Jolla Kullgren

Tuning LDA+U for electron localization and structure at oxygen vacancies in ceria.

We examine the real space structure and the electronic structure (particularly Ce4f electron localization) of oxygen vacancies in CeO(2) (ceria) as a function of U in density functional theory studies with the rotationally invariant forms of the LDA+U and GGA+U functionals. The four nearest neighbor Ce ions always relax outwards, with those not carrying localized Ce4f charge moving furthest. Several quantification schemes show that the charge starts to become localized at U approximately 3 eV and that the degree of localization reaches a maximum at approximately 6 eV for LDA+U or at approximately 5.5 eV for GGA+U. For higher U it decreases rapidly as charge is transferred onto second neighbor O ions and beyond. The localization is never into atomic corelike states; at maximum localization about 80-90% of the Ce4f charge is located on the two nearest neighboring Ce ions. However, if we look at the total atomic charge we find that the two ions only make a net gain of (0.2-0.4)e each, so localization is actually very incomplete, with localization of Ce4f electrons coming at the expense of moving other electrons off the Ce ions. We have also revisited some properties of defect-free ceria and find that with LDA+U the crystal structure is actually best described with U=3-4 eV, while the experimental band structure is obtained with U=7-8 eV. (For GGA+U the lattice parameters worsen for U>0 eV, but the band structure is similar to LDA+U.) The best overall choice is U approximately 6 eV with LDA+U and approximately 5.5 eV for GGA+U, since the localization is most important, but a consistent choice for both CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3), with and without vacancies, is hard to find.

Supercharged Low-Temperature Oxygen Storage Capacity of Ceria at the Nanoscale.

We provide an explanation for the experimental finding of a dramatically enhanced low-temperature oxygen storage capacity for small ceria nanoparticles. At low temperature, small octahedral ceria nanoparticles will be understoichiometric at both oxidizing and reducing conditions without showing explicit oxygen vacancies. Instead, rather than becoming stoichiometric at oxidizing conditions, such particles are stabilized through oxygen adsorption forming superoxo (O2(-)) ions and become in this way supercharged with oxygen. The supercharging effect is size-dependent and largest for small nanoparticles where it gives a direct increase in the oxygen storage capacity and simultaneously provides a source of active oxygen species at low temperatures.

B3LYP calculations of cerium oxides

In this paper we evaluate the performance of density functional theory with the B3LYP functional for calculations on ceria (CeO(2)) and cerium sesquioxide (Ce(2)O(3)). We demonstrate that B3LYP is able to describe CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3) reasonably well. When compared to other functionals, B3LYP performs slightly better than the hybrid functional PBE0 for the electronic properties but slightly worse for the structural properties, although neither performs as well as LDA+U(U=6 eV) or PBE+U(U=5 eV). We also make an extensive comparison of atomic basis sets suitable for periodic calculations of these cerium oxides. Here we conclude that there is currently only one type of cerium basis set available in the literature that is able to give a reasonable description of the electronic structure of both CeO(2) and Ce(2)O(3). These basis sets are based on a 28 electron effective core potential (ECP) and 30 electrons are attributed to the valence space of cerium. Basis sets based on 46 electron ECPs fail for these materials.

SOx on ceria from adsorbed SO2

Results from first-principles calculations present a rather clear picture of the interaction of SO(2) with unreduced and partially reduced (111) and (110) surfaces of ceria. The Ce(3+)∕Ce(4+) redox couple, together with many oxidation states of S, give rise to a multitude of SO(x) species, with oxidation states from +III to +VI. SO(2) adsorbs either as a molecule or attaches via its S-atom to one or two surface oxygens to form sulfite (SO(3)(2-)) and sulfate (SO(4)(2-)) species, forming new S-O bonds but never any S-Ce bonds. Molecular adsorption is found on the (111) surface. SO(3)(2-) structures are found on both the (111) and (110) surfaces of both stoichiometric and partially reduced ceria. SO(4)(2-) structures are observed on the (110) surface together with the formation of two reduced Ce(3+) surface cations. SO(2) can also partially heal the ceria oxygen vacancies by weakening a S-O bond, when significant electron transfer from the surface (Ce4f) into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the SO(2) adsorbate takes place and oxidizes the surface Ce(3+) cations. Furthermore, we propose a mechanism that could lead to monodentate sulfate formation at the (111) surface.

An SCC-DFTB Repulsive Potential for Various ZnO Polymorphs and the ZnO-Water System.

We have developed an efficient scheme for the generation of accurate repulsive potentials for self-consistent charge density-functional-based tight-binding calculations, which involves energy-volume scans of bulk polymorphs with different coordination numbers. The scheme was used to generate an optimized parameter set for various ZnO polymorphs. The new potential was subsequently tested for ZnO bulk, surface, and nanowire systems as well as for water adsorption on the low-index wurtzite (101̅0) and (112̅0) surfaces. By comparison to results obtained at the density functional level of theory, we show that the newly generated repulsive potential is highly transferable and capable of capturing most of the relevant chemistry of ZnO and the ZnO/water interface.

Photoinduced Stark Effects and Mechanism of Ion Displacement in Perovskite Solar Cell Materials

Organometallic halide perovskites (OMHPs) have recently emerged as a promising class of materials in photovoltaic technology. Here, we present an in-depth investigation of the physics in these systems by measuring the photoinduced absorption (PIA) in OMHPs as a function of materials composition, excitation wavelength, and modulation frequency. We report a photoinduced Stark effect that depends on the excitation wavelength and on the dipole strength of the monovalent cations in the A position of the ABX3 perovskite. The results presented are corroborated by density functional theory calculations and provide fundamental information about the photoinduced local electric field change under blue and red excitation as well as insights into the mechanism of light-induced ion displacement in OMHPs. For optimized perovskite solar cell devices beyond 19% efficiency, we show that excess thermalization energy of blue photons plays a role in overcoming the activation energy for ion diffusion.

