Structural transitions in liquid semiconductor alloys: A molecular dynamics study with a neural network potential.

Liquid-liquid phase transitions hold a unique and profound significance within condensed matter physics. These transitions, while conceptually intriguing, often pose formidable computational challenges. However, recent advances in neural network (NN) potentials offer a promising avenue to effectively address these challenges.

Tunable Ultrafast Charge Transfer across Homojunction Interface.

Charge transfer at heterojunction interfaces is a fundamental process that plays a crucial role in modern electronic and photonic devices. The essence of such charge transfer lies in the band offset, making charge transfer uncommon in a homojunction. Recently, sliding ferroelectricity has been proposed and confirmed in two-dimensional van der Waals stacked materials such as bilayer boron nitride.

An approach for full space inverse materials design by combining universal machine learning potential, universal property model, and optimization algorithm.

We present a full space inverse materials design (FSIMD) approach that fully automates the materials design for target physical properties without the need to provide the atomic composition, chemical stoichiometry, and crystal structure in advance. Here, we used density functional theory reference data to train a universal machine learning potential (UPot) and transfer learning to train a universal bulk modulus model (UBmod). Both UPot and UBmod were able to cover materials systems composed of any element among 42 elements.

Accelerating the calculation of electron-phonon coupling strength with machine learning.

The calculation of electron-phonon couplings (EPCs) is essential for understanding various fundamental physical properties, including electrical transport, optical and superconducting behaviors in materials. However, obtaining EPCs through fully first-principles methods is notably challenging, particularly for large systems or when employing advanced functionals. Here we introduce a machine learning framework to accelerate EPC calculations by utilizing atomic orbital-based Hamiltonian matrices and gradients predicted by an equivariant graph neural network.

Abnormally weak intervalley electron scattering in MoS monolayer: insights from the matching between electron and phonon bands.

It is known that carrier mobility in layered semiconductors generally increases from two-dimensions (2D) to three-dimensions due to fewer scattering channels resulting from decreased densities of electron and phonon states. In this work, we find an abnormal decrease of electron mobility from monolayer to bulk MoS. By carefully analyzing the scattering mechanisms, we can attribute such abnormality to the stronger intravalley scattering in the monolayer but weaker intervalley scattering caused by few intervalley scattering channels and weaker corresponding electron-phonon couplings compared to the bulk case.

Effective lifetime of non-equilibrium carriers in semiconductors from non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations.

The lifetimes of non-equilibrium charge carriers in semiconductors calculated using non-adiabatic molecular dynamics often differ from experimental results by orders of magnitude. By revisiting the definition of carrier lifetime, we report a systematic procedure for calculating the effective carrier lifetime in semiconductor crystals under realistic conditions. The consideration of all recombination mechanisms and the use of appropriate carrier and defect densities are crucial to bridging the gap between modeling and measurements.

Crystal structure prediction by combining graph network and optimization algorithm.

Crystal structure prediction is a long-standing challenge in condensed matter and chemical science. Here we report a machine-learning approach for crystal structure prediction, in which a graph network (GN) is employed to establish a correlation model between the crystal structure and formation enthalpies at the given database, and an optimization algorithm (OA) is used to accelerate the search for crystal structure with lowest formation enthalpy. The framework of the utilized approach (a database + a GN model + an optimization algorithm) is flexible.

Enhancing Hole Density and Suppressing Recombination Centers through Illumination in Kesterite Thin Film Solar Cells.

Enhancing carrier density and increasing carrier lifetime are critical for the good performance of thin film solar cells. We apply illumination during the growth of kesterite CuZnSnS (CZTS) to enhance hole density and suppress defects of nonradiative electron-hole recombination centers simultaneously. To examine the effect of the injected carriers generated by illumination, we first extend the scheme of detailed balance equations relating free carriers and defects beyond thermal equilibrium conditions by developing an extended Fermi level () to characterize a homogeneous semiconductor with non-equilibrium carriers.

Semiconductor-to-metal transition from monolayer to bilayer blue phosphorous induced by extremely strong interlayer coupling: a first-principles study.

