anions and cations of host semiconductors these above mentioned 3d TM-doped GaN, GaAs and ZnTe seem to be good candidates for spintronic applications.     

First-principles study of electronic structure and magnetic properties of SrTi1−xMxO3 (M= Cr,Mn, Fe,Co, or Ni)

We used first-principles calculations to conduct a comparative study of the structure and the electronic and magnetic properties of SrTiO₃ doped with a transition metal (TM), namely, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, or Ni. The calculated formation energies indicate that compared with Sr, Ti can be substituted more easily by the TM ions. The band structures show that SrTi_0.875Cr_0.125O₃ and SrTi_0.875Co_0.125O₃ are half metals, SrTi_0.875Fe_0.125O₃ is a metal, and SrTi_0.875Mn_0.125O₃ is a semiconductor. The 3d TM-doped SrTiO₃ exhibits various magnetic properties, ranging from ferromagnetism (Cr-, Fe-, and Co-doped SrTiO₃) to antiferromagnetism (Mn-doped SrTiO₃) and nonmagnetism (Ni-doped SrTiO₃). The total magnetic moments are 4.0_μB, 6.23_μB, and 2.0_μB for SrTi_0.75Cr_0.25O₃, SrTi_0.75Fe_0.25O₃, and SrTi_0.75Co_0.25O₃, respectively. Room-temperature ferromagnetism can be expected in Cr-, Fe-, and Co-doped SrTiO₃, which agrees with the experimental observations. The electronic structure calculations show that the spin polarizations of the 3d states of the TM atoms are responsible for the ferromagnetism in these compounds. The magnetism of TM-doped SrTiO₃ is explained by the hybridization between the TM-3d states and the O-2p states.     

Electronic structure and magnetic properties of substitutional transition-metal atoms in GaN nanotubes

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of the transition-metal(TM) atoms(Sc–Zn, Pt and Au) doped zigzag GaN single-walled nanotubes(NTs) are investigated using first-principles spin-polarized density functional calculations. Our results show that the bindings of all TM atoms are stable with the binding energy in the range of 6–16 eV. The Sc- and V-doped GaN NTs exhibit a nonmagnetic behavior. The GaN NTs doped with Ti, Mn, Ni, Cu and Pt are antiferromagnetic. On the contrary, the Cr-, Fe-, Co-, Zn- and Au-doped GaN NTs show the ferromagnetic characteristics. The Mn- and Codoped GaN NTs induce the largest local moment of 4μB among these TM atoms. The local magnetic moment is dominated by the contribution from the substitutional TM atom and the N atoms bonded with it.     

Theoretical investigation of CO adsorption on TM-doped (MgO)12 (TM = Ni, Pd, Pt) nanotubes

CO adsorption on TM-doped magnesia nanotubes (TM = Ni, Pd and Pt) have been studied by using density functional theory. Our calculation results show that CO favors adsorption on TM-doped magnesia nanotubes in the form of C atom bonding with TM atom. Fukui indices analysis clearly exhibits that doping of impurity TM atom allows for a noticeably enhancement of nucleophilic reactivity ability of magnesia nanotube. The adsorption energies demonstrate that CO molecule is more strongly bound on the 3-fold TM atoms than the 4-fold TM atoms. This finding is well confirmed by TM-C bond length, charge transfer and C-O vibrational frequency. The high adsorption energy of 2.55 eV is found when CO adsorbs on 3-fold Pt in Pt-doped magnesia nanotubes, implying the kind of the doping TM atom has a significant influence on the chemical reactivity.     

Ferromagnetism in transition-metal-doped semiconducting oxide thin films

A rather complete work on transition-metal (TM)-doped TiO₂ thin films has been done and room ferromagnetism (FM) is found in the whole series of Sc/V/Cr/Mn/Fe/Co/Ni-doped TiO₂ films. Not only is it remarkable that for the first time, FM at high temperature was achieved in TM-doped TiO₂, but also a very big magnetic moment of 4.2μ_B/atom could be obtained, and direct evidences of real ferromagnets with big domains were shown as well. A similar chemical trend was achieved in TM-doped In₂O₃ films, however, the observed magnetic moment is rather modest, with the maximal value is of only 0.7μ_B/atom for Ni-doped In₂O₃ films. As regards TM-doped SnO₂ films, observed magnetic moments could be very large, with the maximum saturation of 6μ_B per impurity atom for Cr-doped SnO₂ thin films, but it could be influenced very much depending on substrate types. On the other hand, results on TM-doped ZnO films interestingly have revealed that in these systems, the magnetism more likely resulted from defects and/or oxygen vacancies.     

