First principles evaluation on photocatalytic suitability of 2H structured and [0001] oriented WS2 nanosheets and nanotubes

This study was supported by the EC ERA.Net RUS Plus Project No. 237 WATERSPLIT. R.E. acknowledges the financial support provided by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant N 17-03-00130a) and High Performance Computer Center of St. Petersburg University for the assistance. The authors are indebted to D. Bocharov, O. Lisovski and E. Spohr for stimulating discussions.Pristine WS2 multilayer nanosheets (NSs), which thickness h NS varies from 1 to 12 monolayers (MLs), as well as single- and multi-walled nanotubes (SW and MW NTs) of different chirality, which diameter d NT exceeds 1.9 nm, display photocatalytic suitability to split H2O molecules. Obviously, such a phenomenon can occur since the band gap of these nanostructures corresponds to the energy range of visible light between the red and violet edges of spectrum (1.55 eV < Δϵgap < 2.65 eV). For all the studied WS2 NSs and NTs, the levels of the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band must be properly aligned relatively to H2O oxidation and reduction potentials separated by 1.23 eV: ϵ VB < ϵO2/H2O < ϵH+/H2 < ϵ CB. The values of Δϵgap decrease with growth of h NS and increase with enlargement of dNT. 1 ML nanosheet can be considered as a limit of infinite SW NT thickness growth (d NT→∞), which band gap increases up to ∼2.65 eV. First principles calculations have been performed using the hybrid DFT-HF method (HSE06 Hamiltonian) adapted for 2H WS2 bulk. The highest solar energy conversion efficiency (15-18%) expected at Δϵgap = 2.0-2.2 eV (yellow-green range) has been found for 2 ML thick (stoichiometric) WS2 (0001) NS as well as WS2 NTs with diameters 2.7-3.2 nm (irrespectively on morphology and chirality indices n of nanotubes). Moreover, unlike discrete variation of hNS magnitudes, tuning of d NT values provides much higher energy resolution.Russian Foundation for Basic Research N 17-03-00130a; European Commission EC 237 WATERSPLIT; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

First-principles comparative study of perfect and defective CsPbX3 (X = Br, I) crystals

We thank R. Merkle for numerous fruitful discussions and G. Siegle for experimental assistance. This study was partly supported by the M-ERA-NET project SunToChem (EK). Calculations were performed using computational facilities of St. Petersburg State University and Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research. Open Access funding provided by the Max Planck Society.First principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) hybrid functional PBESOL0 calculations of the atomic and electronic structure of perfect CsPbI3, CsPbBr3 and CsPbCl3 crystals, as well as defective CsPbI3 and CsPbBr3 crystals are performed and discussed. For the perfect structure, decomposition energy into binary compounds (CsX and PbX2) is calculated, and a stability trend of the form CsPbBr3 > CsPbI3 > CsPbCl3 is found. In addition, calculations of the temperature-dependent heat capacity are performed and shown to be in good agreement with experimental data. As far as the defect structure is considered, it is shown that interstitial halide atoms in CsPbBr3 do not tend to form di-halide dumbbells Br2- while such dimers are energetically favoured in CsPbI3, analogous to the well-known H-centers in alkali halides. In the case of CsPbBr3, a loose trimer configuration (Br32-) seems to be energetically preferred. The effects of crystalline symmetry and covalency are discussed, alongside the role of defects in recombination processes.Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2020/cp/c9cp06322

Comparative density-functional LCAO and plane-wave calculations of LaMnO3 surfaces

We compare two approaches to the atomic, electronic, and magnetic structures of LaMnO3 bulk and the (001), (110) surfaces—hybrid B3PW with optimized LCAO basis set (CRYSTAL-2003 code) and GGA-PW91 with plane-wave basis set (VASP 4.6 code). Combining our calculations with those available in the literature, we demonstrate that combination of nonlocal exchange and correlation used in hybrid functionals allows to reproduce the experimental magnetic coupling constants Jab and Jc as well as the optical gap. Surface calculations performed by both methods using slab models show that the antiferromagnetic (AF) and ferromagnetic (FM) (001) surfaces have lower surface energies than the FM (110) surface. Both the (001) and (110) surfaces reveal considerable atomic relaxations, up to the fourth plane from the surface, which reduce the surface energy by about a factor of 2, being typically one order of magnitude larger than the energy difference between different magnetic structures. The calculated (Mulliken and Bader) effective atomic charges and the electron density maps indicate a considerable reduction of the Mn and O atom ionicity on the surface

First principles calculations of the atomic and electronic structure of F centers in bulk and on the (001) surface of SrTiO3

