Sharif Digital Repository

Ab initio total energy calculations have been performed for superconducting GdBa2Cu3O7 and insulating PrBa 2Cu3O7 using the full-potential linear augmented plane-wave method in the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The comparison of the calculated unit cell volume and lattice parameters with the experimental data indicates the improvement of these parameters in the GGA relative to LDA. LDA and GGA give the equilibrium unit cell volume about 6% smaller and 1.25% larger than the experimental data, respectively for both systems. Thus frozen phonon calculations have been performed to determine the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the k=0 Ag modes of... 

Single electron wavefunction of a vacancy in diamond lattice has been calculated in different symmetric configurations of the nearest neighbor (NN) atoms. We used ab initio density functional theory (DFT) and unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) cluster methods. The variation of electron or spin localization on NN atoms have been investigated with respect to the lattice relaxation in the ground state of the neutral and negatively charged vacancy. Calculated variations are not symmetric with respect to the sign of the lattice relaxation. We obtain about 90% localization for electronic charge and spin density for the neutral and negatively charged vacancy, respectively. This is in good agreement... 

In the present research, we investigate the synergistic effects of Ru-doping and Ar/H2 reduction treatment on the photoelectrochemical water splitting performance and hydrogen evolution rate of TiO2 nanotube array photoelectrodes. The Ti-Ru alloy with 0.2 at. % Ru was used to grow anodic self-organized Ru-doped TiO2 nanotube layers. An ideal synergy between Ar/H2 reduction treatment and Ru-doping results in the extended absorption toward the visible light region and improved photoelectrocatalytic activity. The black Ru-doped TiO2-x photoanode's water splitting rate improves remarkably (∼ninefold) compared to the black TiO2-x sample (∼twofold). Moreover, the black Ru-doped TiO2-x photoanode... 

The crystal and electronic structures of normal phase of Ba1-xKxFe2As2 for x = 0.0, 0.5 and 1.0 have been studied by using pseudopotential Quantum Espresso code based on ab-initio density functional theory. Effects of K doping on the crystal structure and lattice parameters have been calculated and compared with the experimental and computational reported data for similar compounds. The metal-metal bonding scenario was used to explain the changes of lattice parameters by K doping. The electronic structure of this system including of density of states and band structure have been calculated and investigated by K doping. One of the interesting results is that a larger peak is appeared near the... 

The effect of pressure has been studied on structural and electronic properties of LaOFeAs high-T c superconductor by ab initio density functional theory by using pseudopotential Quantum Espresso code. The lattice parameters and ionic positions in the ambient pressure and some high pressure up to 20 GPa have been calculated. The obtained data versus the simple scaling relation for the ionic positions and distances for mechanical pressures have been discussed. The results of band structure and magnetic moment calculations of this compound versus the applied pressure are presented in this paper. The results are compared with the other experimental and computational data in the literature  

We have investigated the role of electron-electron correlation in SrRuO 3 and CaRuO 3 bulk structures. At first, the DOS of SrRuO 3 and CaRuO 3 is obtained using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method by LSDA. We have then calculated the electronic structure, dielectric function, self-energy, and spectral function for the bulk SrRuO 3 and CaRuO 3 by GWA. The shifting of the Ru t 2g orbitals, broadening in Ru valance bands, and also the enhancement in exchange splitting shows better agreement between the GWA many-body correction with the bulk experimental results. But, in spite of the many-body correction, the GWA results is not completely consistent with the PES... 

The equilibrium crystal structure and electronic structure of BaFe2-x Cox As2 (x = 0,1, 2) superconductor have been investigated by using the pseudopotential Quantum Espresso code based on the ab initio density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation. The equilibrium crystal structure for x = 1.0 has been determined by considering five different Fe/Co configurations. This study shows that the spin calculation is essential to obtain the experimental values at x = 0.0. The total and partial density of states, band structure, and Fermi surfaces of the three compounds has been calculated. Density of states calculation indicates the important... 

The spin configuration, equilibrium crystal structure, and electronic structure of BaFe2−xNixAs2 (x = 0, 1, 2) have been investigated by using ab initio pseudopotential Quantum Espresso code in the generalized gradient approximation. The total energy of different Fe(Ni) spin configurations has been calculated to determine the ground state in each doping. The results show an antiferromagnetic order in x = 0.0 and a nonmagnetic state for x = 2.0. Equilibrium lattice and internal parameters for this system have been calculated and compared with the literature data. This study shows that the lattice parameters in the magnetic calculations have been... 

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with and without end caps may be used for fluid storage and transport, respectively, referred to as CNT-nanovessel and CNT-nanopipe. The determination of the stiffness in the hoop (circumferential) and radial directions, ideal hoop strength, and hoop stress-strain curve of such nanostructures is of particular interest. Due to the proposed viewpoint, a chiral free-standing single-walled CNT (SWCNT) has a natural angle of twist and natural extension along the axis of the tube. For example, for the SWCNT (9,3) with diameter of 0.85 nm and chirality angle of 13.9°, the natural angle of twist per unit length is 1.45×10-3 rad/nm. Previously, only Vercosa et al. (2010) who... 

