Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “first principles”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

High-fidelity first principles nonadiabaticity: diabatization, analytic representation of global diabatic potential energy matrices, and quantum dynamics

We report nonadiabatic dynamics, which goes beyond the Born–Oppenheimer approximation, has increasingly been shown to play an important role in chemical processes, particularly those involving electronically excited states. Understanding multistate dynamics requires rigorous quantum characterization of both electronic and nuclear motion. However, such first principles treatments of multi-dimensional systems have so far been rather limited due to the lack of accurate coupled potential energy surfaces and difficulties associated with quantum dynamics. In this Perspective, we review recent advances in developing high-fidelity analytical diabatic potential energy matrices for quantum dynamical investigations of polyatomic uni- and bi-molecular nonadiabatic processes, by machine learning of high-level ab initio data. Special attention is paid to methods of diabatization, high fidelity construction of multi-state coupled potential energy surfaces and property surfaces, as well as quantum mechanical characterization of nonadiabatic nuclear dynamics. To illustrate the tremendous progress made by these new developments, several examples are discussed, in which direct comparison with quantum state resolved measurements led to either confirmation of the observation or sometimes reinterpretation of the experimental data. The insights gained in these prototypical systems greatly advance our understanding of nonadiabatic dynamics in chemical systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energetics of silicon in the bulk and near surfaces of tungsten: a first-principles study

Abstract Siliconization of the tokamak walls is a candidate method to improve plasma confinement in fusion tokamaks containing tungsten plasma facing components (W PFCs). To understand the interactions of silicon (Si) with W, the Si behavior in bulk W, and near three low-index W surfaces ((100), (110) and (111)) has been investigated using first-principles density functional theory. In bulk W, Si interstitial atoms have a low solution ability and high mobility, and Si atoms can be strongly trapped by W vacancies. The interaction between two Si adatoms is responsible for the stability of adatom superstructures on W surfaces, consistent with previous experimental observation (Tsong and Casanova 1981 Phys. Rev. Lett. 47 113). Although the coverage dependence of Si adsorption and diffusion energetics on surfaces is related to surface orientation, the W(110) surface has lower Si adsorption affinity and higher Si diffusivity than either the W(111) or W(100) surfaces. The most stable Si adatom superstructure on W surfaces is: square c(2 × 2) pattern on W(100) covered with 0.5 ML Si; rectangular c(4 × 2) pattern on W(110) with 0.25 ML Si; and rhombus p(1 × 1) pattern on W(111) with 1 ML Si. The coverage dependence of Si mobility on/toward W surfaces is generally related to the stability of the Si superstructures as a function of coverage on each surface. Interestingly, Si adatoms prefer to transport below the surface and into W subsurface by an exchange mechanism with W atoms, indicating the likelihood of epitaxial growth of W silicide layers on W surfaces during the operation of W PFCs.

Yang, L. (ORCID:0000000322166071)↗
DOE OSTI2018

First-Principles and Thermodynamic Simulation of Elastiс Stress Effect on Energy of Hydrogen Dissolution in Alpha Iron

Mobile hydrogen, when dissolving in metals, redistributes due to the density gradients and elastic stresses, and enables destruction processes or phase transformations in local volumes of a solvent metal. It is rather important in solid state physics to investigate these interactions. The first-principle calculations performed in terms of the density functional theory, are used for thermodynamic simulation of the elastic stress effect on the energy of hydrogen dissolution in α-Fe crystal lattice. The paper presents investigations of the total energy of Fe–H system depending on the lattice parameter. As a result, the relation is obtained between the hydrogen dissolution energy and stress. A good agreement is shown between the existing data and simulation results. The extended equation is suggested for the chemical potential of hydrogen atom in iron within the local stress field. Two parameters affecting the hydrogen distribution are compared, namely local stress and phase transformations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantifying Temperature Dependence of Electronic Band Gaps and Optical Properties in SnO 2 and SnO via First-Principles Simulations

