en: This database contains the neural network potential (NNP) model and training data for aqueous ZnCl₂ solutions from 1 m to 30 m. The NNP model can be used to compute total energies and atomic forces, with one of its major applications being large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The model was trained using DeePMD-kit v2.2.1, with training data generated through an active learning approach implemented in DP-GEN. The energies and forces in the training set were obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the SCAN exchange-correlation functional performed using Quantum ESPRESSO. Further details on the ab initio calculation procedures and model training methodology are available in the associated manuscript (see reference below).

en: Resolving the solvation structure and transport properties of aqueous zinc electrolytes from salt-in-water to water-in-salt using neural network potential

envi

en: Environment

deepmd

display_name: deepmd

neural-network-potential

display_name: neural-network-potential

water

display_name: water

water-in-salt

display_name: water-in-salt


$oid: OBSOLETE

en: Organic solvents are widely used in polymer synthesis, despite their use lengthening purification steps and generating chemical waste. All-dry synthesis techniques, such as initiated Chemical Vapour Deposition (iCVD) polymerization, eliminate the use of solvents, however, only a narrow palette of material properties is accessible. Inspired by the principles of solvent engineering in solution synthesis, we report a strategy to broaden this palette by vapour-phase complexing (namely, vapour-phase solvation) mediated by hydrogen-bonding. Broad ranges of polymer chain length, as well as the mechanical strength and variety of film surface morphology are demonstrating using this strategy. We further achieve an unprecedented solvation modality; more specifically, interfacial solvation. The molecular interactions, locations of solvation, and kinetics of the coupled solvation-adsorption-polymerization process are investigated using molecular dynamic simulations and experimental validation of a theoretical kinetic model. The strategy can be applied to various methacrylate and vinyl monomers. Solvation in all-dry polymerization offers a new degree of freedom in polymer design and synthesis with improved environmental benignness, pointing to accelerated discovery of polymer thin films by simply introducing active solvents in the vapour phase. Here we provided the code for data processing to the result of the molecular dynamic simulation.

en: Engineering solvation in initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) for process-property control

materialscloud

approval_status: approved

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

en: Materials Cloud

de: Materials Cloud

fr: Materials Cloud

it: Materials Cloud

political_level: other

state: active

type: organization

psi

capacity: public

type: dataset

key: guid

key: uri

value: DCAT Harvester Materials Cloud

envi

de: Umwelt

fr: Environnement

it: Ambiente

icvd

display_name: icvd

molecular-dynamics-simulation

display_name: molecular-dynamics-simulation

polymer-thin-film

display_name: polymer-thin-film


en: Mn₅Si₃ displays an unusual and complex magnetic ground state, which is considered to be the origin of the anomalous transport and thermodynamic properties that it exhibits. We report the magnetic exchange couplings of the noncollinear antiferromagnetic phase of Mn₅Si₃ using inelastic neutron scattering measurements and density functional theory calculations. We determine the ground-state spin configuration and compute its magnon dispersion relations which are in good agreement with the ones obtained experimentally. Furthermore, we investigate the evolution of the spin texture under the application of an external magnetic field to demonstrate theoretically the multiple field-induced phase transitions that Mn₅Si₃ undergoes. Finally, we model the stability of some of the material's magnetic moments under a magnetic field and we find that very susceptible magnetic moments in a frustrated arrangement can be tuned by the field. This data set contains the data relevant to perform the DFT calculations with the JuKKR code, the spin dynamics simulations with the Spirit code, the spin-wave calculations with the SWIS code, and the neutron scattering experimental data.

en: Complex magnetic structure and spin waves of the noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn₅Si₃

antiferromagnetism

display_name: antiferromagnetism

frustration

display_name: frustration

inelastic-neutron-scattering

display_name: inelastic-neutron-scattering

intersect

display_name: intersect

marvel

display_name: marvel

noncollinear-magnetism

display_name: noncollinear-magnetism

spin-waves

display_name: spin-waves


fatigue-database-of-high-entropy-alloys

en: Fatigue failure of metallic structures is of great concern to industrial applications. A material will not be able to practically useful if it is prone to fatigue failure. To take the advantage of lately emerged high entropy alloys (HEAs) for designing novel fatigue-resistant alloys, we compiled a fatigue database of HEAs from the literature reported till the yearend of 2021. The database is subdivided into three categories, i.e., low-cycle fatigue (LCF), high-cycle fatigue (HCF), and fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR), which contains 15, 23, and 28 distinct data records, respectively. Each data record in any of three categories is characteristic of a summary, which is comprised of alloy composition, key fatigue properties, and additional information influential to or interrelated with fatigue (e.g., material processing history, phase constitution, grain size, uniaxial tensile properties, and fatigue testing conditions), and an individual dataset, which makes up the original fatigue testing curve.

