| 1. |
- Anikina, Ekaterina, et al.
(författare)
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Li-Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Hydrogen Storage : Importance of Size Effects
- 2019
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Ingår i: ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 2574-0970. ; 2:5, s. 3021-3030
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated Li-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a promising hydrogen storage media. In this computational model, we considered isolated lithium atom adsorbed on a CNT wall as an adsorption site for hydrogen. We focused on the influence of size effects on the structural and energetic characteristics of CNT(n,n)@Li+kH(2) complexes where n = 5, 7, 9; k = 1,..., 6; N, = 4, 5, 6 (N-c is translation length of CNT, expressed in terms of a number of CNT unit cells). We proved that modeled CNT length substantially influences internal sorption of Li and hydrogen on the narrow tube (5,5), which subsequently alters the adsorption energies of H-2 molecules and causes the deformation of the carbon framework. Moreover, the size effects are not pronounced in the case of external sorption for all considered CNT translation lengths and diameters. We have not observed any noticeable qualitative difference between internal and external hydrogen sorption in the nanotube wider than CNT(5,5). In the case of external adsorption on all considered nanotubes, doping with Li increases hydrogen adsorption energies of up to four H-2 molecules by 100 meV in comparison with pure CNTs. And the local density approximation estimations (similar to 250 meV/H-2) of adsorption energy on Li-decorated CNTs exceed the lowest requirement proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (200 meV/H-2). In the case of internal sorption on Li-functionalized tubes, the generalized gradient approximation also gives hydrogen adsorption energies in the desired range of 200-600 meV/H-2. However, steric hindrances could prevent sufficient hydrogen uptakes (less than 2 wt % inside CNT(5,5)). We believe that our findings on the size effects are important for estimation of CNT's hydrogen storage properties.
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| 2. |
- Banerjee, Amitava
(författare)
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Materials Modelling for Energy Harvesting : From Conversion to Application through Storage
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this Ph.D. thesis, ab initio density functional theory along with molecular dynamics and global optimization methods are used to unveil and understand the structures and properties of energy relevant materials. In this connection, the following applications are considered: i. electrocatalyst for solar fuel production through water splitting, ii. hybrid perovskite solar cell for generation of electrical energy and iii. Battery materials to store the electrical energy. The water splitting mechanism in terms of hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER) on the catalytic surfaces has been envisaged based on the free energy diagram, named reaction coordinate, of the reaction intermediates. The Ti-functionalized two-dimensional (2D) borophene monolayer has been emerged as a promising material for HER and OER mechanisms as compared to the pristine borophene sheet. Further investigation in the series of this noble metal free monolayer catalyst is 2D Al2C monolayer both in form of pristine and functionalized with nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), boron (B), and sulphur (S). It has been observed that only B substituted Al2C shows very close to thermoneutral, that could be the most promising candidate for HER on functionalized Al2C monolayer. The adsorption of O* intermediate is stronger in S-substituted Al2C, whereas it is less strongly adsorbed on N-substituted Al2C. The subsequent consideration is being the case of n-type doping (W) along with Ti codoped in BiVO4 to enhance the efficiency of BiVO4 photoanode for water splitting. The determined adsorption energy and corresponding Gibbs free energies depict that the Ti site is energetically more favorable for water splitting. Moreover, the Ti site possesses a lower overpotential in the W–Ti codoped sample as compared to the mono-W doped sample. We have also explored the effect of mixed cation and mixed anion substitution in the hybrid perovskite in terms of structural stability, electronic properties and optical response of hybrid perovskite crystal structures. It has been found that the insertion of bromine (Br) into the system could modulate the stability of the Guanidinium lead iodide (GAPbI3) hybrid perovskite. Moreover, the band gap of the mixed hybrid perovskite is increased with the inclusion of smaller Br anion while replacing partially the larger iodine (I) anion. Finally the electrochemical storage mechanism for Sodium (Na) and lithium (Li) ion insertion has been envisaged in inorganic electrode (eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2) as well as in more sustainable organic electrode (di-lithium terephthalate, Li2TP). The full desodiation capability of the eldfellite enhances the capacity while the activation energies (higher than 1 eV) for the Na+ ion diffusion for the charged state lower the ionic insertion rate. The key factor as the variation of Li-O coordination in the terephthalate, for the disproportionation redox reaction in Li2TP is also identified.
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| 3. |
- Banerjee, Amitava, et al.