Tin metal oxides SnO x ( x = 1, 2) have gained interest as gas-sensing materials. For their applications as high-temperature sensors, however, a better understanding of their temperature dependence sensing responses is needed. Here, we comparatively quantify the temperature-dependent electronic band gaps and optical properties of SnO 2 and SnO using first-principles calculations. Without considering the temperature effect, SnO 2 and SnO are predicted to have direct and indirect band gaps of 2.18 and 1.66 eV, respectively, at the PBE + U -GGA level that we employed. The temperature effect on the electronic and optical properties is captured by taking account of the electron–phonon interaction. Band gap renormalization with temperature is calculated via the Allen–Heine–Cardona theory. For both oxides, we find a monotonic decrease in the electronic band gap such that renormalization at zero point (0 K) is ~–0.17 and ~–0.52 eV at 1000 K. These results are also analyzed by employing an analytical equation that helps characterize the band gap shift with temperature. In addition, the optical properties at finite temperatures are simulated using the frozen-phonon method that combines electron–phonon coupling with the momentum matrix. As temperature increases, the optical property spectra are smoothed because of the smearing effect, which diminishes optical constants at shorter wavelengths. Our results are of interest for high-temperature functional materials in applications of optical detection.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conductivity of silicene from first-principles

Silicene, as a graphene-like two-dimensional material, now receives exceptional attention of a wide community of scientists and engineers beyond graphene. Despite extensive study on its electric property, little research has been done to accurately calculate the phonon transport of silicene so far. In this paper, thermal conductivity of monolayer silicene is predicted from first-principles method. At 300 K, the thermal conductivity of monolayer silicene is found to be 9.4 W/mK and much smaller than bulk silicon. The contributions from in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations to thermal conductivity are quantified, and the out-of-plane vibration contributes less than 10% of the overall thermal conductivity, which is different from the results of the similar studies on graphene. The difference is explained by the presence of small buckling, which breaks the reflectional symmetry of the structure. The flexural modes are thus not purely out-of-plane vibration and have strong scattering with other modes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

First-principles electronic structure and formation energies of group V and VII impurities in the α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} alloys

Based on density functional theory, the electronic structures, formation energy, and transition level of the selected group V and VII impurities in α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} are investigated by means of first-principles methods. Numerical results show that the group V and VII atoms-doped α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} can be energetically favorable under the Fe-rich condition. Group V atom substituting O atom can induce the acceptor impurity level, while the deep donor impurity states are formed inside the band gap when group VII atom substitute O atom in the α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Moreover, our results show that halogen atom F substituting O atom should be very easy in the α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. In addition, our results also show that for both group V and VII atom-doped α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, the upper sides of valence band are modified obviously, while the conduction band edge does not change.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

Structures, phase transitions, and magnetic properties of C o 3 Si from first-principles calculations

Co 3 Si was recently reported to exhibit remarkable magnetic properties in the nanoparticle form [Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 152406 (2016)], yet better understanding of this material is to be promoted. Here we report a study on the crystal structures of Co 3 Si using adaptive genetic algorithm, and discuss its electronic and magnetic properties from first-principles calculations. Several competing phases of Co 3 Si have been revealed from our calculations. We show that the hexagonal Co 3 Si structure reported in experiments has lower energy in non-magnetic state than ferromagnetic state at zero temperature. The ferromagnetic state of the hexagonal structure is dynamically unstable with imaginary phonon modes and transforms to a new orthorhombic structure, which is confirmed by our structure searches to have the lowest energy for both Co 3 Si and Co 3 Ge. Magnetic properties of the experimental hexagonal structure and the lowest-energy structures obtained from our structure searches are investigated in detail.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Study on impact of Cr and Mo on diffusion of H in 2.25Cr1Mo steel using first-principle calculations

Chrome-molybdenum steel (2.25Cr1Mo steel) is one of the main materials of a steam generator (SG) in high-temperature reactor-pebblebed modules (HTR-PM). It is essential to analyze the source term of tritium in this material, because the behavior of tritium in a SG is important for performing source term analysis in normal and accident conditions. In this article, the diffusion behavior of H atom in 2.25Cr1Mo steel was calculated to estimate the diffusivity of tritium using first-principles density functional theory. To develop and simplify the model of hydrogen diffusion in 2.25Cr1Mo steel, the impact of Cr and Mo on the diffusion of hydrogen in bcc-Fe were first calculated, all the possible diffusion paths were considered, and the minimum energy path was obtained. The diffusion activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the diffusion coefficient were obtained from Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package combined with the climbing image-nudged elastic band method. Here the results indicate that the minimum energy path for the impurity H atom is from one tetrahedral interstitial site to an adjacent tetrahedral interstitial site. The function of the diffusion coefficient of H in 2.25Cr1Mo steel with temperature T can be expressed as D = 1.486 X 10 -7 x ($\frac{-16.350kJ/mol}{RT}$) (M2/s). The diffusion coefficient of our calculation and some of the previous experiments have an excellent quantitative agreement, which indicates the reliability of our crystalline model and the practicability of the present theoretical approach. More importantly, the computational results in this work can be treated as a good screening method to collect reasonable experimental data, which will provide a good reference for tritium source term evaluation in the SG of the HTR-PM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Effects of interstitial oxygen on ω transformations and twin formation in bcc NbTaTiHf multi-principal element alloy from first-principles

