Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
  • Publication
    First-principles calculation of electronic structure of V-doped anatase TiO2
    (Wiley, 2010-08-23) ;
    The energetic and electronic structures of V-doped anatase TiO2 have been investigated systematically by the GGA+U approach, including replacement of Ti by V in the absence and presence of oxygen vacancies and the presence of an interstitial site. It was found that V should exist as a V4+ ion in the replacement of Ti in the anatase lattice, the electron transitions of which to the conduction band from V 3d states are responsible for the experimentally observed visible-light absorption. The influence of V dopant concentration on the electronic and magnetic properties is also discussed, such as the influence of the U value in systems containing oxygen vacancies and spin flip phenomena for interstitial V-doping.
      1512Scopus© Citations 28
  • Publication
    Electronic properties of F/Zr co-doped anatase TiO2 photocatalysts from GGA + U calculations
    (Elsevier, 2010-10-08) ;
    The energetic and electronic properties of F and/or Zr-doped anatase TiO2 are investigated by first-principles calculations. For F-doping, reduced Ti3+ ions are formed and Ti orbitals lie slightly below the conduction band, leading to band gap narrowing. For Zr-doping, Zr 4d orbitals reside well into the conduction band, with essentially no band gap change. For F/Zr–codoping, the electronic structure is similar to that for F–monodoping, where Ti3+ gap states are induced by both the oxygen vacancy and F dopant. The influence of oxygen vacancies indicates that interplay between dopants and oxygen vacancies is key for improvement of photocatalytic activity. The theoretical findings present a reasonable explanation of recent experimental results.
      3726Scopus© Citations 27
  • Publication
    Electronic structures of N- and C-doped NiO from first-principles calculations
    The large intrinsic band gap of NiO has hindered severely its potential application under visible-light irradiation. In this study, we have performed first-principles calculations on the electronic properties of N- and C-doped NiO to ascertain if its band gap may be narrowed theoretically. It was found that impurity bands driven by N 2p or C 2p states appear in the band gap of NiO and that some of these locate at the conduction band minimum, which leads to a significant band gap narrowing. Our results show that N-doped NiO may serve as a potential photocatalyst relative to C-doped NiO, due to the presence of some recombination centres in C-doped NiO.
      986Scopus© Citations 30
  • Publication
    Synergistic effects on band gap-narrowing in titania by codoping from first-principles calculations
    (ACS Publications, 2010-02-12) ;
    The large intrinsic band gap in TiO2 has hindered severely its potential application for visible-light irradiation. In this study, we have used a passivated approach to modify the band edges of anatase-TiO2 by codoping of X (N, C) with transition metals (TM=W, Re, Os) to extend the absorption edge to longer visible-light wavelengths. It was found that all the codoped systems can narrow the band gap significantly; in particular, (N+W)-codoped systems could serve as remarkably better photocatalysts with both narrowing of the band gap and relatively smaller formation energies and larger binding energies than those of (C+TM) and (N+TM)-codoped systems. Our theoretical calculations provide meaningful guides for experiments to develop more powerful visible-light photocatalysts.
      1315Scopus© Citations 135
  • Publication
    Magnetic properties of first-row element-doped ZnS semiconductors : a density functional theory investigation
    (American Physical Society, 2009-09-22) ;
    Based on first-principles calculations, we have investigated the magnetic properties of the first-row element-doped ZnS semiconductors. Calculations reveal that Be, B, and C dopants can induce magnetic, while N cannot lead to spin polarization in ZnS. A possible explanation was rationalized from the elements’ electronegativity and interaction between dopant atoms and host atoms. The total magnetic moments are 2.00, 3.16, and 2.38 μB per 2 x 2 x 2 supercell for Be, B, and C doping, respectively, and ferromagnetic coupling is generally observed in these cases. The ferromagnetism of Be-, B-, and C-doped ZnS can be explained by hole-mediated s-p or p-p interactions’ coupling mechanisms. However, the clustering effect was found to be in Be-, B-, and C-doped ZnS but the degree is more obvious in the former two cases than in latter case. Analysis revealed that C-doped ZnS displays better potential ferromagnetic behavior than Be- and B-doped ZnS due to its half-metallic characteristic.