The atomic and electronic structure, formation energy, and the energy barriers for migration have been calculated for the neutral O vacancy point defect F center in cubic SrTiO3 employing various implementations of density functional theory DFT. Both bulk and TiO2-terminated 001 surface F centers have been considered. Supercells of different shapes containing up to 320 atoms have been employed. The limit of an isolated single oxygen vacancy in the bulk corresponds to a 270-atom supercell, in contrast to commonly used supercells containing 40–80 atoms. Calculations carried out with the hybrid B3PW functional show that the F center level approaches the conduction band bottom to within 0.5 eV, as the supercell size increases up to 320 atoms. The analysis of the electronic density maps indicates, however, that this remains a small-radius center with the two electrons left by the missing O ion being redistributed mainly between the vacancy and the 3d z2 atomic orbitals of the two nearest Ti ions. As for the dynamical properties, the calculated migration energy barrier in the low oxygen depletion regime is predicted to be 0.4 eV. In contrast, the surface F center exhibits a more delocalized character, which leads to significantly reduced ionization and migration energies. Results obtained are compared with available experimental data

Topological analysis of chemical bonding in the layered FePSe3 upon pressure-induced phase transitions

The authors acknowledge the assistance of the University Computer Center of Saint-Petersburg State University in the accomplishment of high-performance computations. A.K. is grateful to the Latvian Council of Science project no. lzp-2018/2-0353 for financial support. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.Two pressure-induced phase transitions have been theoretically studied in the layered iron phosphorus triselenide (FePSe3 ). Topological analysis of chemical bonding in FePSe3 has been performed based on the results of first-principles calculations within the periodic linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method with hybrid Hartree-Fock-DFT B3LYP functional. The first transition at about 6 GPa is accompanied by the symmetry change from R 3 ¯ to C2/m, whereas the semiconductor-to-metal transition (SMT) occurs at about 13 GPa leading to the symmetry change from C2/m to P 3 ¯ 1 m . We found that the collapse of the band gap at about 13 GPa occurs due to changes in the electronic structure of FePSe3 induced by relative displacements of phosphorus or selenium atoms along the c-axis direction under pressure. The results of the topological analysis of the electron density and its Laplacian demonstrate that the pressure changes not only the interatomic distances but also the bond nature between the intralayer and interlayer phosphorus atoms. The interlayer P-P interactions are absent in two non-metallic FePSe3 phases while after SMT the intralayer P-P interactions weaken and the interlayer P-P interactions appear.Latvian Council of Science project no. lzp-2018/2-0353; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

Calculation of The Band Gap Energy and Study of Cross Luminescence in Alkaline-Earth Dihalide Crystals

The band gap energy as well as the possibility of cross luminescence processes in alkaline-earth dihalide crystals have been calculated using the ab initio Perturbed-Ion (PI) model. The gap is calculated in several ways: as a difference between one-electron energy eigenvalues and as a difference between total energies of appropriate electronic states of the crystal, both at the HF level and with inclusion of Coulomb correlation effects. In order to study the possibility of ocurrence of cross luminescence in these materials, the energy difference between the valence band and the upmost core band for some representative crystals has been calculated. Both calculated band gap energies and cross luminescence predictions compare very well with the available experimental results.Comment: LaTeX file containing 8 pages plus 1 postscript figure. Final version accepted for publication in The Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. It contains a more complete list of references, as well as a more detailed comparison with previous theoretical investigations on the subjec

Elastic and vibrational properties of alpha and beta-PbO

The structure, electronic and dynamic properties of the two layered alpha (litharge) and beta (massicot) phases of PbO have been studied by density functional methods. The role of London dispersion interactions as leading component of the total interaction energy between layers has been addressed by using the Grimme's approach, in which new parameters for Pb and O atoms have been developed. Both gradient corrected and hybrid functionals have been adopted using Gaussian-type basis sets of polarized triple zeta quality for O atoms and small core pseudo-potential for the Pb atoms. Basis set superposition error (BSSE) has been accounted for by the Boys-Bernardi correction to compute the interlayer separation. Cross check with calculations adopting plane waves that are BSSE free have also been performed for both structures and vibrational frequencies. With the new set of proposed Grimme's type parameters structures and dynamical parameters for both PbO phases are in good agreement with experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Pressure dependent electronic properties of MgO polymorphs: A first-principles study of Compton profiles and autocorrelation functions

The first-principles periodic linear combination of atomic orbitals method within the framework of density functional theory implemented in the CRYSTAL06 code has been applied to explore effect of pressure on the Compton profiles and autocorrelation functions of MgO. Calculations are performed for the B1, B2, B3, B4, B8_1 and h-MgO polymorphs of MgO to compute lattice constants and bulk moduli. The isothermal enthalpy calculations predict that B4 to B8_1, h-MgO to B8_1, B3 to B2, B4 to B2 and h-MgO to B2 transitions take place at 2, 9, 37, 42 and 64 GPa respectively. The high pressure transitions B8_1 to B2 and B1 to B2 are found to occur at 340 and 410 GPa respectively. The pressure dependent changes are observed largely in the valence electrons Compton profiles whereas core profiles are almost independent of the pressure in all MgO polymorphs. Increase in pressure results in broadening of the valence Compton profiles. The principal maxima in the second derivative of Compton profiles shifts towards high momentum side in all structures. Reorganization of momentum density in the B1 to B2 structural phase transition is seen in the first and second derivatives before and after the transition pressure. Features of the autocorrelation functions shift towards lower r side with increment in pressure.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Materials Scienc