Transformation- and twinning-induced plasticity (TRIP and TWIP) have been reported to contribute to the low-temperature deformation of some body-centered cubic (bcc) multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) containing large fractions of group IV transition metals. The influence of interstitial solutes on the mechanisms underlying these forms of plasticity, however, remains unclear. Using first-principles calculations, we study the effects of interstitial O atoms on the relative stability of bcc and ω phases and on unstable and twin boundary stacking fault energy profiles in a representative bcc MPEA with high group-IV elemental fraction: NbTaTiHf. We find that O additions generally promote the relaxation of ω configurations back to their parent bcc structure, therefore inhibiting ω transformation. Calculations of the Rice parameter for bulk bcc and phases, as well as bcc-ω interfaces, further show that ω formation is a potent embrittlement factor, an effect that is enhanced by O additions, suggesting that the formation of bcc-ω interfaces is energetically preferred over the formation of the bulk ω phase. By contrast, the Rice parameter for twin boundaries indicates that these interfaces do not embrittle the material, even with O atoms at twin boundaries, providing a more favorable pathway for plastic deformation compared to ω transformation.

Density functional theory↗
DOE OSTI2014

First principles calculation of the effect of Coulomb collisions in partially ionized gases

Coulomb collisions, at appreciable ratios (η) of the electron to the neutral particle density, influence significantly the electron kinetics in particle swarms and in plasmas of gas discharges. This paper introduces a combination of Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation techniques, to provide a novel, approximation-free, first principles calculation method for the velocity distribution function of electrons, and related swarm characteristics, at arbitrary η. Simulation results are presented for electrons in argon gas, for density ratios between zero and 10{sup −1}, representing the limits of a negligible electron density and an almost complete Maxwellization of the velocity distribution function, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

First principles DFT study of ferromagnetism in SnO{sub 2} induced by doped group 1A and 2A non-magnetic elements X (X=Li, Na, K, Be, Mg, Ca)

Transition metal - free - ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) is of much current interest in the search for more efficient DMS materials for spintronic applications. Here, we report the results of our first principles density functional theory (DFT) study on impurity - induced ferromagnetism in non-magnetic SnO{sub 2} by a non-magnetic impurity. The impurities considered are sp-type of group 1A and 2A elements X (X = Li, Na, K, Be, Mg, Ca). Even a single atom of the group 1A elements makes the system magnetic, whereas for the group 2A elements Ca and Mg, a higher doping is required to induce ferromagnetism. For all the elements studied, the magnetic moment appears to increase with the doping concentration, at least at certain impurity separations, which is a positive indicator for practical applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Large Magnetoresistance in Scandium Nitride Magnetic Tunnel Junctions Using First Principles

Abstract The state‐of‐the‐art magnetic tunnel junction, a cornerstone of spintronic devices and circuits, uses a magnesium oxide tunnel barrier that provides a uniquely large tunnel magnetoresistance at room temperature. However, the wide bandgap and band alignment of magnesium oxide‐iron systems increases the resistance‐area product and creates variability and breakdown challenges. Here, the authors study using first principles narrower‐bandgap scandium nitride (ScN) transport properties in magnetoresistive junctions in comparison to magnesium oxide. The results show a high magnetoresistance in Fe/ScN/Fe via Δ 1 and symmetry filtering with low wave function decay rates, suggesting scandium nitride could be a new barrier material for spintronic devices.

Karki, Suyogya↗
DOE OSTI2017

Sequestration of carbon dioxide in coal: Energetics and bonding from first-principles calculations

Sequestration of CO 2 in unmineable coalbeds is one of the attractive ways being investigated to reduce the CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere. Extensive experimental studies have demonstrated that storage of CO 2 molecules in coal seam involves both chemisorption and physisorption, but the underlying mechanism at the atomic scale has remained elusive. We report results of first-principles density-functional-theory calculations for the interaction between molecular CO 2 and coal. The calculations show that chemisorption of CO 2 in defective coal is possible, and CO 2 can form chemical bonding with defective coal, particularly at the defects involving carbon and hydrogen vacancies and epoxy functional groups. On the other hand, formation of chemical bonding of CO 2 with defect-free coal network is unlikely.

