David Waroquiers

Low-Dimensional Transport and Large Thermoelectric Power Factors in Bulk Semiconductors by Band Engineering of Highly Directional Electronic States

Thermoelectrics are promising for addressing energy issues but their exploitation is still hampered by low efficiencies. So far, much improvement has been achieved by reducing the thermal conductivity but less by maximizing the power factor. The latter imposes apparently conflicting requirements on the band structure: a narrow energy distribution and a low effective mass. Quantum confinement in nanostructures and the introduction of resonant states were suggested as possible solutions to this paradox, but with limited success. Here, we propose an original approach to fulfill both requirements in bulk semiconductors. It exploits the highly directional character of some orbitals to engineer the band structure and produce a type of low-dimensional transport similar to that targeted in nanostructures, while retaining isotropic properties. Using first-principle calculations, the theoretical concept is demonstrated in Fe2YZ Heusler compounds, yielding power factors 4 to 5 times larger than in classical thermoelectrics at room temperature. Our findings are totally generic and rationalize the search of alternative compounds with similar behavior. Beyond thermoelectricity, these might be relevant also in the context of electronic, superconducting, or photovoltaic applications.

Band widths and gaps from the Tran-Blaha functional: Comparison with many-body perturbation theory

For a set of ten crystalline materials (oxides and semiconductors), we compute the electronic band structures using the Tran-Blaha (TB09) functional. The band widths and gaps are compared with those from the local-density approximation (LDA) functional, many-body perturbation theory (MBPT), and experiments. At the density-functional theory (DFT) level, TB09 leads to band gaps in much better agreement with experiments than LDA. However, we observe that it globally underestimates, often strongly, the valence (and conduction) band widths (more than LDA). MBPT corrections are calculated starting from both LDA and TB09 eigenenergies and wave functions. They lead to a much better agreement with experimental data for band widths. The band gaps obtained starting from TB09 are close to those from quasiparticle self-consistent GW calculations, at a much reduced cost. Finally, we explore the possibility to tune one of the semiempirical parameters of the TB09 functional in order to obtain simultaneously better band gaps and widths. We find that these requirements are conflicting.

Influence of the “second gap” on the transparency of transparent conducting oxides: An ab initio study

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are essential to many technologies. These materials are doped (n- or p-type) oxides with a large enough band gap (ideally >3 eV) to ensure transparency. However, the high carrier concentration present in TCOs leads additionally to the possibility for optical transitions from the occupied conduction bands to higher states for n-type materials and from lower states to the unoccupied valence bands for p-type TCOs. The “second gap” formed by these transitions might limit transparency, and a large second gap has been sometimes proposed as a design criteria for high performance TCOs. Here, we study the influence of this second gap on optical absorption using ab initio computations for several well-known n- and p-type TCOs. Our work demonstrates that most known n-type TCOs do not suffer from second gap absorption in the visible even at very high carrier concentrations. On the contrary, p-type oxides show lowering of their optical transmission for high carrier concentrations d...