Enhanced gas-sensing performance of graphene by doping transition metal atoms: A first-principles study

By performing the first-principles calculations, we investigated the sensitivity and selectivity of transitional metal (TM, TMSc, Ti, V, Cr and Mn) atoms doped graphene toward NO molecule. We firstly calculated the atomic structures, electronic structures and magnetic properties of TM-doped graphene, then studied the adsorptions of NO, N₂ and O₂ molecules on the TM-doped graphene. By comparing the change of electrical conductivity and magnetic moments after the adsorption of these molecules, we found that the Sc-, Ti- and Mn-doped graphene are the potential candidates in the applications of gas sensor for detection NO molecule.     

First-principles study of transition metal linear monoatomic chains adsorption on boron nitride nanotube

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of six 3d transition metals (TM=V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) linear monoatomic chains adsorbed on the (5,5) boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) at five different sites have been investigated by first-principle calculations. The results indicate all TM chains can be spontaneously adsorbed on the outer surface of the BNNT. The stable adsorption sites are different for different TM chains. All TM chains can be adsorbed on the N site, while the adsorption on the Z site is unstable. The dispersion character occurs in energy band curves of stable TM/BNNT systems and bring about the band gap disappearance in comparison with that of pure (5,5) BNNT. Interestingly, the TM/BNNT systems with nearly half-filled 3d metals V and Cr at H and N sites, as well as Mn at A site show a half-metal character and are usable in spintronics devices. The different electronic properties of BNNT can also be achieved through decorations of the same TM chain on different sites. The TM chain adsorbed BNNT systems exhibit high stability, promising electronic properties and high magnetic moments, which may be useful for a wide variety of next-generation nanoelectronic device components.     

First-Principles Study on Magnetic Properties of V-Doped ZnO Nanotubes

Electronic and magnetic properties of V-doped ZnO nanotubes in which one of Zn^2＋ ions is substituted by V^2＋ ions are studied by the first-principles calculations of plane wave ultra-soft pseudo-potential technology based on the spin-density function theory. The computational results reveal that spontaneous magnetization in Vdoped （9,0） ZnO nanotubes can be induced without p-type or n-type doping treatment, and the ferromagnetism is isotropic and independent of the chirality and diameter of the nanotubes. It is found that V-doped ZnO nanotubes have large magnetic moments and are ferromagnetic half-metal materials. Moreover, the ferromagnetic coupling among V atoms is generated by O 2p electron spins and V 3d electron spins localized at the exchanging interactions between magnetic transitional metal （TM） impurities. The appearance of ferromagnetism in V-doped ZnO nanotubes gives some reference to fabrication of a transparent ferromagnet which may have a great impact on industrial applications in magneto-optical devices.     

Dilute magnetic semiconductor and half-metal behaviors in C-codoped BeO nanotubes: A first principles simulations

The geometric, electronic and magnetic properties of C-codoped single walled BeO nanotubes (SWBeONTs) are systematically explored by using ab-initio density functional theory calculations. We performed our calculations for C codoping BeO nanotube in two different chiralities: (8,0) and (5,5). In each case, two different configurations are considered, first the two oxygen atoms replaced by two carbon atoms are on first nearest neighbor sites in the plane of codoping and second they are far from each other. We found when C atoms are at the nearest-neighboring positions; the antiferromagnetism (AFM) phase is stable while increasing the distance between the two C atoms, the ferromagnetism stability increases. In the AFM phase the structures are nonmagnetic semiconductors, but in the FM phase all these systems are half-metallic systems with high magnetic moment and 100% spin polarization which can be used as magnetic nanostructure and possible future applications in permanent magnetism, magnetic recording, and spintronics.     

First-principles calculations for magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes

Based on first-principles spin-density functional calculations, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes in which two of Ga atoms are substituted by Mn atoms. Similar to the case of Mn in bulk GaN, our calculations show that Mn atoms also act as an acceptor and all of the ground states for the Mn-doped GaNNTs are ferromagnetic. Moreover, the ferromagnetism is isotropic and independent of the chirality and diameter of the nanotubes. It is found that the most favorable configuration is the first-nearest neighbor Mn model, which is mainly mediated by both the hole-hole interaction and the dipole-dipole interaction.     

