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Modeling Excited States of Point Defects in Materials from Many-Body Perturbation Theory
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The critical role of point defects in improving the specific capacitance of δ-MnO 2 nanosheets
3D porous nanostructures built from 2D δ-MnO 2 nanosheets are an environmentally friendly and industrially scalable class of supercapacitor electrode material. While both the electrochemistry and defects of this material have been studied, the role of defects in improving the energy storage density of these materials has not been addressed. In this work, δ-MnO 2 nanosheet assemblies with 150 m 2 g -1 specific surface area are prepared by exfoliation of crystalline K x MnO 2 and subsequent reassembly. Equilibration at different pH introduces intentional Mn vacancies into the nanosheets, increasing pseudocapacitance to over 300 F g -1 , reducing charge transfer resistance as low as 3 Ω, and providing a 50% improvement in cycling stability. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-energy X-ray scattering demonstrate a correlation between the defect content and the improved electrochemical performance. The results show that Mn vacancies provide ion intercalation sites which concurrently improve specific capacitance, charge transfer resistance and cycling stability.
First-principles study of intrinsic and hydrogen point defects in the earth-abundant photovoltaic absorber Zn 3 P 2
The shallow V Zn acceptors are proposed as the source for p-type doping in the Zn 3 P 2 solar absorber. Not only V Zn but also deep-level defects P Zn and P i have increased concentrations in non-stoichiometric, P-rich Zn 3 P 2 .
Quantitative modeling of point defects in β-Ga 2 O 3 combining hybrid functional energetics with semiconductor and processes thermodynamics
Incorporating temperature-dependent bandgap, chemical potentials from thermochemistry & vibrational entropy into DFT defect modeling yields realistic quantitative predictions for defect concentrations in bulk-grown β-Ga 2 O 3 .
Point defects at grain boundaries can create structural instabilities and persistent deep traps in metal halide perovskites
Perovskite grain boundaries exhibit slow fluctuations and transient charge trap states. Pb interstitials lead to boundary reconstruction and long-lived trap states due to Pb trimers.
On the interplay of point defects and Cd in non-polar ZnCdO films
Non-polar ZnCdO films, grown over m- and r-sapphire with a Cd concentration ranging between 0.8% and 5%, have been studied by means of slow positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) combined with chemical depth profiling by secondary ion mass spectroscopy and Rutherford back-scattering. Vacancy clusters and Zn vacancies with concentrations up to 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3} and 10{sup 18} cm{sup -3}, respectively, have been measured inside the films. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy results show that most Cd stays inside the ZnCdO film but the diffused atoms can penetrate up to 1.3 {mu}m inside the ZnO buffer. PAS results give an insight to the structure of the meta-stable ZnCdO above the thermodynamical solubility limit of 2%. A correlation between the concentration of vacancy clusters and Cd has been measured. The concentration of Zn vacancies is one order of magnitude larger than in as-grown non-polar ZnO films and the vacancy cluster are, at least partly, created by the aggregation of smaller Zn vacancy related defects. The Zn vacancy related defects and the vacancy clusters accumulate around the Cd atoms as a way to release the strain induced by the substitutional Cd{sub Zn} in the ZnO crystal.
Point defects introduced by InN alloying into In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N probed using a monoenergetic positron beam
Native defects in In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N (x = 0.06-0.14) grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition were studied using a monoenergetic positron beam. Measurements of Doppler broadening spectra of the annihilation radiation as a function of incident positron energy for In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N showed that vacancy-type defects were introduced with increasing InN composition, and the major defect species was identified as complexes between a cation vacancy and a nitrogen vacancy. The concentration of the divacancy, however, was found to be suppressed by Mg doping. The momentum distribution of electrons at the In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/GaN interface was close to that in defect-free GaN or In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N, which was attributed to localization of positrons at the interface due to the built-in electric field, and to suppression of positron trapping by vacancy-type defects. We have also shown that the diffusion property of positrons is sensitive to an electric field near the In{sub x}Ga{sub 1-x}N/GaN interface.
