A first principles study of structural and optoelectronic properties and photocatalytic performance of GeC-MX2 (M = Mo and W; X = S and Se) van der Waals heterostructures.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have received enormous attention as photocatalysts for hydrogen production to address the worldwide energy crisis. In this study, we employed first-principles computations to systematically investigate the structural, opto-electronic, and photocatalytic properties of novel GeC-MX2 (M = Mo, W, X = S, Se) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures for photocatalysis applications. Our results reveal that the GeC-MX2 heterostructures can absorb visible light. The type-II band alignment in GeC-MoS2 and GeC-WS2 enables the photogenerated electron-hole pairs to be separated continuously. The electron transfer from the GeC monolayer to MX2 monolayer leads to a large built-in electric field at the interface. This induced electric field is essential for preventing the recombination of photogenerated charges. Moreover, the band-edge locations suggest that GeC-MX2 heterostructures can be utilized as a photocatalyst for water splitting. Finally, the opto-electronic properties of these novel GeC-MX2 heterostructures facilitate their practical utilization in future photocatalysis applications.

Viewpoint: Atomic-Scale Design Protocols toward Energy, Electronic, Catalysis, and Sensing Applications.

Nanostructured materials are essential building blocks for the fabrication of new devices for energy harvesting/storage, sensing, catalysis, magnetic, and optoelectronic applications. However, because of the increase of technological needs, it is essential to identify new functional materials and improve the properties of existing ones. The objective of this Viewpoint is to examine the state of the art of atomic-scale simulative and experimental protocols aimed to the design of novel functional nanostructured materials, and to present new perspectives in the relative fields. This is the result of the debates of Symposium I "Atomic-scale design protocols towards energy, electronic, catalysis, and sensing applications", which took place within the 2018 European Materials Research Society fall meeting.

Layering effects on low frequency modes in n-layered MX2 transition metal dichalcogenides.

n-Layered (n = 2, 3, 4) MX2 transition metal dichalcogenides (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) have been studied using DFT techniques. Long-range van der Waals forces have been modeled using the Grimme correction to capture interlayer interactions. We study the dynamic and electronic dependence of atomic displacement on the number of layers. We find that the displacement patterns mainly affected by a change in the layer number are low-frequency modes at Γ and A k-points; such modes are connected with the intrinsic tribological response. We disentangle electro-phonon coupling by combining orbital polarization, covalency and cophonicity analysis with phonon band calculations. We find that the frequency dependence on the number of layers and the atomic type has a non-trivial relation with the electronic charge distribution in the interlayer region. We show that the interlayer electronic density can be adjusted by appropriately tuning M-X cophonicity, acting as a knob to control vibrational frequencies, hence the intrinsic frictional response. The present results can be exploited to study the electro-phonon coupling effects in TMD-based materials beyond tribological applications.

Tailoring Nanoscale Friction in MX2 Transition Metal Dichalcogenides.

Lattice dynamics of MX2 transition metal dichalcogenides (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) have been studied with density functional theory techniques to control the macroscopic tribological behavior. Long-range van der Waals forces have been modeled with Grimme correction to capture the interlayer interactions. A new lattice dynamic metric, named cophonicity, is proposed and used in combination with electronic and geometric descriptors to relate the stability of the lattice distortions with the electro-structural features of the system. The cophonicity analysis shows that the distortion modes relevant to the microscopic friction can be controlled by tuning the relative M/X atomic contributions to the phonon density of states. Guidelines on how to engineer macroscopic friction at nanoscale are formulated, and finally applied to design a new Ti-doped MoS2 phase with enhanced tribologic properties.

Covalent dependence of octahedral rotations in orthorhombic perovskite oxides.