Coherent transport through intramolecular junction of single-wall carbon nanotubes

We have constructed four types single-wall carbon nanotube intramolecular junctions (IMJs) of (5,5)/(8,0), (5,5)/(10,0), (5,5)/(9,0)A, and (5,5)/(9,0)B along a common axis, and calculated their electronic and transport properties using a tight binding-based Green's function approach that is particular suitable for realistic calculation of electronic transport property in extended system. Our results show that quasi-localized states can appear in the metal/semiconductor heterojunctions ((5,5)/(8,0) and (5,5)/(10,0)junctions), which is desirable for the design of a quantum device; and the conductance of M-M IMJs is very sensitive to the connectivity of the matching tubes, certain configurations of connection completely stop the flow of electron, while others permit the transmission of the current through the interface. These results may have implications for the device assembly and manipulation process of all carbon nanotubes-based microelectronic elements. Received 14 January 2003 / Received in final form 25 February 2003 Published online 4 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: lfyzz@yahoo.com.cn     

Atomistic level studies on the tensile behavior of GaN nanotubes under uniaxial tension

Molecular dynamics method with the Stillinger-Weber (SW) potential has been employed to study the responses of GaN nanotubes (GaNNTs) to a uniaxial tensile load along the axial direction. It has been revealed that GaNNTs exhibits a completely different tensile behavior at different temperatures, i.e. ductility at higher deformation temperatures and brittleness at lower temperatures, leading to a brittle to ductile transition (BDT). Both the BDT temperature and the critical stress increases with increasing thickness of GaNNTs, and the critical stress at higher temperature are lower than those at lower temperature. These results on the tensile behaviors of GaNNTs in an atomic level will provide a good reference to its promising applications.     

No Intrinsic Ferromagnetism in Transition-Metal-Doped ZnO: an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Analysis

The magnetic properties of transition-metal (TM)-doped n-type ZnTmO are theoretically analyzed and compared to the published experimental results. For the two most studied cases of TM = Mn, Co, we demonstrate the interest of magnetic resonance experiments for the investigation of the origin of sometimes observed ferromagnetism and paramagnetic properties in single-phase material. The conclusion is that ferromagnetism in ZnTMO is extrinsic and related to the second phase formation during the growth or after annealing. Substitutional TM (Mn, Co) in ZnO gives rise to antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions similar to the case of the other TM-doped II–VI compounds.     

Entropy-driven adsorption of carbon nanotubes on (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) surfaces of CeO2 islands grown on sapphire substrate

According to the aim to compose combinatorial material by adsorption of carbon nanotubes onto the structured CeO₂ surface the interaction of the armchair (5,5) and zigzag (8,0) nanotubes with the (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) surfaces of CeO₂ islands have been investigated by theoretical methods. The thermodynamics of the adsorption were studied at the low surface coverage region. The interaction energy between the nanotube and the different CeO₂ surfaces shows significant increase when the size of the interface reaches 7–8 unit cells of CeO₂ and it remains unchanged in the larger interface region. However, the entropy term of the adsorption is significantly high when the distances of CeO₂ islands are equal to 27 nm (adsorption of armchair (5,5) nanotube) or 32 nm (adsorption of zigzag (8,0) nanotube). This property supports adsorption of nanotubes onto CeO₂ surfaces which possesses a very specific surface morphology. A long-wave vibration of nanotubes was identified as background of this unexpected phenomenon. This observation could be applicable in the development of such procedures where the nanotube adsorption parallel to the surface is aimed to perform.     

On the existence and stability of double-walled armchair silicon carbide nanotubes

A systematic study of type 1 armchair double-walled SiC nanotubes (DWNTs) (n,n)@(m,m) (3≤n≤6;7≤m≤12) using the finite cluster approximation is presented. The geometries of the tubes have been spin optimized using the hybrid functional B3LYP (Becke’s three-parameter exchange functional and the Lee-Yang-Parr correlation functional) and the all-electron 3-21G* basis set. The study indicates that the stabilities of the double-walled SiC nanotubes are of the same order as those of single-walled SiC nanotubes suggesting the possibilities of experimental synthesis of both single-walled and double-walled SiC nanotubes. The binding energy per atom or the cohesive energy of the double-walled nanotubes depends not only on the number of atoms but also on the coupling of the constituent single-walled nanotubes. The formation energy of the DWNTs is found to be maximum when the interlayer separation is about 3.5 Å. The DWNTs (n,n)@(n+4,n+4) are found to have large formation energies. In particular, (5,5)@(9,9) DWNT is the most stable tube in our study with a binding energy per atom of 5.07 eV, the largest formation energy of 12.39 eV, an interlayer separation of 3.58 Å and a “band gap” of 1.97 eV. All double-walled SiC nanotubes are found to be semiconductors, with the band gaps decreasing from single-walled nanotubes to double-walled nanotubes.     