Monolayer blue phosphorous has a large band gap of 2.76 eV but counterintuitively the most stable bilayer blue phosphorous has a negative band gap of -0.51 eV.

Unusual interlayer coupling in layered Cu-based ternary chalcogenides CuMCh (M = Sb, Bi; Ch = S, Se).

Interlayer interactions play important roles in manipulating the electronic properties of layered semiconductors. One common mechanism is that the valence band maximum (VBM) and the conduction band minimum (CBM) in one layer couple to the VBM and CBM in another layer, respectively, resulting in the decrease of the band gap from the monolayer to the bilayer. Here we report an unusual interlayer coupling mechanism in layered Cu-based ternary chalcogenides CuMCh (M = Sb, Bi; Ch = S, Se) that the CBM in one layer strongly couples to the VBM in the other layer, leading to the band gap increase from the monolayer to the bilayer.

More Se Vacancies in Sb Se under Se-Rich Conditions: An Abnormal Behavior Induced by Defect-Correlation in Compensated Compound Semiconductors.

It was believed that the Se-rich synthesis condition can suppress the formation of deep-level donor defect V (selenium vacancy) in Sb Se and is thus critical for fabricating high-efficiency Sb Se solar cells. However, here it is shown that by first-principles calculations the density of V increases unexpectedly to 10 cm when the Se chemical potential increases, so Se-rich condition promotes rather than suppresses the formation of V . Therefore, high density of V is thermodynamically inevitable, no matter under Se-poor or Se-rich conditions.

Dimensionality-Inhibited Chemical Doping in Two-Dimensional Semiconductors: The Phosphorene and MoS from Charge-Correction Method.

Despite the great appeal of two-dimensional semiconductors for electronics and optoelectronics, to achieve the required charge carrier concentrations by means of chemical doping remains a challenge due to large defect ionization energies (IEs). Here, by decomposing the defect IEs into three parts based on ionization process, we propose a conceptual picture that the large defect IEs are caused by two effects of reduced dimensionality. While the quantum confinement effect makes the neutral single-electron point defect levels deep, the reduced screening effect leads to high energy cost for the electronic relaxation.

Hyperdynamics simulations with ab initio forces.

By applying the locally optimal rotation method to deal with the lowest eigenvalue of a Hessian matrix, we have efficiently incorporated the hyperdynamics method into the ab initio scheme. In the present method, we only need to calculate the first derivative of the potential and several more force calls in each molecular dynamics (MD) step, which makes hyperdynamics simulation applicable in ab initio MD simulations. With this implementation, we are able to simulate defect diffusion in silicon with boost factors up to 10.

Fully Boron-Sheet-Based Field Effect Transistors from First-Principles: Inverse Design of Semiconducting Boron Sheets.

High-performance two-dimensional (2D) field effect transistors (FETs) have a broad application prospect in future electronic devices. The lack of an ideal material system, however, hinders the breakthrough of 2D FETs. Recently, phase engineering offers a promising solution, but it requires both semiconducting and metallic phases of materials.

Topological Dirac States beyond π-Orbitals for Silicene on SiC(0001) Surface.

The discovery of intriguing properties related to the Dirac states in graphene has spurred huge interest in exploring its two-dimensional group-IV counterparts, such as silicene, germanene, and stanene. However, these materials have to be obtained via synthesizing on substrates with strong interfacial interactions, which usually destroy their intrinsic π(p)-orbital Dirac states. Here we report a theoretical study on the existence of Dirac states arising from the p orbitals instead of p orbitals in silicene on 4H-SiC(0001), which survive in spite of the strong interfacial interactions.

Thermal conductivity of disordered two-dimensional binary alloys.

Using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, we have studied the effect of disorder on the thermal conductivity of two-dimensional (2D) CN alloys. We find that the thermal conductivity not only depends on the substitution concentration of nitrogen, but also strongly depends on the disorder distribution. A general linear relationship is revealed between the thermal conductivity and the participation ratio of phonons in 2D alloys.

Oxygen Vacancy Induced Flat Phonon Mode at FeSe /SrTiO3 interface.

