Suchergebnisse

The temperature-induced antiferrodistortive (AFD) structural phase transitions in CaMnO3, a typical perovskite oxide, are studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations. These transitions are caused by tilting of the MnO6 octahedra that are related to unstable phonon modes in the high-symmetry cubic perovskite phase. Transitions due to octahedral tilting in perovskites normally are believed to fit into the standard soft-mode picture of displacive phase transitions. We calculate phonon-dispersion relations and potential-energy landscapes as functions of the unstable phonon modes and argue based on the results that the phase transitions are better described as being of order-disorder type. This means that the cubic phase emerges as a dynamical average when the system hops between local minima on the potential-energy surface. We then perform ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and find explicit evidence of the order-disorder dynamics in the system. Our conclusions are expected to be valid for other perovskite oxides, and we finally suggest how to predict the nature (displacive or order-disorder) of the AFD phase transitions in any perovskite system. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-4750]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009 00971]; CeNano at Linkoping University

ScMN2-type (M = V, Nb, Ta) phases are layered materials that have been experimentally reported for M = Ta and Nb, but their high-pressure properties have not been studied. Here, we have used first-principles calculations to study their thermodynamic stability, elastic and electronic properties at high-pressure. We have used density functional theory to calculate the formation enthalpy relative to the competing binary phases, electronic density of states and elastic constants (c(ij)), bulk (B), shear (G) and Youngs (E) modulus as the pressure is varied from 0 to 150 GPa. Our results show that when the pressure increases from 0 to 150 GPa, elastic constants, bulk, shear and elastic moduli increase in the range 53-216% for ScTaN2, 72-286% for ScNbN2, and 61-317% for ScVN2. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2016-03365]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation through the Wallenberg Academy Fellows program; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]

The overestimation, rather than the usual underestimation, of the electronic band gap at 0 K of boron carbide with the ideally stoichiometric composition of B4C, represented by B11CP (CBC), in density functional theory calculations is one of the outstanding controversial issues in the field of icosahedral boron-rich solids. Using a first-principles approach, we explore the effect of temperature and configurational disorder on the electronic band gap of B4C. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are performed to account for the effects of vibrational disorder. The results reveal that the volumetric thermal expansion as well as the thermally induced configurational disorder of icosahedral C-P atoms residing in the B11CP icosahedra have a minimal impact on the band gap of B4C, while a major decrease of the band gap is caused by explicit atomic displacements, induced by lattice vibrations. At 298 K, the band gap of B4C is overestimated, as compared to the experimental value, by approximately 31%. However, configurational disorder induced by introducing a small fraction of B-12 (CBC) and B-12 (B-4) into a matrix of B11CP (CBC) to make the composition of boron carbide approximately B4.3C, claimed to be the carbon-rich limit of the material in experiment, leads to a smaller band gap due to the appearance of midgap states. These results can explain at least a part of the previous discrepancies between theory and experiments for the band gap of boron carbide. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-6336, 2014-4750]; Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions, Cofund [INCA 600398]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) through the Future Research Leaders 6 program; Kungl. Ingenjorsvetenskapsakademiens Hans Werthen-Fond; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009 00971]

We have performed a numerical study of the process of electron localization in reduced ceria. Our results show that different localized charge distributions can be attained in a bulk system by varying the lattice parameter. We demonstrate that the effect of electron localization is mainly determined by lattice relaxation and an accurate account for the effects of electronic correlation is necessary to achieve localized charge distribution. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [2014-4750]; Swedish Energy Agency (STEM); Carl Tryggers Foundation; LiLi-NFM; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science

Charge redistribution at low oxygen vacancy concentrations in ceria have been studied in the framework of the density functional theory. We propose a model to approach the dilute limit using the results of supercell calculations. It allows one to reproduce the characteristic experimentally observed behavior of composition versus oxygen pressure dependency. We show that in the dilute limit the charge redistribution is likely to be driven by a mechanism different from the one involving electron localization on cerium atoms. We demonstrate that it can involve charge localization on light element impurities. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council, (VR)||Swedish Government||

The lead-free halide double perovskite class of materials offers a promising venue for resolving issues related to toxicity of Pb and long-term stability of the lead-containing halide perovskites. We present a first-principles study of the lattice vibrations in Cs2AgBiBr6, the prototypical compound in this class and show that the lattice dynamics of Cs2AgBiBr6 is highly anharmonic, largely in regards to tilting of AgBr6 and BiBr6 octahedra. Using an energy- and temperature-dependent phonon spectral function, we then show how the experimentally observed cubic-to-tetragonal phase transformation is caused by the collapse of a soft phonon branch. We finally reveal that the softness and anharmonicity of Cs2AgBiBr6 yield an ultralow thermal conductivity, unexpected of high-symmetry cubic structures. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR)Swedish Research Council [2019-05551]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; Swedish e-science Research Centre (SeRC); Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Scholar Grant) [KAW-2018.0194]; Ministry of Science and High Education of the Russian Federation of National University of Science and Technology (NUST) "MISIS" [K2-2019-001, 211]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [2016-07213]

