Effect of dispersion interactions on the properties of LiF in condensed phases

Classical molecular dynamics simulations are performed on LiF in the framework of the polarizable ion model. The overlap-repulsion and polarization terms of the interaction potential are derived on a purely non empirical, first-principles basis. For the dispersion, three cases are considered: a first one in which the dispersion parameters are set to zero and two others in which they are included, with different parameterizations. Various thermodynamic, structural and dynamic properties are calculated for the solid and liquid phases. The melting temperature is also obtained by direct coexistence simulations of the liquid and solid phases. Dispersion interactions appear to have an important effect on the density of both phases and on the melting point, although the liquid properties are not affected when simulations are performed in the NVT ensemble at the experimental density.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Vacancy ordering effects on the conductivity of yttria- and scandia-doped zirconia

Polarizable interaction potentials, parametrized using ab initio electronic structure calculations, have been used in molecular dynamics simulations to study the conduction mechanism in Y2 O3 - and Sc2 O3 -doped zirconias. The influence of vacancy-vacancy and vacancy-cation interactions on the conductivity of these materials has been characterised. While the latter can be avoided by using dopant cations with radii which match those of Zr4+ (as is the case of Sc3+), the former is an intrinsic characteristic of the fluorite lattice which cannot be avoided and which is shown to be responsible for the occurrence of a maximum in the conductivity at dopant concentrations between 8 and 13 %. The weakness of the Sc-vacancy interactions in Sc2 O3 -doped zirconia suggests that this material is likely to present the highest conductivity achievable in zirconias.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figur

The construction of a reliable potential for GeO2 from first-principles

The construction of a reliable potential for GeO2, from first-principles, is described. The obtained potential, which includes dipole polarization effects, is able to reproduce all the studied properties (structural, dynamical and vibrational) to a high degree of precision with a single set of parameters. In particular, the infrared spectrum was obtained with the expression proposed for the dielectric function of polarizable ionic solutions by Weis et al. [J.M. Caillol, D. Levesque and J.J. Weis, J. Chem. Phys. 91, 5544 (1989)]. The agreement with the experimental spectrum is very good, with three main bands that are associated to tetrahedral modes of the GeO2 network. Finally, we give a comparison with a simpler pair-additive potential.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Edge dislocation slows down oxide ion diffusion in doped CeO2 by segregation of charged defects

Strained oxide thin films are of interest for accelerating oxide ion conduction in electrochemical devices. Although the effect of elastic strain has been uncovered theoretically, the effect of dislocations on the diffusion kinetics in such strained oxides is yet unclear. Here we investigate a 1/2{100} edge dislocation by performing atomistic simulations in 4–12% doped CeO₂ as a model fast ion conductor. At equilibrium, depending on the size of the dopant, trivalent cations and oxygen vacancies are found to simultaneously enrich or deplete either in the compressive or in the tensile strain fields around the dislocation. The associative interactions among the point defects in the enrichment zone and the lack of oxygen vacancies in the depletion zone slow down oxide ion transport. This finding is contrary to the fast diffusion of atoms along the dislocations in metals and should be considered when assessing the effects of strain on oxide ion conductivity.United States. Department of Energy (DE-SC0002633)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (TG-DMR110004)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (TG-DMR120025

Cation composition effects on oxide conductivity in the Zr_2Y_2O_7-Y_3NbO_7 system

Realistic, first-principles-based interatomic potentials have been used in molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of cation composition on the ionic conductivity in the Zr2Y2O7-Y3NbO7 system and to link the dynamical properties to the degree of lattice disorder. Across the composition range, this system retains a disordered fluorite crystal structure and the vacancy concentration is constant. The observed trends of decreasing conductivity and increasing disorder with increasing Nb5+ content were reproduced in simulations with the cations randomly assigned to positions on the cation sublattice. The trends were traced to the influences of the cation charges and relative sizes and their effect on vacancy ordering by carrying out additional calculations in which, for example, the charges of the cations were equalised. The simulations did not, however, reproduce all the observed properties, particularly for Y3NbO7. Its conductivity was significantly overestimated and prominent diffuse scattering features observed in small area electron diffraction studies were not always reproduced. Consideration of these deficiencies led to a preliminary attempt to characterise the consequence of partially ordering the cations on their lattice, which significantly affects the propensity for vacancy ordering. The extent and consequences of cation ordering seem to be much less pronounced on the Zr2Y2O7 side of the composition range.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Studying the conduction mechanism of stabilised zirconias by means of molecular dynamics simulations

