Density functional theory calculations of copper-doped rutile crystals: Local structural, electronic, optical, and electron paramagnetic resonance properties.

The local structural, electronic, optical, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) properties are uniformly studied for Cu -doped rutile (TiO ) crystals by using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The local cation-oxygen bond lengths and planar bond angle, band gap, Mulliken charge and overlapping population, density of state (DOS), and UV-Vis absorption spectra are calculated for pure and copper-doped rutile. The smaller overlapping population of Cu-O bonds in the doped system than Ti-O bonds in pure rutile reflects weaker orbital admixtures or covalency of the former.