Himadri R. Soni

Electronic and phonon bandstructures of pristine few layer and metal doped graphene using first principles calculations

In the frame work of density functional theoretical calculations, the electronic and lattice dynamical properties of graphene (multilayers and supercell) have been systematically investigated and analyzed using the plane wave pseudopotentials within the generalized gradient approximation and local density approximation functional. We have also studied the functionalization of graphene by adsorption and absorption of transition metals like Al and Ag. We find that the electronic properties exhibit large sensitivity to the number of layers and doping. The Al and Ag doped graphene exhibits peak at Fermi level in the density of states arising from the flat bands near Fermi level. The bonding of metal atoms and graphene leads to a charge transfer between them and consequently shift Fermi level with respect to the conical point at K-point. The adsorption of Ag/Al atoms suggests an effective interaction between the adatoms and graphene layers without disturbing the original graphene structure of lower graphene la...

Precise determination of graphene functionalization by in situ Raman spectroscopy

The verification of a successful covalent functionalization of graphene and related carbon allotropes can easily be carried out by Raman spectroscopy. Nevertheless, the unequivocal assignment and resolution of individual lattice modes associated with the covalent binding of addends was elusive up to now. Here we present an in situ Raman study of a controlled functionalization of potassium intercalated graphite, revealing several new bands appearing in the D-region of the spectrum. The evolution of these bands with increasing degree of functionalization from low to moderate levels provides a basis for the deconvolution of the different components towards quantifying the extent of functionalization. By complementary DFT calculations we were able to identify the vibrational changes in the close proximity of the addend bearing lattice carbon atoms and to assign them to specific Raman modes. The experimental in situ observation of the developing functionalization along with the reoxidation of the intercalated graphite represents an important step towards an improved understanding of the chemistry of graphene.

Two-dimensional boron: Lightest catalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have been envisaged on a two-dimensional (2D) boron sheet through electronic structure calculations based on a density functional theory framework. To date, boron sheets are the lightest 2D material and, therefore, exploring the catalytic activity of such a monolayer system would be quite intuitive both from fundamental and application perspectives. We have functionalized the boron sheet (BS) with different elemental dopants like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur, and lithium and determined the adsorption energy for each case while hydrogen and oxygen are on top of the doping site of the boron sheet. The free energy calculated from the individual adsorption energy for each functionalized BS subsequently guides us to predict which case of functionalization serves better for the HER or the OER.

Density functional theoretical study of lattice-specific heat and thermal properties of magnesium nitride

A comprehensive first principle study of thermodynamic properties of MgN is reported within the density functional theory scheme. The ground state properties such as lattice constant, Bulk modulus etc. of MgN in rock-salt (RS) phase have been determined. The thermodynamical properties have been analyzed in the light of phonon density of states of MgN and its constituent atoms. The variation of lattice-specific heat with temperature obeys the classical Dulong–Petit’s law at high temperature while at low temperature it obeys Debye T3 law. The phonon spectrum shows the presence of all positive phonons and zero phonon density of states at zero energy confirming a dynamically stabilized structure of MgN in RS phase.

Strain induced modification in phonon dispersion curves of monolayer boron pnictides

In the frame work of density functional theory, the biaxial strain induced phonon dispersion curves of monolayer boron pnictides (BX, X = N, P, As, and Sb) have been investigated. The electron-ion interactions have been modelled using ultrasoft pseudopotentials while exchange-correlation energies have been approximated by the method of local density approximation in the parameterization of Perdew-Zunger. The longitudinal and transverse acoustic phonon modes of boron pnictide sheets show linear dependency on wave vector k→ while out of plane mode varies as k2. The in-plane longitudinal and out of plane transverse optical modes in boron nitride displaying significant dispersion similar to graphene. We have analyzed the biaxial strain dependent behaviour of out of plane acoustic phonon mode which is linked to ripple for four BX sheets using a model equation with shell elasticity theory. The strain induces the hardening of this mode with tendency to become more linear with increase in strain percentage. The s...

Ab-initio study of dynamical properties of two dimensional MoS2 under strain

In this paper, we report the biaxial strain induced modifications in the phonon dispersion curves of monolayer MoS2 using first principles calculations in the framework of density functional perturbation theory. We have used the ultrasoft psedopotentials and the exchange correlation energies have been approximated by the local density approximation. There are significant changes in the phonon dispersion curves under strain. A systematic decrease in the optical phonon modes is observed with strain percentage. The longitudinal and transverse acoustic phonon modes of monolayer MoS2 show linear dependency for both without and with strain cases. However, the out of plane acoustic mode (ZA) which behaves quadratically with wave vector k- turns linear under strain. We have also linked ripple in single layer (SL) MoS2 by ZA mode with strain using shell elasticity theory. The strain induced softening of linear behaviour of ZA mode with strain indicates the absence of rippling under strain. At a very high strain th...

An ab initio study of ground state, electronic and thermodynamical properties of GaP and Ga2P

In the present paper, we report an ab initio calculation of the ground state, electronic and thermodynamical properties like constant volume lattice specific heat, vibrational energy, internal energy, and entropy for GaP and Ga2P is presented. These properties are obtained after calculating the phonon spectrum over the entire Brillouin zone. The calculations were performed using the ABINIT program package, which is based on density functional theory (DFT) method and the use of pseudopotentials and plane wave expansion. Difference in the ground state properties such as electronic structure and thermodynamical properties are discussed. The thermodynamical properties follow the expected trend. There is a good agreement between present theoretical and limited available experimental data in the case of ground state such as lattice constant and bulk modulus and electronic properties. With the increase of Ga atoms in the unit cell the semiconducting nature of Ga2P turns to metallic. There is a noticeable difference in the thermodynamical properties in the case of both gallium compounds.

Triethynylmethanol Derivatives: Stable Acetylenic Building Blocks for Surface Chemistry

The synthesis of non-conjugated, carbon-rich building blocks is described, based on a basic scaffold of triethynylmethanol (TEtM). The substitution of the ethynyl groups can be easily varied (including R3 Si, H, Br), and this allows structural tuning for stabilization, synthetic derivatization, and adsorption on Ag(111) or Au(111). X-ray crystallography helps to explain the surprising stability of the selected derivatives in the solid state, and an unusual form of hydrogen bonding is identified from these analyses. Preliminary efforts to achieve surface-based reactions on Ag(111) and Au(111) are outlined experimentally and computationally.

Electronic and vibrational properties of lithium doped graphene

In the frame-work of density functional theory calculation, using planewave pseudopotentials within local density approximation, the electronic and vibrational properties of graphene supercell by adsorption of lithium at three different sites top, hollow and bridge, have been systematically investigated and analyzed. We found that the hollow site is the most favorable site having lowest energy and positive phonon frequency throughout Brillouin zone indicating dynamical stability.

Electronic and magnetic properties of Fe and Mn doped two dimensional hexagonal germanium sheets

Using first principles density functional theory calculations, the present paper reports systematic total energy calculations of the electronic properties such as density of states and magnetic moment of pristine and iron and manganese doped two dimensional hexagonal germanium sheets.