Tuning Penta-Graphene Electronic Properties Through Engineered Line Defects.

Penta-graphene is a quasi-two-dimensional carbon allotrope consisting of a pentagonal lattice in which both sp and sp-like carbons are present. Unlike graphene, penta-graphene exhibits a non-zero bandgap, which opens the possibility of its use in optoelectronic applications. However, as the observed bandgap is large, gap tuning strategies such as doping are required.

Polaron Diffusion in Pentathienoacene Crystals.

Molecular crystals have been used as prototypes for studying the energetic and dynamic properties of charge carriers in organic electronics. The growing interest in oligoacenes and fused-ring oligothiophenes in the last two decades is due, in particular, to the success achieved in conceiving pentacene-based organic photovoltaic devices. In the present work, a one-dimensional Holstein-Peierls model is designed to study the temperature-dependent polaron transport in pentathienoacene (PTA) lattices.

Effective Mass of Quasiparticles in Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons.

Armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) may present intrinsic semiconducting bandgaps, being of potential interest in developing new organic-based optoelectronic devices. The induction of a bandgap in AGNRs results from quantum confinement effects, which reduce charge mobility. In this sense, quasiparticles' effective mass becomes relevant for the understanding of charge transport in these systems.

Electronic structure properties of transition metal dichalcogenide nanotubes: a DFT benchmark.

In this work, we conduct a benchmark study of bandgap energies and density of states of some transition metal dichalcogenide nanotubes by means of density functional theory (DFT) methodology within both CASTEP and DMol methodologies. We compare different chiralities and sizes as well as different levels of theory in order to provide the literature with extensive data regarding crucial electronic structure properties of MoS, MoSe, mOtE, WS, WSe, and WTe nanotubes. Although the two methods were able to rescue experimental evidences, we observed DMol to perform better in terms of computational cost, whereas CASTEP has shown to provide an overall greater accuracy at the cost of higher expenditures.

Bloch Oscillations in Fibonacci lattices: polaron formation.

We investigated the dynamics of an electron subjected to a uniform electric field in the scope of a tight-binding electron-phonon interacting approach. We aimed at describing the transport in a one-dimensional lattice in which the on-site energies are distributed according to a Fibonacci sequence. Within this physical picture, we obtained a novel dynamical process with no counterpart in ordered lattices.

Charge Carrier Scattering in Polymers: A New Neutral Coupled Soliton Channel.

The dynamical scattering of two oppositely charged bipolarons in non-degenerate organic semiconducting lattices is numerically investigated in the framework of a one-dimensional tight-biding-Hubbard model that includes lattice relaxation. Our findings show that it is possible for the bipolaron pair to merge into a state composed of a confined soliton-antisoliton pair, which is characterized by the appearance of states within less than 0.1 eV from the Fermi level.

Spin-Orbit Effects on the Dynamical Properties of Polarons in Graphene Nanoribbons.

The dynamical properties of polarons in armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNR) is numerically investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional tight-binding model that considers spin-orbit (SO) coupling and electron-lattice (e-l) interactions. Within this physical picture, novel polaron properties with no counterparts to results obtained from conventional tight-binding models are obtained. Our findings show that, depending on the system's width, the presence of SO coupling changes the polaron's charge localization giving rise to different degrees of stability for the charge carrier.

On the Angular Distribution of the H+Li Cross Sections: a Converged Time-Independent Quantum Scattering Study.

A thorough time-independent quantum scattering study is performed on a benchmark potential energy surface for the H+Li reaction at the fundamental electronic state. Integral and differential cross sections are calculated along with thermal rate coefficients until convergence is reached. Our findings show that vibrational and rotational excitations of the reactant hinder reactivity, though for the latter a considerable reaction promotion was spotted as we increase the reactant rotational quantum number until the critical value of j = 4.

Optical properties of P3HT and N2200 polymers: a performance study of an optimally tuned DFT functional.

The optical properties of systems composed of the polymers PolyeraActivInk™ N2200 and P3HT are experimentally and theoretically investigated using UV-Vis spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional theory calculations, respectively. From a theoretical point of view, we carried out an analysis considering several functionals and model oligomers of different sizes to mimic the polymers. As our studies were performed with and without solvents, a first important result regards the fact that, by considering solvent effects, a better agreement between theoretical and experimental results could be achieved.