Lithium carbide, Li2C2, is a fascinating material that combines strong covalent and weak ionic bonding resulting in a wide range of unusual properties. The mechanism of its phase transition from the ground-state orthorhombic (Immm) to the high-temperature cubic (Fm (3) over barm) crystal structure is not well understood and here we elucidate it with help of first-principles calculations. We show that stabilization of the cubic phase is a result of a temperature-induced disorientation of the C-C dumbbells and their further thermal rotations. Due to these rotations rather large deviatoric stress, which is associated with the dumbbell alignment along one of the crystallographic axes, averages out making the cubic structure mechanically stable. At high temperature we observe a type-II superionic transition to a state of high Li self-diffusion involving collective ionic motion mediated by the formation of Frenkel pairs. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-4750, 2014-3980]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]; Carl Tryggers Stiftelse (CTS) [16:198]

We have developed a thorough and accurate method of determining anharmonic free energies, the temperature dependent effective potential technique (TDEP). It is based on ab initio molecular dynamics followed by a mapping onto a model Hamiltonian that describes the lattice dynamics. The formalism and the numerical aspects of the technique are described in detail. A number of practical examples are given, and results are presented, which confirm the usefulness of TDEP within ab initio and classical molecular dynamics frameworks. In particular, we examine from first principles the behavior of force constants upon the dynamical stabilization of the body centered phase of Zr, and show that they become more localized. We also calculate the phase diagram for 4He modeled with the Aziz et al. potential and obtain results which are in favorable agreement both with respect to experiment and established techniques. ; Funding Agencies|Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) project "Isotopic Control for Ultimate Material Properties"||Swedish Research Council (VR)|621-2011-4426|LiLi-NFM||Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) program|SRL10-0026|Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation within the framework of Program Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Personnel for Innovative Russia|14.B37.21.089014.A18.21.0893|Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science||

The electronic state and transport properties of hot dense iron are of the utmost importance for the understanding of Earths interior. Combining state-of-the-art density functional and dynamical mean field theories we study the impact of electron correlations on the electrical and thermal resistivity of hexagonal close-packed epsilon-Fe at Earths core conditions and show that the electron-electron scattering in epsilon-Fe exhibit a nearly perfect Fermi-liquid (FL) behavior. Accordingly, the quadratic dependence of the scattering rate, typical of FLs, leads to a modification of the Wiedemann-Franz law and suppresses the thermal conductivity with respect to the electrical one. The consequence is a significant increase of the electron-electron thermal resistivity, which is found to be of comparable magnitude to the electron-phonon one. ; Funding Agencies|European Research Council [ERC-319286 QMAC]; Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) [P1-0044]; Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-4750, 2015-04391]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation [14.Y26.31.0005]

Due to a large discrepancy between theory and experiment, the electronic character of crystalline boron carbide B13C2 has been a controversial topic in the field of icosahedral boron-rich solids. We demonstrate that this discrepancy is removed when configurational disorder is accurately considered in the theoretical calculations. We find that while the ordered ground state B13C2 is metallic, the configurationally disordered B13C2, modeled with a superatom-special quasirandom structure method, goes through a metal to nonmetal transition as the degree of disorder is increased with increasing temperature. Specifically, one of the chain-end carbon atoms in the CBC chains substitutes a neighboring equatorial boron atom in a B-12 icosahedron bonded to it, giving rise to a B11Ce(BBC) unit. The atomic configuration of the substitutionally disordered B13C2 thus tends to be dominated by a mixture between B-12(CBC) and B11Ce(BBC). Due to splitting of valence states in B11Ce(BBC), the electron deficiency in B-12(CBC) is gradually compensated. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [621-2011-4417, 330-2014-6336, 2014-4750]; CeNano at Linkoping University; LiLi-NFM; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science

The Earths solid inner core is a highly attenuating medium. It consists mainly of iron. The high attenuation of sound wave propagation in the inner core is at odds with the widely accepted paradigm of hexagonal close-packed phase stability under inner core conditions, because sound waves propagate through the hexagonal iron without energy dissipation. Here we show by first-principles molecular dynamics that the body-centered cubic phase of iron, recently demonstrated to be thermodynamically stable under the inner core conditions, is considerably less elastic than the hexagonal phase. Being a crystalline phase, the body-centered cubic phase of iron possesses the viscosity close to that of a liquid iron. The high attenuation of sound in the inner core is due to the unique diffusion characteristic of the body-centered cubic phase. The low viscosity of iron in the inner core enables the convection and resolves a number of controversies. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2013-5767, 2014-4750, 2017-03744]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [11804175]; Olle Engkvist Byggmastare Foundation; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-MatLiU) [2009 00971]; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CGL2013-41860-P, CGL2017-86070-R]