Liu, Yingdi↗
DOE OSTI2015

Hole traps in sodium silicate: First-principles calculations of the mobility edge

Here, the structure and properties of (Na 2 O) 0.30 (SiO 2 ) 0.70 sodium silicate glass are studied by combined ab-initio and classical molecular dynamics simulations to identify the sources of electronic traps in the band gap. Structures from classical molecular dynamics melt-quench simulations are taken as initial configurations for first-principles density functional theory structural relaxation, from which electronic properties are determined. An ensemble of thirty glass structures, each containing 660 atoms, is prepared in order to perform statistical analyses. The inverse participation ratio is used as a metric to characterize localized states in the band gap and determine the mobility edge. Structures with varying amounts of local disorder (traps) are compared. The most localized and highest energy trap states are due to Si atoms with 2–3 non-bridging oxygen atoms. Control of the electronic properties of amorphous insulators and semiconductors is essential for the advancement of many technologies, such as photovoltaics and scintillators, for which the present analysis is indispensable.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Solvation Properties of Silver and Copper Ions in a Room Temperature Ionic Liquid: A First-Principles Study

Understanding the behavior of metal ions in room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) is essential for predicting and optimizing performance for technologies like metal electrodeposition; however, many mechanistic details remain enigmatic, including the solvation properties of the ions in ILs and how they are governed by the intrinsic interaction between the ions and the liquid species. Here, we utilize first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to unravel and compare the key structural properties of Ag + and Cu + ions in a common room temperature IL, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate. We find that, when compared to Cu + , the larger Ag + shows a more disordered and flexible solvation structure with a more frequent exchange of the IL species between its solvation shells. In addition, our simulations reveal an interesting analog in the solvation behavior of the ions in the IL and aqueous environments, particularly in the effect of the ion electronic structures on their solvation properties. As a result, this work provides fundamental understanding of the intrinsic properties of the metal ions in the IL, while offering mechanistic understanding and strategy for future selection of ILs for metal electrodeposition processes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Stability of the hcp Ruthenium at high pressures from first principles

The method of calculation of the elastic constants up to third order from the energy-strain relation under pressure for the hcp crystals is given and described in details. The method is applied to the hcp phase of Ruthenium. Elastic constants, lattice dynamics, and electronic structure are investigated in the pressure interval of 0–600 GPa by means of first principles calculations. The obtained parameters are in very good agreement with available experimental and theoretical data. No preconditions for phase transformation driven by mechanical or dynamical instabilities for hcp Ru were found in the investigated pressure range. The reason of stability at such high pressures is explained in the context of electronic structure peculiarities.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Understanding the stable boron clusters: A bond model and first-principles calculations based on high-throughput screening

The unique electronic property induced diversified structure of boron (B) cluster has attracted much interest from experimentalists and theorists. B{sub 30–40} were reported to be planar fragments of triangular lattice with proper concentrations of vacancies recently. Here, we have performed high-throughput screening for possible B clusters through the first-principles calculations, including various shapes and distributions of vacancies. As a result, we have determined the structures of B{sub n} clusters with n = 30–51 and found a stable planar cluster of B{sub 49} with a double-hexagon vacancy. Considering the 8-electron rule and the electron delocalization, a concise model for the distribution of the 2c–2e and 3c–2e bonds has been proposed to explain the stability of B planar clusters, as well as the reported B cages.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

First-principles studies of p-type nitrogen-doped α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3-x}S{sub x} alloys

Based on spin-polarized density functional theory, the characteristics of p-type doping are investigated in the N-doped α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3−x}S{sub x} alloys by means of first-principles methods. Numerical results show that when N substitutes O atom in pure α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, N impurity level is a deeper acceptor state. However, the unoccupied level is much shallower when N doped in the α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3−x}S{sub x} alloys, which indicates N impurity can provide good and effective p-type carriers. These predicted numerical results are interesting and useful to understand the α-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3−x}S{sub x} alloys as a new low-cost solar cell material.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