Hassan A. Tahini

Strain-induced changes to the electronic structure of germanium

Density functional theory calculations (DFT) are used to investigate the strain-induced changes to the electronic structure of biaxially strained (parallel to the (001), (110) and (111) planes) and uniaxially strained (along the [001], [110] and [111] directions) germanium (Ge). It is calculated that a moderate uniaxial strain parallel to the [111] direction can efficiently transform Ge to a direct bandgap material with a bandgap energy useful for technological applications.

Diffusion of E centers in germanium predicted using GGA+U approach

Density functional theory calculations (based on GGA+U approach) are used to investigate the formation and diffusion of donor-vacancy pairs (E centers) in germanium. We conclude that depending upon the Fermi energy, E centers that incorporate for phosphorous and arsenic can form in their neutral, singly negatively or doubly negatively charged states whereas with antimony only the neutral or doubly negatively charged states are predicted. The activation energies of diffusion are compared with recent experimental work and support the idea that smaller donor atoms exhibit higher diffusion activation energies.

Vacancies and defect levels in III–V semiconductors

Using electronic structure calculations, we systematically investigate the formation of vacancies in III-V semiconductors (IIIu2009=u2009Al, Ga, and In and Vu2009=u2009P, As, and Sb), for a range of charges (−3≤q≤3) as a function of the Fermi level and under different growth conditions. The formation energies were corrected using the scheme due to Freysoldt et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 016402 (2009)] to account for finite size effects. Vacancy formation energies were found to decrease as the size of the group V atom increased. This trend was maintained for Al-V, Ga-V, and In-V compounds. The negative-U effect was only observed for the arsenic vacancy in GaAs, which makes a charge state transition from +1 to –1. It is also found that even under group III rich conditions, group III vacancies dominate in AlSb and GaSb. For InSb, group V vacancies are favoured even under group V rich conditions.

Diffusion of tin in germanium: A GGA+U approach

Density functional theory calculations are used to investigate the formation and diffusion of tin-vacancy pairs (SnV) in germanium (Ge). Depending upon the Fermi energy, SnV pairs can form in neutral, singly negative, or doubly negative charged states. The activation energies of diffusion, also as function of the Fermi energy, are calculated to lie between 2.48-3.65u2009eV, in agreement with and providing an interpretation of available experimental work.

Mobile Polaronic States in α-MoO3: An ab Initio Investigation of the Role of Oxygen Vacancies and Alkali Ions

Some oxides have the ability to trap excess electrons in the form of small polarons. Here, using first-principles techniques, we investigate the interaction of excess electrons with α-MoO3. Polarons are found to be about 0.6 eV more stable than delocalized electrons. They can propagate with a high degree of anisotropicity along different crystallographic directions with the lowest barrier found to be about 0.08 eV. In addition to the band gap photoexcited charge carriers that can populate such polaron states, we investigate the role of oxygen vacancies as an intrinsic source of electrons. We also investigate intercalated alkali ions that can form complexes with the created polarons in the lattice. The alkali-polaron complex (AxMoO6, A = alkali ion) binding energies are relatively low, making it easy for the complex to dissociate. This, coupled with the low polaron migration energies, can generate a non-negligible contribution to electronic conductivity even in the absence of illumination, which is experimentally verified. Combined, this light-induced intercalation of alkali ion in MoO3 and its subsequent deintercalation (complex dissociation) processes lead to a novel self-photocharghing phenomenon.

Borophene as a Promising Material for Charge-Modulated Switchable CO2 Capture

Ideal carbon dioxide (CO2) capture materials for practical applications should bind CO2 molecules neither too weakly to limit good loading kinetics nor too strongly to limit facile release. Although charge-modulated switchable CO2 capture has been proposed to be a controllable, highly selective, and reversible CO2 capture strategy, the development of a practical gas-adsorbent material remains a great challenge. In this study, by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have examined the possibility of conductive borophene nanosheets as promising sorbent materials for charge-modulated switchable CO2 capture. Our results reveal that the binding strength of CO2 molecules on negatively charged borophene can be significantly enhanced by injecting extra electrons into the adsorbent. At saturation CO2 capture coverage, the negatively charged borophene achieves CO2 capture capacities up to 6.73 × 1014 cm-2. In contrast to the other CO2 capture methods, the CO2 capture/release processes on negatively charged borophene are reversible with fast kinetics and can be easily controlled via switching on/off the charges carried by borophene nanosheets. Moreover, these negatively charged borophene nanosheets are highly selective for separating CO2 from mixtures with CH4, H2, and/or N2. This theoretical exploration will provide helpful guidance for identifying experimentally feasible, controllable, highly selective, and high-capacity CO2 capture materials with ideal thermodynamics and reversibility.