The formation of ternary hydrogen-rich hydrides involving the first-row transition metals TM = Fe and Co in high oxidation states is demonstrated from in situ synchrotron diffraction studies of reaction mixtures NaH-TM-H-2 at p approximate to 10 GPa. Na3FeH7 and Na3CoH6 feature pentagonal bipyramidal FeH73- and octahedral CoH63- 18-electron complexes, respectively. At high pressure, high temperature (300 < T <= 470 degrees C) conditions, metal atoms are arranged as in the face-centered cubic Heusler structure, and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the complexes undergo reorientational dynamics. Upon cooling, subtle changes in the diffraction patterns evidence reversible and rapid phase transitions associated with ordering of the complexes. During decompression, Na3FeH7 and Na3CoH6 transform to tetragonal and orthorhombic low pressure forms, respectively, which can be retained at ambient pressure. The discovery of Na3FeH7 and Na3CoH6 establishes a consecutive series of homoleptic hydrogen-rich complexes for first-row transition metals from Cr to Ni. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]; Carl Tryggers Stiftelse (CTS) [16:198, 17:206]

Using ab initio calculations, we have analyzed the influence of anharmonic effects on the electronic structure and the phonon-dispersion relations of body-centered-cubic (bcc) niobium (Nb) and investigated the temperature dependence of the Kohn anomaly in this metal. A comparison of the results obtained in the framework of the temperature-dependent effective potential method with those derived within the quasiharmonic approximation demonstrates the importance of the explicit treatment of the finite-temperature effects upon the theoretical description of bcc Nb lattice dynamics. In agreement with experimental results, the inclusion of anharmonic vibrations in our calculations leads to the disappearance of the Kohn anomaly for the acoustic mode in a vicinity of the Gamma point with increasing temperature. Moreover, the calculated phonon self-energy indicates that the origin of the temperature dependence is related to the change of the electronic structure. We have calculated the temperature dependence of the electronic spectral function and analyzed the Fermi surface of Nb. A significant temperature-induced smearing of the electronic states has been identified as the origin of the disappearance of the Kohn anomaly in Nb at elevated temperature. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR)Swedish Research Council [2015-04391, 2019-05551]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Areas in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Scholar Grant) [KAW-2018.0194]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [EM16-0004]; Russian Science FoundationRussian Science Foundation (RSF) [18-12-00492]

In this work, we discuss the mixing thermodynamics of cubic (B1) Ti1-xAlxN/TiN(001) multilayers. We show that interfacial effects suppress the mixing enthalpy compared to bulk Ti1-xAlxN. The strongest stabilization occurs for compositions in which the mixing enthalpy of bulk Ti1-xAlxN has its maximum. The effect is split into a strain and an interfacial (or chemical) contribution, and we show that both contributions are significant. An analysis of the local atomic structure reveals that the Ti atoms located in the interfacial layers relax significantly different from those in the other atomic layers of the multilayer. Considering the electronic structure of the studied system, we demonstrate that the lower Ti-site projected density of states at epsilon(F) in the Ti1-xAlxN/TiN multilayers compared to the corresponding monolithic bulk explains a decreased tendency toward decomposition. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) project SRL [10-0026]; Erasmus Mundus Joint European Doctoral Programme DocMASE; Multiscale computational-design of novel hard nanostructure coatings; Swedish Research Council (VR) [2015-04391, 621-2012-4401, 2014-4750]; Grant of Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation [14.Y26.31.0005]; Tomsk State University Academic D. I. Mendeleev Fund Program [8.1.18.2015]; LiLi-NFM; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science

The Earths solid core is mostly composed of iron. However, despite being central to our understanding of core properties, the stable phase of iron under inner-core conditions remains uncertain. The two leading candidates are hexagonal close-packed and body-centred cubic (bcc) crystal structures, but the dynamic and thermodynamic stability of bcc iron under inner-core conditions has been challenged. Here we demonstrate the stability of the bcc phase of iron under conditions consistent with the centre of the core using ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the bcc phase is stabilized at high temperatures by a diffusion mechanism that arises due to the dynamical instability of the phase at lower temperatures. On the basis of our simulations, we reinterpret experimental data as support for the stability of bcc iron under inner-core conditions. We suggest that the diffusion of iron atoms in solid state may explain both the anisotropy and the low shear modulus of the inner core. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [2013-5767, 2014-4750]; National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Program of China [2015GB118000]; China Scholarship Council; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009 00971]