showing 18 related works from this author
First‐principles modeling of the H color centers in MgF 2 crystals
2012
MgF2 with a rutile structure is important wide-gap optical material with numerous applications. We present and discuss the results of calculations for basic hole defects – interstitial F atoms (called also the colour H centers). This study is based on the large scale ab initio DFT calculations using hybrid B3PW exchange-correlation functional as implemented into CRYSTAL computer code. The electronic structure, atomic geometry, charge density distribution are calculated and compared with similar defects in CaF2 fluorite. It is shown that the H centers oriented nearly parallel to the (110) axis are energetically more favourable than those oriented along the (001) axis, in agreement with exper…
Simulations on the mechanism of CNT bundle growth upon smooth and nanostructured Ni as well as θ-Al2O3 catalysts
2011
Abstract In the current study, we have performed ab initio DFT calculations on the gradually growing 2D periodic models of capped single-wall carbon nanotubes (SW CNTs) upon their perpendicular junctions with the Ni(111) substrate, in order to understand the peculiarities of the initial stage of their growth on either smooth or nanostructured catalytic particles. Appearance of the adsorbed carbon atoms upon the substrate follows from the dissociation of CVD hydrocarbon molecules, e.g., CH4: (CH4)ads → (CH)ads+3Hads and (CH)ads → Cads+Hads. (Since the effective growth of CNTs upon Ni nanoparticles occur inside the nanopores of amorphous alumina, we have also simulated analogous surface react…
Ab initio modeling of radiation damage in MgF2 crystals
2014
Abstract MgF2 with a rutile structure is important radiation-resistant material with numerous applications due to its transparency from vacuum ultraviolet to infrared range of photon energies. We present and discuss the results of calculations for basic radiation defects in this crystal. The study is based on the large scale ab initio DFT calculations using hybrid B3PW exchange–correlation functional and atomic basis set. We analyzed the electronic structure, atomic displacements, charge density distribution as well as defect formation energies using large supercells. We compared properties of close and well separated F−H (Frenkel) defect pairs as well as individual defects. We simulated al…
Ab initio simulations on N and S co-doped titania nanotubes for photocatalytic applications
2015
In this paper we present the results of quantum chemical modeling for energetically stable anatase (001) TiO2 nanotubes, undoped, doped, and codoped with N and S atoms. We calculate the electronic structure of one-dimensional (1D) nanotubes and zero-dimensional (0D) atomic fragments cut out from these nanotubes, employing hybrid density functional theory with a partial incorporation of an exact, nonlocal Hartree–Fock exchange within the formalism of the linear combination of atomic orbitals, as implemented in both CRYSTAL and NWChem total energy codes. Structural optimization of 1D nanotubes has been performed using CRYSTAL09 code, while the cut-out 0D fragments have been modelled using the…
Comparative ab initio calculations of SrTiO3/BaTiO3 and SrZrO3/PbZrO3 (0 0 1) heterostructures
2016
Abstract Using a B3PW hybrid exchange–correlation functional within the density functional theory (DFT) we calculated from the first principles the electronic structure of BaTiO 3 /SrTiO 3 and PbZrO 3 /SrZrO 3 (0 0 1) interfaces. The optical band gap of both BaTiO 3 /SrTiO 3 and PbZrO 3 /SrZrO 3 (0 0 1) interfaces depends mostly from BaO or TiO 2 and SrO or ZrO 2 termination of the upper layer, respectively. Based on the results of our calculations we predict increase of the Ti–O and Zr–O chemical bond covalency near the SrTiO 3 /BaTiO 3 and SrZrO 3 /PbZrO 3 (0 0 1) interfaces as compared to the BaTiO 3 and PbZrO 3 bulk.