The effects of fluorine doping on the electronic structure of LaO1−xFxFeAs superconductor have been investigated by ab initio density functional theory using pseudopotential quantum espresso code. Firstly, we have studied the role of fluorine doping on the electronic structure of LaO1−xFxFeAs by calculation of band structure, density of states, and Fermi surfaces at various doping levels x = 0.00, 0.25, and 0.50. The lattice parameters and ionic position have been determined by optimizing crystal structure. Our results show that doping decreases cell volume similar to mechanical pressure and shifts the bands and states near the Fermi level toward the lower energies. According to the Fermi... 

Fast transfer of photoinduced electrons and subsequent slow electron-hole recombination in semiconductor heterostructures give rise to long-lived charge separation which is highly desirable for photocatalysis and photovoltaic applications. As a type II heterostructure, CdS/TiO2 nanocomposites extend the absorption edge of the light spectrum to the visible range and demonstrate effective charge separation, resulting in more efficient conversion of solar energy to chemical energy. This improvement in performance is partly explained by the fact that CdS/TiO2 is a type II semiconductor heterostructure and CdS has a smaller energy band gap than UV-active TiO2. Ultrafast transient absorption... 

Capture of the discrete nature of crystalline solids for the purpose of the determination of their mechanical behavior with high precision is of interest. To achieve this objective, two fundamental contributing factors are on top of the list: (1) formulation in the mathematical framework of an appropriate higher order continuum theory rather than using classical treatment, and (2) incorporation of the true anisotropy of the media. The present work revisits Toupin–Mindlin first strain gradient theory for media with general anisotropy, and then specialize it to cubic crystals of hexoctahedral class. This formulation in addition to 3 classical material constants encountered in classical theory... 

We used first principles calculations based on density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation to investigate and compare the structural, electronic and optical properties of two photoanode materials, ZnV2O6 and Zn2V2O7, for use in photocatalytic water splitting. After geometry optimization, the calculated structural parameters evince a satisfactory agreement with the reported experimental results indicating that the used method and conditions are suitable. The electronic structures demonstrate that both photocatalysts possess favorable band gaps (2.31 and 2.52 eV) and appropriate band edge positions for oxygen evolution reaction under solar radiation. The relatively light... 

To account for certain essential features of material such as dispersive behaviour and optical branches in dispersion curves, a fundamental departure from classical elasticity to polar theories is required. Among the polar theories, micromorphic elasticity of appropriate grades and anisotropy is capable of capturing these physical phenomena completely. In the mathematical framework of micromorphic elasticity, in addition to the traditional elastic constants, some additional constants are introduced in the pertinent governing equations of motion. A precise evaluation of the numerical values of the aforementioned elastic constants in the realm of the experimentations poses serious... 

In this work, after formulating the weakly nonlocal micromorphic equations of motion for non-Bravais crystals with general anisotropy, specialization to diamond structures is made. A critical dilemma is the determination of the elastic moduli tensor appearing in the equations of motion. From the equivalency of these equations with the pertinent equations obtained in the context of lattice dynamics, the expressions of the components of the elastic moduli tensors in terms of the atomic force constants are derived analytically. Subsequently, the atomic force constants are calculated via ab initio density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) with high precision. As a benchmark for the accuracy... 

Ab initio quantum mechanics and ONIOM calculations were used to study solvent and substituent effects on the reactions of 1,4-benzoquinone with cyclopentadiene and cyclohexadiene derivatives in tetrahydrofuran and greater water solvents. These calculations revealed (i) that increasing the number of electron donating methyl group substituents and (ii) the proximity of substituents to the reacting carbons (carbon atoms which contribute to the forming C-C bonds) on the diene, promote charge transfer from the diene to the dienophile in the transition state. © 2008 Science Reviews 2000 Ltd. These effects increase the negative charge on the oxygen atoms, destabilize the transition state in the... 

We investigate systematically the spin-Nernst effect in Néel and zigzag ordered honeycomb antiferromagnets. Monolayers of transition-metal trichalcogenides, MnPSe3, MnPS3, and VPS3 show an antiferromagnetic Néel order while CrSiTe3, NiPS3, and NiPSe3 show an antiferromagnetic zigzag order. We extract the exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction parameters from ab initio calculations. Using these parameters, we predict that the spin-Nernst coefficient is at least two orders of magnitude larger in zigzag compared to the Néel ordered antiferromagnets. We find that this enhancement relies on the large band splitting due to the symmetry of magnetic configuration in the zigzag order. Our... 

Eringen's nonlocal theory and an accurate determination of the nonlocal kernel functions for hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystals are of interest. The kernel functions are closely related to the anisotropy as well as any crystalline symmetries. To this end, five new distinct nonlocal kernel functions which have the characteristics of discrete atomistic Green's functions in the stress space are obtained through consideration of the nonlocal dispersion relations associated with certain directions combined with ab initio Density Functional Perturbation Theory (DFPT) calculations of the pertinent phonon frequencies. This is the first work which provides the nonlocal hcp kernel functions... 

The dilemma with the deficiencies of the nonlocal kernel functions as the building blocks of the Eringen’s nonlocal theory has been of concern. The aim of the current work is to provide a remedy for the calculation of the components of the nonlocal moduli tensor pertinent to face center cubic (fcc) crystals accounting for their true symmetry group. To this end, three new distinct nonlocal kernel functions which are the discrete atomistic Green’s functions in the stress space are obtained through the nonlocal dispersion relations associated with the longitudinal and shear waves in fcc crystals combined with the corresponding ones calculated via ab initio based on density functional...