First-principles investigation of the effects of strain on elastic thermal,and optical properties of CuGaTe_2

Based on the density functional theory, the influences of strain on structural, elastic, thermal and optical properties of CuGaTe_2 are discussed in detail. It is found that the tensile strain on CuGaTe_2 is beneficial to the decrease of lattice thermal conductivity by reducing the mean sound velocity and Debye temperature. Moreover, all strained and unstrained CuGaTe_2 exhibit rather similar optical characters. But the tensile strain improves the ability to absorb sunlight in the visible range.These research findings can give hints for designing thermoelectric and photovoltaic devices.