Validation of a constrained 2D slab model for water adsorption simulation on 1D periodic TiO2 nanotubes
2018
Abstract Solar light driven hydrogen evolution is one focus of modern materials research. Among the different emerging technologies, particular interest is devoted towards metal oxide photocatalysts in the form of various 1D nanostructures. Presently, the mismatch between regular structures that can be synthesized and the largest structures that are feasible for computer simulation is still very large. For example, an in-depth study of water adsorption on nanotube (NT) surfaces requires, in addition to DFT calculations, molecular dynamics simulations to take into account the disordered nature of the aqueous phase. To completely immerse even a very thin nanotube into an aqueous system requir…
Electronic structure and thermodynamic stability ofLaMnO3andLa1−xSrxMnO3(001) surfaces:Ab initiocalculations
2008
We present the results of ab initio hybrid density-functional calculations of the atomic and the electronic structures of ${\text{LaMnO}}_{3}$ (LMO) and ${\text{La}}_{1\ensuremath{-}{x}_{b}}{\text{Sr}}_{{x}_{b}}{\text{MnO}}_{3}$ (001) surfaces. The total energies obtained from these calculations were used to analyze thermodynamic stability of the surfaces. We predict Sr and O vacancy segregation to the surface to occur with similar energies ($\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\text{ }\text{eV}$ per defect). In pure LMO only ${\text{MnO}}_{2}$ termination is thermodynamically favorable under typical operational conditions of a cathode in solid oxide fuel cells, whereas Sr doping makes La(Sr)O termination …
Site symmetry approach in the supercell model of carbon-doped ZnO bulk
2017
Abstract Carbon-doped zinc oxide is one of promising materials for technological applications due to its ferromagnetism observed at room temperature. When using the hybrid DFT-HF Hamiltonian based on the PBE0 exchange-correlation functional for large-scale calculations on defective ZnO:C single crystal, we have shown that application of supercell model for carbon impurity located at O site of wurtzite-structured ZnO bulk results in the dependence of calculated formation energy of the point defect (Eform) on the selected site symmetry of the substituted atom in the supercell. For a more symmetric C3v site usually used for simulation of defective ZnO structures, values of formation energy per…
Electronic and Optical Properties of Rocksalt Mg1−xZnxO and Wurtzite Zn1−xMgxO with Varied Concentrations of Magnesium and Zinc
2022
The financial support of M-ERA.NET project “ZnMgO materials with tunable band gap for solar-blind UV sensors” (ZMOMUVS) is acknowledged. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under Grant Agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2. The calculations were performed at the Latvian SuperCluster (LASC) located in Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia.
Ab initio calculations of doped TiO2 anatase (101) nanotubes for photocatalytical water splitting applications
2016
Abstract TiO 2 (titania) is one of the promising materials for photocatalytic applications. In this paper we report on recently obtained theoretical results for N and S doped, as well as N+S co-doped 6-layer (101) anatase nanotube (NT). First principles calculations in our study have been performed using a modified B3LYP hybrid exchange-correlation functional within density functional theory (DFT). Here we discuss the energy of defect formation mechanism and electronic band structure for nanotubes under study. We also report on influence of dopant concentration on the NT's band structure and discuss the defect–defect interactions.
Interpretation of unexpected behavior of infrared absorption spectra ofScF3beyond the quasiharmonic approximation
2016
Scandium fluoride (${\mathrm{ScF}}_{3}$), having cubic ${\mathrm{ReO}}_{3}$-type structure, has attracted much scientific attention due to its rather strong negative thermal expansion (NTE) in the broad temperature range from 10 to 1100 K. Here we use the results of diffraction and extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy to interpret the influence of NTE on the temperature dependence of infrared absorption spectra of ${\mathrm{ScF}}_{3}$. Original infrared absorption and EXAFS experiments in a large temperature range are presented and interpreted using ab initio lattice dynamics simulations within and beyond quasiharmonic approximations. We demonstrate that ab initio e…
Local structure of perovskites ReO3and ScF3with negative thermal expansion: interpretation beyond the quasiharmonic approximation
2016
We propose an approach beyond the quasiharmonic approximation for interpretation of EXAFS and XRD data and for ab initio calculations of electronic and vibration properties of materials with negative thermal expansion. Ab initio electronic structure and lattice dynamics calculations for cubic and distorted ScF3 were performed using the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method. The band gap obtained in calculations for ScF3 is equal to 10.54 eV and agree well with the expected value. The calculated infrared spectra of F displaced (FD) cubic ScF3 allow us to predict that its mean Sc-F-Sc angle within NTE deviates from 180 degree.