The compositional dependence of metal-oxygen BO6 octahedral distortions, including bond elongations and rotations, is frequently discussed in the ABO3 perovskite literature; structural distortions alleviate internal stresses driven by under- or over-coordinated bond environments. Here we identify the dependence of octahedral rotations from changes in metal-oxygen bond covalency in orthorhombic perovskites. Using density functional theory we formulate a covalency metric, which captures both the real and k-space interactions between the magnitude and sense, i.e., in-phase or out-of-phase, octahedral rotations, to explore the link between the ionic-covalent Fe-O bond and the interoctahedral Fe-O-Fe bond angles in Pbnm ferrates. Our survey finds that the covalency of the metal-oxygen bond is correlated with the rotation amplitude: We find the more covalent the Fe-O bond, the less distorted is the structure and the more important the long-range inter-octahedral (Fe-O-Fe bond angle) interactions. Finally, we show how to indirectly tune the B-O bond covalency by A-cation induced BO6 rotations independent of ionic size, facilitating design of targeted bonding interactions in complex perovskites.

Cation environment of BaCeO3-based protonic conductors II: new computational models.

Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out to simulate Y-doped BaCeO(3) derivatives. Hartree-Fock energy functional was used to study octahedral site environments embedded in a Pmcn orthorhombic framework, showing local arrangement characterized by Ce-O-Ce, Ce-O-Y, and Y-O-Y (Z-O-Ξ) configurations and including or not hydrogen close to the moieties encompassing those configurations. The latter are, in fact, representative of - and, in our modeling approach, were treated as - local arrangements that could be found in Y:BaCeO(3)-doped materials. The geometrical optimizations performed on the structural models and a detailed orbital analysis of these systems allowed us to confirm and deepen new interpretations, concerning experimental findings already reported in the literature. In particular, the bimodal distribution characterizing the Y-O first coordination shell, found by EXAFS analysis, could be attributed to a local clustering of Y atoms showing characteristic Y-O-Y arrangements. Moreover, the local charge analysis, characterizing the models containing or not hydrogen atoms, showed that the moving protons are able to dynamically change the properties of their near environment, in any case, leaving unaltered the global protonic conduction features of the material, irrespective of the kind of cation in a given Z-O-Ξ moiety.

Phototribology: Control of Friction by Light.

In dry sliding, the coefficient of friction depends on the material pair and contact conditions. If the material and operating conditions remain unchanged, the coefficient of friction is constant. Obviously, we can tune friction by surface treatments, but it is a nonreversible process. Here, we report active control of friction forces on TiO2 thin films under UV light. It is reversible and stable and can be tuned/controlled with the light wavelength. The analysis of atomic force microscopy signals by wavelet spectrograms reveals different mechanisms acting in the darkness and under UV. Ab initio simulations on UV light-exposed TiO2 show a lower atomic orbital overlapping on the surface, which leads to a friction reduction of up to 60%. We suggest that photocontrol of friction is due to the modification of atomic orbital interactions from both surfaces at the sliding interface.

Cation environment of BaCeO(3)-based protonic conductors: a computational study.

Geometry calculations were performed on pure BaCeO(3) fragments and on Y- and In-doped derivatives. HF and DFT approaches were used to investigate monoclinic and orthorhombic structures. The computational methods, structural models, and electronic structure investigation protocols were tuned taking into consideration and balancing the consistency of the results against the computational cost. The calculated structures and energetics parameter, as well as the detailed orbital analysis performed on the corresponding BaCeO(3) derivatives allowed us to explain experimental findings and to develop a procedure to study the cationic octahedral environment of doped X:BaCeO(3) (X = Y, In) and undoped BaCeO(3) protonic conductors useful to interpret experimental results and hopefully to design new experimental approaches. In detail, distances and angles of the studied materials are easily captured in the frame of the HF paradigm even by using low-level ECP basis sets. While, pure electronic-based approaches, involving the investigation of the Partial Density of States resulting from the C-Squared Population Analysis, show that the dopant species must leave unchanged, or even decrease, the local basicity of the oxygen octahedral environment in order to increase the conductivity of the BaCeO(3) derivatives. Whereas local structural changes that are not related to the basicity above affect to a less, if not null, extent the conductivity of the same derivatives.