Point defects as a test ground for the local density approximation +U theory: Mn, Fe, and V{sub Ga} in GaN
Electronic structure of the Mn and Fe ions and of the gallium vacancy V{sub Ga} in GaN was analysed within the GGA + U approach. First, the +U term was treated as a free parameter, and applied to p(N), d(Mn), and d(Fe). The band gap of GaN is reproduced for U(N) ≈ 4 eV. The electronic structure of defect states was found to be more sensitive to the value of U than that of the bulk states. Both the magnitude and the sign of the U-induced energy shifts of levels depend on occupancies, and thus on the defect charge state. The energy shifts also depend on the hybridization between defect and host states, and thus are different for different level symmetries. In the case of V{sub Ga}, these effects lead to stabilization of spin polarization and the “negative-U{sub eff}” behavior. The values of Us were also calculated using the linear response approach, which gives U(Fe) ≈ U(Mn) ≈ 4 eV. This reproduces well the results of previous hybrid functionals calculations. However, the best agreement with the experimental data is obtained for vanishing or even negative U(Fe) and U(Mn)
Impact of Mg content on native point defects in Mg{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.56)
We used depth-resolved cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and surface photovoltage spectroscopy to measure the densities, energy levels, and spatial distributions of zinc/magnesium cation and oxygen vacancies in isostructural, single-phase, non-polar Mg{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}O alloys over a wide (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.56) range. Within this wide range, both defect types exhibit strong Mg content-dependent surface segregation and pronounced bulk density minima corresponding to unit cell volume minima, which can inhibit defect formation due to electrostatic repulsion. Mg in ZnO significantly reduces native defect densities and their non-polar surface segregation, both major factors in carrier transport and doping of these oxide semiconductors.
Point defect states in Sb-doped germanium
Defect states in n-type Sb-doped germanium were investigated by deep-level transient spectroscopy. Cobalt-60 gamma rays were used to generate isolated vacancies and interstitials which diffuse and react with impurities in the material to form four defect states (E{sub 37}, E{sub 30}, E{sub 22}, and E{sub 21}) in the upper half of the bandgap. Irradiations at 77 K and 300 K as well as isothermal anneals were performed to characterize the relationships between the four observable defects. E{sub 37} is assigned to the Sb donor-vacancy associate (E-center) and is the only vacancy containing defect giving an estimate of 2 × 10{sup 11 }cm{sup −3} Mrad{sup −1} for the uncorrelated vacancy-interstitial pair introduction rate. The remaining three defect states are interstitial associates and transform among one another. Conversion ratios between E{sub 22}, E{sub 21}, and E{sub 30} indicate that E{sub 22} likely contains two interstitials.
Characterization of point defects in CdTe by positron annihilation spectroscopy
Positron lifetime measurements on CdTe 0.15% Zn-doped by weight are presented, trapping to monovacancy defects is observed. At low temperatures, localization at shallow binding energy positron traps dominates. To aid defect identification density functional theory, calculated positron lifetimes and momentum distributions are obtained using relaxed geometry configurations of the monovacancy defects and the Te antisite. These calculations provide evidence that combined positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler spectroscopy measurements have the capability to identify neutral or negative charge states of the monovacancies, the Te antisite, A-centers, and divacancy defects in CdTe.
Competitive formation of intercalated versus supported metal nanoclusters during deposition on layered materials with surface point defects
Intercalated metal nanoclusters (NCs) can be formed under the surface of graphite after sputtering to generate surface “portal” defects that allow deposited atoms to reach the subsurface gallery. Although, there is a competition between formation of supported NCs on top of the surface and intercalated NCs under the surface, the latter only dominating at sufficiently high temperature. A stochastic model incorporating appropriate system thermodynamics and kinetics is developed to capture this complex and competitive nucleation and growth process. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation shows that the model captures experimental trends observed for Cu and other metals and reveals that higher temperatures are needed to facilitate detachment of atoms from supported NCs enabling them to reach the gallery.
Interaction of point defects with free surfaces and the theory of void growth in irradiated materials
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Oxygen self-diffusion in ThO 2 under pressure: Connecting point defect parameters with bulk properties
ThO 2 is a candidate material for use in nuclear fuel applications and as such it is important to investigate its materials properties over a range of temperatures and pressures. In the present study molecular dynamics calculations are used to calculate elastic and expansivity data. These are used in the framework of a thermodynamic model, the cBΩ model, to calculate the oxygen self-diffusion coefficient in ThO 2 over a range of pressures (–10–10 GPa) and temperatures (300–1900 K). As a result, increasing the hydrostatic pressure leads to a significant reduction in oxygen self-diffusion. Conversely, negative hydrostatic pressure significantly enhances oxygen self-diffusion.
Influence of point defects on the electronic and topological properties of monolayer WTe 2
In some topological insulators such as monolayers of WTe 2 or graphene with spin-orbit coupling, band inversion originates from chemical bonding and space group symmetry, in contrast to materials such as Bi 2 Se 3 , where the band inversion derives from relativistic effects in the atoms. In the former, band inversion is susceptible to changes of the chemical environment, e.g., by defects, while the latter are less affected by defects due to the larger energy scale associated with atomic relativistic effects. Motivated by recent experiments, we study the effect of Te vacancies and Te adatoms on the electronic properties of WTe 2 . We find that the Te vacancies have a formation energy of 2.21 eV, while the formation energy of the Te adatoms is much lower with 0.72 eV. Here, the vacancies strongly influence the band structure and we present evidence that band inversion is already reversed at the nominal composition of WTe 1.97 . In contrast, we show that the adatoms do not change the electronic structure in the vicinity of the Fermi level and thus the topological properties.