Ab initio simulations on the atomic and electronic structure of single-walled BN nanotubes and nanoarches
2009
To simulate the perfect single-walled boron nitride nanotubes and nanoarches with armchair- and zigzag-type chiralities and uniform diameter of � 5 nm, we have constructed their one-dimensional (1D) periodic models. In this study, we have compared the calculated properties of nanotubes with those for both hexagonal and cubic phases of bulk: bond lengths, binding energies per B–N bond, effective atomic charges as well as parameters of total and projected one-electron densities of states. For both phases of BN bulk, we have additionally verified their lattice constants. In the density functional theory (DFT), calculations performed using formalism of the localized Gaussian-type atomic functio…
Ab initio simulations on migration paths of interstitial oxygen in corundum
2016
Abstract Ionizing radiation produces in Al 2 O 3 (corundum) crystals primary Frenkel pairs of complementary defects (in oxygen sublattice these are oxygen vacancies and interstitial oxygen ions, V O − O i ). The interstitial O i atoms begin to migrate above certain temperature and create the dumbbell pairs with regular oxygen atoms (O reg − O i ). We have calculated the optimal dumbbell configurations and optimized further migration paths ( i.e. , O i interstitial can break the bond with one O reg atom and moves towards another, one of four next-neighbor O reg atoms). To simulate all possible O i migration trajectories, we have performed large-scale hybrid DFT-LCAO PBE0 calculations on 2 …
SrTiO3 Nanotubes with Negative Strain Energy Predicted from First Principles
2011
On the basis of hybrid density functional theory calculations, we predict that the most energetically favorable single-walled SrTiO3 nanotubes with negative strain energy can be folded from SrTiO3 (110) nanosheets of rectangular morphology. Further formation of multiwalled tubular nanostructure with interwall distance of ∼0.46 nm yields an additional gain in energy of 0.013 eV per formula unit. (The formation energy of the most stable nanotube is 1.36 eV/SrTiO3.) Because of increase in the Ti–O bond covalency in the outer shells, SrTiO3 nanotubes can demonstrate an enhancement of their adsorption properties. Quantum confinement leads to a widening of the energy band gap of single-walled SrT…
Simulation of Young’s moduli for hexagonal ZnO [0 0 0 1]-oriented nanowires: first principles and molecular mechanical calculations
2017
The authors thank A Gulans, B Polyakov and S Vlassov for stimulating discussions. This study has been supported by the ERA.Net RUS Plus project No. 237 Watersplit. AB, RE and SL acknowledge the financial support by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 17-03-00130-a) and the assistance of the Saint Petersburg State University Computer Center in the accomplishment of high-performance computations.
Symmetry and models of single-walled TiO2 nanotubes with rectangular morphology
2011
Abstract The formalism of line symmetry groups for one-periodic (1D) nanostructures with rotohelical symmetry has been applied for symmetry analysis of single-walled titania nanotubes (SW TiO2 NTs) formed by rolling up the stoichiometric two-periodic (2D) slabs of anatase structure. Either six- or twelve-layer (101) slabs have been cut from TiO2 crystal in a stable anatase phase. After structural optimization, the latter keeps the centered rectangular symmetry of initial slab slightly compressed along a direction coincided with large sides of elemental rectangles. We have considered two sets of SW TiO2 NTs with optimized six- and twelve-layer structures, which possess chiralities (−n, n) an…
CO2 and CH2 Adsorption on Copper-Decorated Graphene: Predictions from First Principle Calculations
2022
Calculations were performed using Latvian Super Cluster (LASC), located in Center of Excellence at Institute of Solid State Physics, the University of Latvia, which is supported by European Union Horizon2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under Grant Agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2. The authors would like to express their gratitude for funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 768789 (CO2EXIDE project). In the last stage of investigation and during the preparation of the publication, the authors were assisted by the postdoc D.B. with his own funding from project No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/l/16/147 (…