Phonon-phonon scattering selection rules and control: an application to nanofriction and thermal transport.

Phonon-phonon scattering processes are the crucial phenomena which account for phonon decay, thermal expansion, heat transfer, protein dynamics, spin relaxation and related quantities. In this work, we show how the symmetries of the system determine which scattering processes are allowed at any order of anharmonic approximation, irrespective of the chemical composition. We also discuss how to control the system symmetries to switch on and off any single scattering process. We apply the presented results to the study and control of nanoscale intrinsic friction and thermal transport in lamellar van der Waals transition metal dichalcogenides. Thanks to its general formulation, the presented framework expands the materials science tool set for the design of nanoengineered thermally-active materials, irrespective of the specific chemical composition and atomic topology.

Vibrational contributions to intrinsic friction in charged transition metal dichalcogenides.

Vibrational contributions to intrinsic friction in layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been studied at different charge contents. We find that any deviation from charge neutrality produces complex rearrangements of atomic positions and electronic distributions, and consequent phase transitions. Upon charge injection, cell volume expansion is observed, due to charge accumulation along an axis orthogonal to the layer planes. Such accumulation is accounted for by the d3z2-r2 orbital of the transition metal and it is regulated by the Pt2g,eg orbital polarization. The latter, in turn, determines the frequency of the phonon modes related to the intrinsic friction through non-trivial electro-vibrational coupling. The bond covalency and atom pair cophonicity can be exploited as a knob to control such coupling, ruling subtle charge flows through atomic orbitals hence determining vibrational frequencies at a specific charge content. The results can be exploited to finely tune vibrational contributions to intrinsic friction in TMD structures, in order to facilitate assembly and operation of nanoelectromechanical systems and, ultimately, to govern electronic charge distribution in TMD-based devices for applications beyond nanoscale tribology.

Y:BaZrO3 perovskite compounds II: designing protonic conduction by using MD models.

The proton dynamics in Y-doped BaZrO(3) derivatives, in particular the different dopant environments within a Pm3m cubic framework, were studied by using classical molecular dynamics (MD) calculations. Single- and double substitution of zirconium by yttrium atoms was considered. The presence of yttrium induced variations in the surrounding oxygen sites, according to their local geometrical arrangements. The differences among such distinct oxygen sites became evident when protons interacted with them and upon changes in the temperature. So, different proton transfer pathways, which had different energy barriers, characterized the topologically different oxygen sites. The experimental proton-hopping activation energy was only reproduced in those structures in which two yttrium atoms formed a Y-O-Y arrangement, which also acted as multilevel protonic traps. Protonic conduction in these materials could be improved by avoiding such yttrium clustering, hence preventing the formation of the protonic traps.

Y:BaZrO3 perovskite compounds I: DFT study on the unprotonated and protonated local structures.

Y-doped BaZrO(3) derivatives were studied by density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the local arrangements of the octahedral sites in Pm3m cubic frameworks. Single- and double substitution of zirconium by yttrium were considered, including in the presence of a nearby oxygen vacancy. Although the structural symmetry of undoped barium zirconate was not modified after yttrium doping, the presence of yttrium induced several differences in the oxygen sites around it, according to the local geometrical arrangement of yttrium in the host matrix. As an example, the differences between such oxygen sites were shown in the presence of a proton. In this case, different stabilization energies characterized the protonated fragments. Only in those structures, in which two yttrium atoms were neighbors (i.e., formed Y-O-Y moieties), were the relative energy differences between the corresponding proton stable sites in agreement with the order of magnitude of the experimental proton-hopping activation energies. The distribution of such energy differences suggested a grouping of the oxygen atoms into three sets, which had peculiar structural features that weren't easily deducible from their topologies. The existence of proton traps was also discussed on the basis of the energy-difference distributions.