Ultrafast palladium diffusion in germanium

The slow transport of dopants through crystal lattices has hindered the development of novel devices. Typically atoms are contained within deep potential energy wells which necessitates multiple attempts to hop between minimum energy positions. This is because the bonds that constrain atoms are strongest at the minimum positions. As they hop between sites the bonds must be broken, only to re-form as the atoms slide into adjacent minima. Here we demonstrate that the Pd atoms introduced into the Ge lattice behave differently. They retain bonds as the atoms shift across so that at the energy maximum between sites Pd still exhibits strong bonding characteristics. This reduces the energy maximum to almost nothing (a migration energy of only 0.03 eV) and means that the transport of Pd through the Ge lattice is ultrafast. We scrutinize the bonding characteristics at the atomic level using quantum mechanical simulation tools and demonstrate why Pd behaves so differently to other metals we investigated (i.e. Li, Cu, Ag, Pt and Au). Consequently, this fundamental understanding can be extended to systems where extremely rapid diffusion is desired, such as radiation sensors, batteries and solid oxide fuel cells.

Antisites and anisotropic diffusion in GaAs and GaSb

The significant diffusion of Ga under Ga-rich conditions in GaAs and GaSb is counter intuitive as the concentration of Ga vacancies should be depressed although Ga vacancies are necessary to interpret the experimental evidence for Ga transport. To reconcile the existence of Ga vacancies under Ga-rich conditions, transformation reactions have been proposed. Here, density functional theory is employed to calculate the formation energies of vacancies on both sublattices and the migration energy barriers to overcome the formation of the vacancy-antisite defect. Transformation reactions enhance the vacancy concentration in both materials and migration energy barriers indicate that Ga vacancies will dominate.

First-Principle Framework for Total Charging Energies in Electrocatalytic Materials and Charge-Responsive Molecular Binding at Gas–Surface Interfaces

Heterogeneous charge-responsive molecular binding to electrocatalytic materials has been predicted in several recent works. This phenomenon offers the possibility of using voltage to manipulate the strength of the binding interaction with the target gas molecule and thereby circumvent thermochemistry constraints, which inhibit achieving both efficient binding and facile release of important targets such as CO2 and H2. Stability analysis of such charge-induced molecular adsorption has been beyond the reach of existing first-principle approaches. Here, we draw on concepts from semiconductor physics and density functional theory to develop a first principle theoretical approach that allows calculation of the change in total energy of the supercell due to charging. Coupled with the calculated adsorption energy of gas molecules at any given charge, this allows a complete description of the energetics of the charge-induced molecular adsorption process. Using CO2 molecular adsorption onto negatively charged h-BN (wide-gap semiconductor) and g-C4N3 (half metal) as example cases, our analysis reveals that - while adsorption is exothermic after charge is introduced - the overall adsorption processes are not intrinsically spontaneous due to the energetic cost of charging the materials. The energies needed to overcome the barriers of these processes are 2.10 and 0.43 eV for h-BN and g-C4N3, respectively. This first principle approach opens up new pathways for a more complete description of charge-induced and electrocatalytic processes.

Co-doping with antimony to control phosphorous diffusion in germanium

In germanium, phosphorous and antimony diffuse quickly and as such their transport must be controlled in order to design efficient n-typed doped regions. Here, density functional theory based calculations are used to predict the influence of double donor co-doping on the migration activation energies of vacancy-mediated diffusion processes. The migration energy barriers for phosphorous and antimony were found to be increased significantly when larger clusters involving two donor atoms and a vacancy were formed. These clusters are energetically stable and can lead to the formation of even larger clusters involving a number of donor atoms around a vacancy, thereby affecting the properties of devices.