en: Fatigue database of high entropy alloys

title_for_slug: fatigue-database-of-high-entropy-alloys

fatigue-crack-growth-rate

display_name: fatigue-crack-growth-rate

high-cycle-fatigue

display_name: high-cycle-fatigue

high-entropy-alloy

display_name: high-entropy-alloy

low-cycle-fatigue

display_name: low-cycle-fatigue


en: Co-based catalysts are promising candidates to replace the Ir/Ru-based oxides for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an acidic environment. However, both the reaction mechanism and the active species in an acidic environment remain unclear. In this study, by combining surface-sensitive soft X-ray adsorption spectroscopy (sXAS) characterization with electrochemical analysis, we unveil the truly active Co species for acidic OER. Surfaces composed of only high-spin CoII are found to be not active due to their unfavorable deprotonation to form CoIII-OH species. In contrast, we show that the presence of low-spin CoIII is essential to promote surface reconstruction and catalysis of OER. The correlation between OER activity and Co oxidation/spin state represents a breakthrough in the structure-activity relationship of Co-based catalysts for acidic OER, which interestingly does not hold in the alkaline and neutral environments. These findings not only help to design efficient acidic OER catalysts, but also deepen the understanding of the reaction mechanism.

en: Unveiling the pH-dependent structure-activity relationship of Co-based catalysts toward oxygen evolution reaction

acidic-oxygen-evolution

display_name: acidic-oxygen-evolution

co-oxidation-state

display_name: co-oxidation-state

cobalt-based-catalyst

display_name: cobalt-based-catalyst

spin-state

display_name: spin-state

structure-activity-relationship

display_name: structure-activity-relationship


en:
We use a combination of symmetry analysis, phenomenological modeling, and first-principles density functional theory to explore the interplay between the magnetic ground state and the detailed atomic structure in the hexagonal rare-earth manganites. We find that the magnetic ordering is sensitive to a breathing mode distortion of the Mn and O ions in the ab plane, which is described by the K1 mode of the high-symmetry structure. Our density functional calculations of the magnetic interactions indicate that this mode particularly affects the single-ion anisotropy and the interplanar symmetric exchanges. By extracting the parameters of a magnetic model Hamiltonian from our first-principles results, we develop a phase diagram to describe the magnetic structure as a function of the anisotropy and exchange interactions. This in turn allows us to explain the dependence of the magnetic ground state on the identity of the rare-earth ion and on the K1 mode.
The attached files contain VASP input files and bash scripts for running all the DFT calculations in the manuscript.

en: Influence of the triangular Mn-O breathing mode on magnetic ordering in multiferroic hexagonal manganites

ab-initio

display_name: ab-initio

dftu

display_name: dftu

erc

display_name: erc


en: Compliance with good research data management practices means trust in the integrity of the data, and it is achievable by a full control of the data gathering process. In this work, we demonstrate tooling which bridges these two aspects, and illustrate its use in a case study of automated battery cycling. We successfully interface off-the-shelf battery cycling hardware with the computational workflow management software AiiDA, allowing us to control experiments, while ensuring trust in the data by tracking its provenance. We design user interfaces compatible with this tooling, which span the inventory, experiment design, and result analysis stages. Other features, including monitoring of workflows and import of externally generated and legacy data are also implemented. Finally, the full software stack required for this work is made available in a set of open-source packages.

en: A bridge between trust and control: Computational workflows meet automated battery cycling

aurora

display_name: aurora

battery

display_name: battery

big-map

display_name: big-map

cycling

display_name: cycling

premise

display_name: premise

robot

display_name: robot

workflow

display_name: workflow


en: Understanding the phononic origin of the infrared dielectric properties of yttria (Y₂O₃) and other rare-earth sesquioxides (RE₂O₃) is a fundamental task in the search of appropriate RE₂O₃ materials that serve particular infrared optical applications. We herein investigate the infrared dielectric properties of RE₂O₃ (RE = Y, Gd, Ho, Lu) using DFT-based phonon calculations and Lorentz oscillator model. The abundant IR-active optical phonon modes that are available for effective absorption of photons result in high reflectance of RE₂O₃, among which four IR-active modes originated from large distortions of REO₆ octahedra are found to contribute dominantly to the phonon dielectric constants. Particularly, the present calculation method by considering one-phonon absorption process is demonstrated with good reliability in predicting the infrared dielectric parameters of RE₂O₃ at the far-infrared as well as the vicinity of mid-infrared region, and the potential cutoff frequency/wavelength of its applicability is disclosed as characterized by the maximum frequency of IR-active longitudinal phonon modes. The results deepen the understanding on infrared dielectric properties of RE₂O₃, and aid the computational design of materials with appropriate infrared properties.