The ab initio calculations of the doping Zr's influence on the electronic structure of AlCo2Ti

The electronic structures of the ternary (Hume-Rothery) L2₁-phase compound AlCo₂Ti are calculated by first-principles using full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The ab initio results are analyzed with a simplified model for Al-based compounds containing transition metal (TM) atoms. The results show that the total DOS depends strongly on the positions of TM atoms, and the TM d DOS plays a crucial role in hybridization with other element valence electrons. However, the Al 3s states are repelled far away from the Fermi energy in studied sample, and the Al 3d states are far more extended-like in the character than the d states. Furthermore, the total DOS_s are modulated by Al 3p states and the Al 3p states are more sensitive than d states to change in the electronic interactions. Then, the Al 3p is also important for the ternary stability of the intermetallic compound. The Co-Ti interaction becomes stronger by the doping element Zr in the Al₄Co₈Ti₃Zr structure. Especially, the doping Al₄Co₈Ti₃Zr alloy has a larger value DOS at the Fermi level and makes the total DOS gap smaller than the AlCo₂Ti.     

Ni原子链填充碳纳米管的能量、电子结构和磁性的第一性原理计算

在广义梯度近似(GGA)下,利用密度泛函理论(DFT)框架下的第一性原理投影缀加波(PAW)赝势方法,研究了单根Ni原子链填充扶手椅型(n,n)(5≤n≤9)单壁碳纳米管的能量、电子结构和磁性.结果表明(5,5)碳纳米管直径过小排斥Ni原子链的插入,(6,6)碳纳米管是容纳Ni原子链的最小碳纳米管,特别是Ni原子链位于其中心轴线上时的形成能最低.以Ni@(6,6)和Ni@(7,7)系统为例,计算并分析了其自旋极化能带结构,电子总态密度,分波态密度和磁性,发现Ni原子的3d态电子 关键词： Ni原子链 碳纳米管 电子结构 磁性能     

First-principle study of interaction of molecular hydrogen with BC<Subscript>3</Subscript> composite single-walled nanotube

The physisorption of molecular hydrogen in BC₃ composite single-walled nanotube, investigated using density functional theory, was compared with single-walled carbon nanotube. Both external and internal adsorption sites of these two nanotubes have been studied with the hydrogen molecular axis oriented parallel to the nanotube wall. The calculated results show that: ([see full textsee full text]) the physisorption energies of a H₂ molecule are larger for BC₃(8,0) composite nanotube than for C(8,0) nanotube at all adsorption sites examined. ([see full textsee full text]) For these two nanotubes, the physisorption energies are larger for hydrogen bound inside the nanotubes than for adsorption outside the nanotubes. The different behavior between these two nanotubes is explained by the contour plots of electron density and charge-density difference of them. The present computations suggest that BC₃ nanotube may be a better candidate for hydrogen storage than carbon nanotube.     

Structure and electronic properties of native and defected gallium nitride nanotubes

Structure and electronic properties of GaN nanotubes (GaNNTs) are investigated by using ab initio density functional theory. By full optimization, the optimized structures (bond-lengths and angles between them) of zigzag GaNNTs (n,0) and armchair GaNNTs (n,n) (4<n<11) are calculated. The difference between nitrogen ring diameter and gallium ring diameter (buckling distance) and semiconducting energy gap in term of diameter for zigzag and armchair GaNNTs have also been calculated. We found that buckling distance decreases by increasing nanotube diameter. Furthermore, we have investigated the effects of nitrogen and gallium vacancies on structure and electronic properties of zigzag GaNNT (5,0) using spin dependent density functional theory. By calculating the formation energy, we found that N vacancy in GaNNT (5,0) is more favorable than Ga vacancy. The nitrogen vacancy in zigzag GaNNT induces a 1.0μB magnetization and makes a polarized structure. We have shown that in polarized GaNNT a flat band near the Fermi energy splits to occupied spin up and unoccupied spin down levels.