Stabilised zirconias have a remarkable variety of technological and commercial applications, e.g., thermal barrier coatings, gas sensors, solid oxide fuel cells, ceramic knives and even fashion jewelry. This amazing versatility seems to originate from the creation of atomic defects (oxide ion vacancies) in the zirconia crystal. Indeed, these vacancies, and their interactions with other vacancies or cations, dramatically affect the structural, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties of zirconia. This thesis is concerned with the study of the role of the vacancy interactions on the conducting properties of these materials. This study was performed by using realistic, first-principles based molecular dynamics simulations. The first system studied in this thesis is Zr0:50:5xY0:5+0:25xNb0:25xO7. This has a fixed number of vacancies across the series but its conductivity changes by almost two orders of magnitude as a function of x. For this reason, Zr0:50:5xY0:5+0:25xNb0:25xO7 represents an ideal test-bed for the role of the cation species on the defect interactions and therefore on the ionic conductivity of these materials. Realistic inter-atomic potentials for Zr0:50:5xY0:5+0:25xNb0:25xO7 were developed on a purely first-principles basis. The observed trends of decreasing conductivity and increasing disorder with increasing Nb5+ content were successfully reproduced. These trends were traced to the influences of the cation charges and relative sizes and their effect on vacancy ordering by carrying out additional calculations in which, for instance, the charges of the cations were equalised. The effects of cation ordering were considered as well and their influence on the conductivity understood. The second part of this thesis deals with Sc2O3–doped (ScSZ) and Y2O3–doped (YSZ) zirconias. These systems are of great academic and technological interest as they find use in solid oxide fuel cells. Inter-atomic potentials were parametrised and used to predict the structural and conducting properties of these materials, which were found to agree very well with the experimental evidence. The simulations were then used to study the role of the vacancy interactions on the conducting properties of these materials. Two factors were found to influence the ionic conductivity in these materials: cation-vacancy and vacancy-vacancy interactions. The former is responsible for the difference in conductivity observed between YSZ and ScSZ. Vacancies, in fact, prefer to bind to the smaller Zr4+ ions in YSZ whereas there is not a strong preference in the case of ScSZ, since the cations have similar sizes in this case. This effect is observed at temperatures as high as T = 1500 K. Finally, it was found that vacancies tend to order so that they can minimise their mutual interaction and that this ordering tendency is what ultimately is responsible for the observed anomalous decrease of the ionic conductivity with increasing dopant concentration. The consequences of such a behaviour are discussed

High-pressure behaviour of GeO2: a simulation study

In this work we study the high pressure behaviour of liquid and glassy GeO2 by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The interaction potential, which includes dipole polarization effects, was parameterized from first-principles calculations. Our simulations reproduce the most recent experimental data to a high degree of precision. The proportion of the various GeOn polyhedra is determined as a function of the pressure: a smooth transition from tetrahedral to octahedral network is observed. Finally, the study of high-pressure, liquid germania confirms that this material presents an anomalous behaviour of the diffusivity as observed in analog systems such as silica and water. The importance of penta-coordinated germanium ions for such behaviour is stressed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted as a Fast Track Communication on Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Impact of uniaxial strain and doping on oxygen diffusion in CeO2

Doped ceria is an important electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell applications. Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the impact of uniaxial strain along the directions and rare-earth doping (Yb, Er, Ho, Dy, Gd, Sm, Nd, and La) on oxygen diffusion. We introduce a new potential model that is able to describe the thermal expansion and elastic properties of ceria to give excellent agreement with experimental data. We calculate the activation energy of oxygen migration in the temperature range 900-1900K for both unstrained and rare-earth doped ceria systems under tensile strain. Uniaxial strain has a considerable effect in lowering the activation energies of oxygen migration. A more pronounced increase in oxygen diffusivities is predicted at the lower end of the temperature range for all the dopants considered