      1174Scopus© Citations 78
  • Publication
    Synergistic effects of Bi/S codoping on visible light-activated anatase TiO2 photocatalysts from first principles
    (ACS Publications, 2009-04-20) ;
    The electronic properties and photocatalytic activity of S and/or Bi-doped anatase TiO2 are investigated by first-principles density functional theory calculations. For S-doped TiO2, S 3p states locate above the top of the valence band and mix with O 2p states, leading to band gap narrowing. For Bi-doped anatase, the energy levels of the impurity Bi 6s states lie below the bottom of the conduction band while the Fermi level EF lies above the gap states, indicating the gap states are fully occupied. The transition from Bi 6s to Ti 3d states is responsible for a red-shift of the visible light absorption edge. In Bi/S–doped TiO2, both S 3p acceptor states and partially occupied Bi 6s donor states hybridized with S 3p appear simultaneously; this observation suggests that photocatalytic efficiency would be improved significantly due to greater separation of electron-hole pairs. These findings present a reasonable explanation of recent experimental results.
      858Scopus© Citations 54
  • Publication
    First-principles study of S doping at the rutile TiO2 (110) surface
    (ACS Publications, 2009-09-15) ; ;
    The structural, energetic and electronic properties of various S doping configurations by substitution and adsorption at the rutile TiO2 (110) surface have been investigated by first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The stability of these configurations has been compared on the basis of the calculated formation and adsorption energies. Our results indicate that S dopants replace surface O atoms or bind to Ti atoms preferentially. Moreover, implantation of S dopants into the rutile lattice favored the formation of oxygen vacancies, which promotes further S incorporation. Doping of single S atoms into Ti sites (S-cation doping) led to relatively small reductions of the photon transition energy, while S-substitution of O atoms (S-anion doping) and adsorption on the surface (S-cation/anion doping) resulted in significant red-shifts of the optical absorption edge. Our results suggest that the interplay between S impurities and oxygen vacancies does not enhance visible light absorption in an obvious way, and helps to rationalise recent experimental studies.
      1077Scopus© Citations 22
  • Publication
    Density functional theory studies of doping in Titania
    (Taylor and Francis, 2010-06) ;
    The structural and electronic properties of rutile and anatase, and the influence of both mono- and co-doping, have been studied using Density Functional Theory. Ge-doped anatase and rutile exhibit different band gap-narrowing mechanisms; in particular, host Ti 3d states move to lower energy regions in anatase and Ge 4s impurities states locate below the conduction band of rutile. For S-doping, S 3p states locate above the top of the valence band and mix with O 2p states, leading to band gap narrowing. For Bi-doping, the energy levels of the Bi 6s states lie below the bottom of the conduction band while the Fermi level EF lies above the gap states, indicating the gap states are fully occupied. For Bi/S–codoping, both S 3p acceptor states and partially occupied Bi 6s donor states hybridised with S 3p appear simultaneously. For N- and W-monodoping, isolated N 2p states above the top of the valence band and W 5d states below the conduction band lead to band gap narrowing. N/W codoping yields significant band gap narrowing. Both studies for Bi/S and N/W codoping rationalise recent experimental data which show that these doped anatase systems exhibit higher visible-light photocatalytic efficiency than respective monodoping.
      2240Scopus© Citations 12
  • Publication
    Energetic and electronic properties of P Doping at the rutile TiO2 (110) Surface from First Principles
    (ACS Publications, 2009-04-20) ;
    The energetic and electronic properties of various P doping configurations at the rutile TiO2 (110) surface are investigated by first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Several substitution and adsorption configurations for P impurities at the surface and the subsurface are considered. The stability of the P-doped systems is compared on the basis of the calculated formation energy and adsorption energy. Our calculated results indicate that the P impurities replace surface Ti atoms preferentially under O-rich growth conditions,and surface O atoms under Ti-rich conditions. In addition, it was found that the creation of oxygen vacancies favors P incorporation at substitution sites but not at adsorption sites. Doping with a single P atom into an O site may lead to either anionic or cationic states in the dopant. This causes either band-to-band transitions or introduces gap states to band transitions, with the former corresponding to a small band gap narrowing or broadening and the latter resulting in obvious reductions of photon transition energy. Substitutional replacement of Ti atoms by P atoms and adsorption on the surface (P-cation doping) results in either a small band reduction or a slight band gap enlargement, depending on the doping sites. It is speculated that the interaction between P impurities and surface oxygen vacancies will lead to further enhanced photocatalytic activity in the visible light region.
      841Scopus© Citations 19
  • Publication
    Density functional theory description of the mechanism of ferromagnetism in nitrogen-doped SnO2
    (Elsevier, 2009-12-28) ;
    Based on first-principles calculations, we have studied the occurrence of spin polarization in the magnetic metal oxide SnO2 doped with nonmagnetic nitrogen (N) impurities. It was found that the local magnetic moments are localized mainly on the N dopant, causing a total moment of 0.95μB per cell. The long-range magnetic coupling of N-doped SnO2 may be attributed to a p-p coupling interaction between the N impurity and host valence states.
      1041Scopus© Citations 35