(författare)
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Rashba Triggered Electronic and Optical Properties Tuning in Mixed Cation-Mixed Halide Hybrid Perovskites
- 2019
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 2574-0962. ; 2:10, s. 6990-6997
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The inherent spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect in non-centrosymmetric crystal structure has laid the foundation of Rashba splitting phenomena. This Rashba splitting directly governs the charge carrier recombination, which eventually controls the carrier lifetime and diffusion length and therefore the solar cell efficiency for such hybrid perovskite materials. In this work, we have performed a rigorous structural search prediction of the mixed cation-mixed halide hybrid perovskites FA(0.83)MA(0.17)Pb(I0.83Br0.17)(3) and FA(0.875)MA(0.125 )Pb(I0.875Br (0.125))(3), which are the two nearest neighbor structures of record efficiency (22.1%) holder FA(0.85)MA(0.15)Pb(I0.85Br0.15)(3) in the structural composition phase space. We have found the prediction routes for a structural search such as the mixed perovskite structure govern the Rashba splitting energy value, depending on whether it has been predicted from FPI (FAPbI(3)) or MPB (MAPbBr(3)) as parent structure, which are leading to the mixed phase FA(0.83)MA(0.17)Pb(I0.83Br0.17)(3) and FA(0.875)MA(0.125)Pb(I0.875Br0.125)(3) respectively. The strong dependency of the splitting energy on the structural phase evolution along with the stoichiometry and space group is also observed, where in the mixed phase, 0.045 difference in concentration could lead to a remarkable difference in the splitting energy, which is more pronounced in the valence band as compared to the conduction band. We have also determined the Goldschmidt tolerance factor to envisage structural stability of the newly predicted crystal structures based on the corresponding chemical route in the composition phase space.
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| 4. |
- Johansson, Malin B, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Cesium Bismuth Iodide Solar Cells from Systematic Molar Ratio Variation of CsI and BiI3
- 2019
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Ingår i: Inorganic Chemistry. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 0020-1669 .- 1520-510X. ; 58:18, s. 12040-12052
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Metal halide compounds with photovoltaic properties prepared from solution have received increased attention for utilization in solar cells. In this work, low-toxicity cesium bismuth iodides are synthesized from solution, and their photovoltaic and, optical properties as well as electronic and crystal structures are investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns reveal that a CsI/BiI3 precursor ratio of 1.5:1 can convert pure rhombohedral BiI3 to pure hexagonal Cs3Bi2I9, but any ratio intermediate of this stoichiometry and pure BiI3 yields a mixture containing the two crystalline phases Cs3Bi2I9 and BiI3, with their relative fraction depending on the CsI/BiI3 ratio. Solar cells from the series of compounds are characterized, showing the highest efficiency for the compounds with a mixture of the two structures. The energies of the valence band edge were estimated using hard and soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for more bulk and surface electronic properties, respectively. On the basis of these measurements, together with UV-vis-near-IR spectrophotometry, measuring the band gap, and Kelvin probe measurements for estimating the work function, an approximate energy diagram has been compiled clarifying the relationship between the positions of the valence and conduction band edges and the Fermi level.
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| 5. |
- Khossossi, Nabil, et al.
(författare)
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Ab initio study of a 2D h-BAs monolayer : a promising anode material for alkali-metal ion batteries
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 21:33, s. 18328-18337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The selection of a suitable two dimensional anode material is one of the key steps in the development of alkali metal ion batteries to achieve superior performance with an ultrahigh rate of charging/discharging capability. Here, we have used state of the art density functional theory (DFT) to explore the feasibility of two dimensional (2D) honeycomb boron arsenide (h-BAs) as a potential anode for alkali-metal (Li/Na/K)-ion batteries. The structural and dynamic stability has been confirmed from the formation energy and the non-negative phonon frequency. The h-BAs monolayer exhibits negative adsorption-energy values of -0.422, -0.321 and -0.814 eV, for the Li, Na, and K-ions, respectively. Subsequently, during the charging process the adsorption-energy increases considerably without an energy-barrier when any of the A-atoms achieve a crucial distance (similar to 8 angstrom). In addition, it has been observed that insertion of the mono alkali metal atom into the h-BAs surface results in the semi-conducting nature of the monolayer being transformed into a metallic-state. The low energy barriers for Li (0.522 eV), Na (0.248), and K (0.204 eV) active ion migration imply high diffusion over the h-BAs surface, hence suggesting it has a high charge/discharge capability. Moreover, we have obtained low average operating voltages of 0.49 V (Li), 0.35 V (Na) and 0.26 V (K) and high theoretical capacities of 522.08 mA h g(-1) (for Li and Na) and 209.46 mA h g(-1) (for K) in this study. The aforementioned findings indicate that a h-BAs monolayer could be a promising anode material in the search for low cost and high performance alkali metal ion batteries.
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| 6. |
- Klaa, Kaltoum, et al.
(författare)
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Composition dependent tuning of electronic and magnetic properties in transition metal substituted Rock-salt MgO
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. - 0304-8853 .- 1873-4766. ; 475, s. 44-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method based on the density functional theory (DFT) is used to investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Fe and Ni (3d transition metal) substituted Rock-salt wide band gap insulator Mg1-xMxO (M = Fe, Ni). We have performed spin polarized calculations throughout this work with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) type exchange correlation functional. Additionally, the electronic structures and density of states are computed using modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) potential based approximation with the inclusion of coulomb energy (U = 7 eV). Based on the Vegard's law and structural optimization, the lattice parameter and bulk modulus are found to be in good agreement with experimental values. Moreover, the analysis of electronic band structures reveals an insulating character for Ni substituted MgO while semiconducting and half-metallic character for Fe substituted case. It has been found that the p-d super-exchange interaction provides a ferromagnetic character due to the 3d transition metal impurities and oxygen atom. The observed p-d hybridization at the top of the valence band edge in this investigations could be useful for magneto-optic and spintronic applications.