A high-frequency optical phonon mode of SrTiO3 (STO) was found to assist the high-temperature superconductivity observed recently at the interface between monolayer FeSe and STO substrate. However, the origin of this mode is not clear. Through first-principles calculations, we find that there is a novel polar phonon mode on the surface layers of the STO substrate, which does not exist in the STO crystals.

Simultaneous etching and doping of TiO2 nanowire arrays for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance.

We developed a postgrowth doping method of TiO2 nanowire arrays by a simultaneous hydrothermal etching and doping in a weakly alkaline condition. The obtained tungsten-doped TiO2 core-shell nanowires have an amorphous shell with a rough surface, in which W species are incorporated into the amorphous TiO2 shell during this simultaneous etching/regrowth step for the optimization of photoelectrochemical performance. Photoanodes made of these W-doped TiO2 core-shell nanowires show a much enhanced photocurrent density of ~1.

Classification of lattice defects in the kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4 earth-abundant solar cell absorbers.

The kesterite-structured semiconductors Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4 are drawing considerable attention recently as the active layers in earth-abundant low-cost thin-film solar cells. The additional number of elements in these quaternary compounds, relative to binary and ternary semiconductors, results in increased flexibility in the material properties. Conversely, a large variety of intrinsic lattice defects can also be formed, which have important influence on their optical and electrical properties, and hence their photovoltaic performance.

Composition- and band-gap-tunable synthesis of wurtzite-derived Cu₂ZnSn(S(1-x)Se(x))₄ nanocrystals: theoretical and experimental insights.

The wurtzite-derived Cu₂ZnSn(S(1-x)Se(x))₄ alloys are studied for the first time through combining theoretical calculations and experimental characterizations. Ab initio calculations predict that wurtzite-derived Cu₂ZnSnS₄ and Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ are highly miscible, and the band gaps of the mixed-anion alloys can be linearly tuned from 1.0 to 1.

Superatomic orbitals in sixteen-coordinate M@Li16 bonded by metallic bonds.

Based on density-functional calculation and genetic algorithm structure search, we propose a series of 16-coordinate core-shell clusters: M@Li(16)(M = Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti, Zr, Hf). A tetrahedral (T(d)) structure with an outer shell of 16 lithium atoms and one enclosed heavy atom is found to be the global minimum in the structural exploration of BaLi(16) based on genetic algorithm. This structure also has lower energy compared to the other isomers we employed in all the MLi(16) clusters.

Quantum-well states in a double-well system: an example of Cu/Co(Ni)/Cu.

The quantum-well (QW) states in the Cu/Co double-well system are studied by first-principles calculations. We have shown that the monolayer Ni or Co as a heterogeneous spacer in Cu QW can not only disturb the QW states extending into the whole structure, but also create new QW states because of the interfaces introduced, resulting in sub-well-confining electrons. If the QW state energy in two sub-wells is close to each other, these two sub-well QW states can couple together.

Finite temperature properties of clusters by replica exchange metadynamics: the water nonamer.

We introduce an approach for the accurate calculation of thermal properties of classical nanoclusters. On the basis of a recently developed enhanced sampling technique, replica exchange metadynamics, the method yields the true free energy of each relevant cluster structure, directly sampling its basin and measuring its occupancy in full equilibrium. All entropy sources, whether vibrational, rotational anharmonic, or especially configurational, the latter often forgotten in many cluster studies, are automatically included.

First-principles study of small oxidized silver clusters.

The structure and stability of clusters Ag(n)O+(m), Ag(n)O(m), and Ag(n)O(m)- (n = 1-6, m = 1-2) are studied by using the first-principles method. Calculated results show that the properties studied are strongly dependent on the size and charge state of the clusters, some of which show the odd-even alteration. Generally, the oxidation drives the transition of silver clusters from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) structures.

First-principles studies for CO and O(2) on gold nanocluster.

First-principles calculations are performed to study the interaction of gold nanocluster Au(55) with small molecules CO and O(2). We find that the adsorption energy of CO on Au(55) is among 0.5-0.