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Results for “HT-DFT”

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.

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Quantifying uncertainty in high-throughput density functional theory: A comparison of AFLOW, Materials Project, and OQMD

A central challenge in high-throughput density functional theory (HT-DFT) calculations is selecting a combination of input parameters and postprocessing techniques that can be used across all materials classes, while also managing accuracy-cost tradeoffs. To investigate the effects of these parameter choices, we consolidate three large HT-DFT databases: Automatic-FLOW (AFLOW), the Materials Project (MP), and the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD), and compare reported properties across each pair of databases for materials calculated using the same initial crystal structure. We find that HT-DFT formation energies and volumes are generally more reproducible than band gaps and total magnetizations; for instance, a notable fraction of records disagree on whether a material is metallic (up to 7%) or magnetic (up to 15%). The variance between calculated properties is as high as 0.105 eV/atom (median relative absolute difference, or MRAD, of 6%) for formation energy, 0.65 Å 3 / atom (MRAD of 4%) for volume, 0.21 eV (MRAD of 9%) for band gap, and 0.15 μB/ formula unit (MRAD of 8%) for total magnetization, comparable to the differences between DFT and experiment. Here, we trace some of the larger discrepancies to choices involving pseudopotentials, the DFT + U formalism, and elemental reference states, and argue that further standardization of HT-DFT would be beneficial to reproducibility.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-Throughput Computational Screening of Perovskites for Thermochemical Water Splitting Applications

The use of hydrogen as fuel is a promising avenue to aid in the reduction of greenhouse effect gases released in the atmosphere. In this work, we present a high-throughput density functional theory (HT-DFT) study of 5,329 cubic and distorted perovskite ABO 3 compounds to screen for thermodynamically favorable two-step thermochemical water splitting (TWS) materials. From a data set of more than 11,000 calculations, we screened materials based on the following: (a) thermodynamic stability and (b) oxygen vacancy formation energy that allow favorable TWS. From our screening strategy, we identify 139 materials as potential new candidates for TWS application. Several of these compounds, such as CeCoO 3 and BiVO 3 , have not been experimentally explored yet for TWS and present promising avenues for further research. We show that taking into consideration all phases present in the A–B–O ternary phase, as opposed to only calculating the formation energy of a compound, is crucial to assess correctly the stability of a compound as it reduces the number of potential candidates from 5,329 to 383. Finally, our large data set of compounds containing stabilites, oxidation states, and ionic sizes allowed us to revisit the structural maps for perovskites by showing stable and unstable compounds simultaneously.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Material design of high-capacity Li-rich layered-oxide electrodes: Li 2 MnO 3 and beyond

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been used widely in portable electronics, and hybrid-electric and all-electric vehicles for many years. However, there is a growing need to develop new cathode materials that will provide higher cell energy densities for advanced applications. Several candidates, including Li 2 MnO 3 -stabilized LiM'O 2 (M' = Mn/Ni/Co) structures, Li 2 Ru 0.75 Sn 0.25 O 3 (i.e., 3Li 2 RuO 3 –Li 2 SnO 3 ), and disordered Li 2 MoO 3 –LiCrO 2 compounds can yield capacities exceeding 200 mA h g -1 , alluding to the constructive role that Li 2 MO 3 (M 4+ ) end-member compounds play in the electrochemistry of these systems. Here in this paper, we catalog the family of Li 2 MO 3 compounds as active cathodes or inactive stabilizing agents using high-throughput density functional theory (HT-DFT). With an exhaustive search based on design rules that include phase stability, cell potential, resistance to oxygen evolution, and metal migration, we predict a number of new Li 2 M I O 3 –Li 2 M II O 3 active/inactive electrode pairs, in which MI and MII are transition- or post-transition metal ions, that can be tested experimentally for high-energy-density LIBs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Ab initio property predictions of quinary solid solutions using small binary cells

The Set of Small Ordered Structures (SSOS) approach is an ab initio technique for modelling random solid solutions in which many small structures are averaged so that their correlation functions match those of a desired composition. SSOS has been shown to be effective in reducing the cost of density functional theory calculations relative to other well-known techniques such as cluster expansions and special quasirandom structures for modelling solid solutions. Here in this work, we demonstrate that SSOS’s can be constructed using cells with only a subset of elements while still accurately modelling multi-component systems. Specifically, we show that small binary cells can effectively model two quinary high entropy alloys – NbTaTiHfZr and MoNbTaVW – accurately capturing properties such as formation energy, lattice parameters, elastic constants, and root-mean-square atomic displacements. Overall, this insight is useful for those looking to construct databases of such small structures for predicting the properties of multi-component solid solutions, as it greatly decreases the number of structures that needs to be considered.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