Description of polarons in ceria using Density Functional Theory

The performance of various density functional theory (DFT) functionals in reproducing the localization of Ce4f electrons to form polarons in cerium dioxide (ceria) is studied. It is found that LDA+U with U=6 eV provides the best description, followed by GGA+U with U=5 eV. Hybrids perform worse, with PBE0 better than HSE06 and HSE03. It is also demonstrated that the improvement in the description of the polarons obtained from LDA+U and GGA+U is due primarily to the effect the U has on the filled Ce4f states, but the improvement obtained using the hybrids is primarily due to their effect on the empty states. This difference can be expected to strongly impact some detailed predictions for the properties of ceria obtained using the two classes of functional.

Electronic structure of organic–inorganic lanthanide iodide perovskite solar cell materials

The emergence of highly efficient lead halide perovskite solar cell materials makes the exploration and engineering of new lead free compounds very interesting both from a fundamental perspective as well as for potential use as new materials in solar cell devices. Herein we present the electronic structure of several lanthanide (La) based materials in the metalorganic halide perovskite family not explored before. Our estimated bandgaps for the lanthanide (Eu, Dy, Tm, Yb) perovskite compounds are in the range of 2.0–3.2 eV showing the possibility for implementation as photo-absorbers in tandem solar cell configurations or charge separating materials. We have estimated the typical effective masses of the electrons and holes for MALaI3 (La= Eu, Dy, Tm, Yb) to be in the range of 0.3–0.5 and 0.97–4.0 units of the free electron mass, respectively. We have shown that the localized f-electrons within our DFT+U approach, make the dominant electronic contribution to the states at the top of the valence band and thus have a strong impact on the photo-physical properties of the lanthanide perovskites. Therefore, the main valence to conduction band electronic transition for MAEuI3 is based on inner shell f-electron localized states within a periodic framework of perovskite crystal by which the optical absorption onset would be rather inert with respect to quantum confinement effects. The very similar crystal structure and lattice constant of the lanthanide perovskites to the widely studied CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite, are prominent advantages for implementation of these compounds in tandem or charge selective contacts in PV applications together with lead iodide perovskite devices.

Maximally resolved anharmonic OH vibrational spectrum of the water/ZnO(101¯0) interface from a high-dimensional neural network potential

Unraveling the atomistic details of solid/liquid interfaces, e.g., by means of vibrational spectroscopy, is of vital importance in numerous applications, from electrochemistry to heterogeneous catalysis. Water-oxide interfaces represent a formidable challenge because a large variety of molecular and dissociated water species are present at the surface. Here, we present a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the anharmonic OH stretching vibrations at the water/ZnO(101¯0) interface as a prototypical case. Molecular dynamics simulations employing a reactive high-dimensional neural network potential based on density functional theory calculations have been used to sample the interfacial structures. In the second step, one-dimensional potential energy curves have been generated for a large number of configurations to solve the nuclear Schrödinger equation. We find that (i) the ZnO surface gives rise to OH frequency shifts up to a distance of about 4 Å from the surface; (ii) the spectrum contains a number of overlapping signals arising from different chemical species, with the frequencies decreasing in the order ν(adsorbed hydroxide) > ν(non-adsorbed water) > ν(surface hydroxide) > ν(adsorbed water); (iii) stretching frequencies are strongly influenced by the hydrogen bond pattern of these interfacial species. Finally, we have been able to identify substantial correlations between the stretching frequencies and hydrogen bond lengths for all species.

Dedopingof Lead Halide Perovskites IncorporatingMonovalent Cations

We report significant improvements in the optoelectronic properties of lead halide perovskites with the addition of monovalent ions with ionic radii close to Pb2+. We investigate the chemical distribution and electronic structure of solution processed CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite structures containing Na+, Cu+, and Ag+, which are lower valence metal ions than Pb2+ but have similar ionic radii. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction reveals a pronounced shift in the main perovskite peaks for the monovalent cation-based films, suggesting incorporation of these cations into the perovskite lattice as well as a preferential crystal growth in Ag+ containing perovskite structures. Furthermore, the synchrotron X-ray photoelectron measurements show a significant change in the valence band position for Cu- and Ag-doped films, although the perovskite bandgap remains the same, indicating a shift in the Fermi level position toward the middle of the bandgap. Such a shift infers that incorporation of these monovalent cations dedope the n-type perovskite films when formed without added cations. This dedoping effect leads to cleaner bandgaps as reflected by the lower energetic disorder in the monovalent cation-doped perovskite thin films as compared to pristine films. We also find that in contrast to Ag+ and Cu+, Na+ locates mainly at the grain boundaries and surfaces. Our theoretical calculations confirm the observed shifts in X-ray diffraction peaks and Fermi level as well as absence of intrabandgap states upon energetically favorable doping of perovskite lattice by the monovalent cations. We also model a significant change in the local structure, chemical bonding of metal-halide, and the electronic structure in the doped perovskites. In summary, our work highlights the local chemistry and influence of monovalent cation dopants on crystallization and the electronic structure in the doped perovskite thin films.