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| 7. |
- Minakshi, M., et al.
(författare)
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Phase evolution in calcium molybdate nanoparticles as a function of synthesis temperature and its electrochemical effect on energy storage
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nanoscale Advances. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2516-0230. ; 1:2, s. 565-580
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The design of a suitable electrode is an essential and fundamental research challenge in the field of electrochemical energy storage because the electronic structures and morphologies determine the surface redox reactions. Calcium molybdate (CaMoO4) was synthesized by a combustion route at 300 °C and 500 °C. We describe new findings on the behaviour of CaMoO4 and evaluate the influence of crystallinity on energy storage performance. A wide range of characterization techniques was used to obtain detailed information about the physical and morphological characteristics of CaMoO4. The characterization results enable the phase evolution as a function of the electrode synthesis temperature to be understood. The crystallinity of the materials was found to increase with increasing temperature but with no second phases observed. Molecular dynamics simulation of electronic structures correlated well with the experimental findings. These results show that to enable faster energy storage and release for a given surface area, amorphous CaMoO4 is required, while larger energy storage can be obtained by using crystalline CaMoO4. CaMoO4 has been evaluated as a cathode material in classical lithium-ion batteries recently. However, determining the surface properties in a sodium-ion system experimentally, combined with computational modelling to understand the results has not been reported. The superior electrochemical properties of crystalline CaMoO4 are attributed to its morphology providing enhanced Na+ ion diffusivity and electron transport. However, the presence of carbon in amorphous CaMoO4 resulted in excellent rate capability, suitable for supercapacitor applications.
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| 8. |
- Yang, Xiaoyong, et al.
(författare)
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Interfacial aspect of ZnTe/In2Te3 heterostructures as an efficient catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry A. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 7:48, s. 27441-27449
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the class of two-dimensional (2D) materials, group III2-VI3 compounds have drawn intense attention due to its excellent surface properties. In this work, based on first-principles calculations, we have systematically investigated the structural, electronic, optical and photocatalytic properties of a ZnTe/In2Te3 heterostructure, along with its interfacial effects, to design an efficient photocatalyst. We have employed hydrogen adsorption free energy (Delta G(H*)) as a key parameter to demonstrate the enhancement in photocatalytic activity of ZnTe/In2Te3 compared to a pristine In2Te3 monolayer, which is further verified with the explicit water environment. The underlying mechanism is governed by the partial charge distributions of pristine In2Te3 and ZnTe/In2Te3 heterostructures. The presence of the ZnTe monolayer also altered the bandgap of the In2Te3 monolayer from an indirect gap of 1.238 eV to direct gaps of 0.298 eV and 0.181 eV in A- and B-type interfaces of the ZnTe/In2Te3 heterostructure, respectively. Calculated optical absorption spectra indicate that ZnTe/In2Te3 heterostructures possess better sunlight-harvesting capability compared to monolayer In2Te3 near the infrared and visible light regions, implying their potential as an excellent light-absorber. Our predictions provide new guidance for designing 2D III2-VI3 heterostructures and expand the applications of these materials in photovoltaics, photocatalysts, and other nanodevices in the future.
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| 9. |
- Yang, Xiaoyong, et al.
(författare)
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Probing the active sites of newly predicted stable Janus scandium dichalcogenides for photocatalytic water-splitting
- 2019
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Ingår i: Catalysis Science & Technology. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2044-4753 .- 2044-4761. ; 9:18, s. 4981-4989
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Janus structures of transition metal dichalcogenides with intrinsic dipoles have recently drawn attention as efficient candidates in the class of non-precious metal photocatalysts for water splitting. Here, we have proposed Janus ScXY (X/Y = S, Se, or Te, X not equal Y) monolayers as promising catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We have thoroughly investigated the structural stabilities of the ScXY monolayers, as a primary step to understand the splitting mechanism more accurately. It has been observed that Janus ScSSe and ScSeTe monolayers are dynamically, thermally and mechanically stable, whereas the ScSTe monolayer is dynamically unstable. Moreover, based on hybrid functional (HSE06) calculations, these stable ScSSe and ScSeTe monolayers are semiconductors with direct band gaps of 1.810 and 0.921 eV, respectively. Considering spin-orbit coupling on top of the HSE06 calculations results in an insignificant change in the band gaps. The steady optical responses of Janus ScSSe and ScSeTe, respectively, in the visible and near IR spectra demonstrate their photocatalytic activities in the respective regions. Interestingly, we have observed excellent performance shown by the ScSeTe monolayer, where both surfaces are catalytically active, and maintain close to thermoneutral conditions with near-zero adsorption free energy at different H* coverages. Comparatively, the ScSSe monolayer shows poor performance for the HER due to strong bonds with the adsorbed hydrogen. Also, it has been confirmed that even the application of +/- 2% strain on the ScSSe monolayer does not enhance its HER activity. Our theoretical predictions demonstrate that out of all the Janus ScXY monolayers studied here, ScSeTe is the most active catalyst for the HER to efficiently split water, which certainly could make it worth performing further experimental investigations.
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