Bond length pattern associated with charge carriers in armchair graphene nanoribbons.

The geometry configuration of charged armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) is theoretically investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional tight-binding model that includes lattice relaxation. Our findings show that the charge distribution and, consequently, the bond length pattern is dependent on the parity of the nanoribbon width. In this sense, the lattice distortions decrease smoothly for increasingly wider GNRs.

Bloch oscillations in organic and inorganic polymers.

The transport of polarons above the mobility threshold in organic and inorganic polymers is theoretically investigated in the framework of a one-dimensional tight-binding model that includes lattice relaxation. The computational approach is based on parameters for which the model Hamiltonian suitably describes different polymer lattices in the presence of external electric fields. Our findings show that, above critical field strengths, a dissociated polaron moves through the polymer lattice as a free electron performing Bloch oscillations.

Modeling the Emission Spectra of Organic Molecules: A Competition between Franck-Condon and Nuclear Ensemble Methods.

The emission spectra of flexible and rigid organic molecules are theoretically investigated in the framework of the Franck-Condon (FC) and nuclear ensemble (NE) approaches, both of which rely on results from density functional theory but differ in the way vibrational contributions are taken into account. Our findings show that the emission spectra obtained using the NE approach are in better agreement with experiment than the ones produced by FC calculations considering both rigid and flexible molecules. Surprisingly, the description of a suitable balance between the vibronic progression and the emission spectra envelope shows dependency on the initial sampling for the NE calculations which must be judiciously selected.

Impact of the Electron-Phonon Interactions on the Polaron Dynamics in Graphene Nanoribbons.

The influence of the electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions on the filed-included polaron dynamics in armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is theoretically investigated in the scope of a two-dimensional tight-binding model. The results show that the localization of the polaronic charge increases when the strength of e-ph coupling also increases. Consequently, the polaron saturation velocity decreases for higher e-ph coupling strengths.

Impact of the electron-phonon coupling symmetry on the polaron stability and mobility in organic molecular semiconductors.

The influence of the interplay between symmetric and antisymmetric inter-molecular electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling mechanisms on the polaron stability and mobility in organic semiconductors has been theoretically investigated at a molecular level. A semi-empirical Holstein-Peierls model is used which in addition to the symmetric and antisymmetric inter-molecular e-ph interactions also includes an antisymmetric intra-molecular e-ph coupling. Our results show that the symmetric e-ph coupling plays the role of destabilizing the polaron as a result of temperature induced phonons that, via the symmetric coupling, affects the charge distribution of the polaron.

Transport of Polarons in Graphene Nanoribbons.

The field-induced dynamics of polarons in armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is theoretically investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional tight-binding model with lattice relaxation. Our findings show that the semiconductor behavior, fundamental to polaron transport to take place, depends upon of a suitable balance between the GNR width and the electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling strength. In a similar way, we found that the parameter space for which the polaron is dynamically stable is limited to an even narrower region of the GNR width and the e-ph coupling strength.

Impurity effects on polaron-exciton formation in conjugated polymers.

Combining the one-dimensional tight-binding Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and the extended Hubbard model, the collision of two oppositely charged polarons is investigated under the influence of impurity effects using a non-adiabatic evolution method. Results show that electron-electron interactions have direct influence on the charge distribution coupled to the polaron-exciton lattice defect. Additionally, the presence of an impurity in the collisional process reduces the critical electric field for the polaron-exciton formation.

Dynamical study of impurity effects on bipolaron-bipolaron and bipolaron-polaron scattering in conjugated polymers.

Combining the one-dimensional tight-binding Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model and the extended Hubbard model (EHM), the scattering of two oppositely charged bipolarons and a bipolaron-polaron pair is investigated under the influence of impurity effects using a nonadiabatic evolution method. These novel results for bipolarons show that the oppositely charged quasi-particles scatter into a mixed state composed of bipolarons and excitons. The excitation yield depends sensitively on the strength of the applied electric field.