en: Phononic origin of the infrared dielectric properties of RE₂O₃ (RE = Y, Gd, Ho, Lu) compounds

first-principles

display_name: first-principles

infrared

display_name: infrared

phonon

display_name: phonon

sesquioxides

display_name: sesquioxides


en:
Singlet fission has shown potential for boosting the power conversion efficiency of solar cells, but the scarcity of suitable molecular materials hinders its implementation. We introduce an uncertainty-controlled genetic algorithm (ucGA) based on ensemble machine learning predictions from different molecular representations that concurrently optimizes excited state energies, synthesizability, and singlet exciton size for the discovery of singlet fission materials. We show that uncertainty in the model predictions can control how far the genetic optimization moves away from previously known molecules.
Running the ucGA in an exploitative setup performs local optimization on variations of known singlet fission scaffolds, such as acenes. In an explorative mode, hitherto unknown candidates displaying excellent excited state properties for singlet fission are generated. We suggest a class of heteroatom-rich mesoionic compounds as acceptors for charge-transfer mediated singlet fission. When included in larger conjugated donor-acceptor systems, these units exhibit strong localization of the triplet state, favorable diradicaloid character and suitable triplet energies for exciton injection into semiconductor solar cells. As the proposed candidates are composed of fragments from synthesized molecules, they are likely synthetically accessible.

en: Inverse design of singlet fission materials with uncertainty-controlled genetic optimization

envi

en: Environment

genetic-algorithm

display_name: genetic-algorithm

inverse-design

display_name: inverse-design

machine-learning

display_name: machine-learning

singlet-fission

display_name: singlet-fission

uncertainty-quantification

display_name: uncertainty-quantification


en: The AV₃Sb₅ kagome superconductors series are of intense interest due to their diverse and intricate properties. The breaking of time-reversal symmetry (TRS) in the normal state of these superconductors stands as a significant feature, yet the extent to which this effect can be tuned remains uncertain. Here, we employ a unique low-energy muon spin rotation technique combined with local field numerical analysis to study the TRS breaking response as a function of depth from the surface in single crystals of RbV₃Sb₅ with charge order and Cs(V0.86Ta0.14)₃Sb₅ without charge order. In the bulk (specifically above 30 nm from the sur face) of RbV₃Sb₅, we have detected a notable increase in the internal field width experienced by the muon ensemble. This increase occurs within the charge ordered state. Intriguingly, the muon spin relaxation rate is significantly enhanced near the surface of RbV₃Sb₅ (specifically within a depth range of 30-40 nm from the surface), and this effect commences at temperatures significantly higher than the onset of charge order. Conversely, in Cs(V0.86Ta0.14)₃Sb₅, which lacks charge order, we do not observe a similar enhancement in the internal field width, neither in the bulk nor at the surface. These observations indicate a strong connection between charge order and TRS breaking on one hand, and on the other hand, suggest that TRS breaking can be manipulated to occur prior to long-range charge order. This research offers compelling evidence for depth-dependent magnetism in AV₃Sb₅ superconductors in the presence of charge order. Such findings are likely to illuminate the intricate microscopic mechanisms that underpin the TRS breaking phenomena in these materials.

en: Depth-dependent time reversal symmetry breaking response in the charge-ordered kagome material RbV₃Sb₅

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

dft

display_name: dft

kagome-metal

display_name: kagome-metal

muon-spin-spectroscopy

display_name: muon-spin-spectroscopy


en: Singlet fission (SF) is a two-step process in which a singlet splits into two triplets throughout the so-called correlated triplet-pair (1TT) state. Intramolecular SF (iSF) materials in particular, have attracted growing interest as they can be easily implemented in single junction solar cells and boost their power conversion efficiency. Still, the potential of iSF materials such as polymers and oligomers for photovoltaic applications has been partially hindered by their ability to go beyond the 1TT intermediate and generate free triplets, which mechanism remains poorly understood. In this work, the main aspects governing the 1TT dissociation in donor-acceptor copolymers and the key features that optimize this process are exposed. First, we show that both thermodynamics and kinetics play a crucial role in the intramolecular triplet-pair separation and second, we uncover the inherent flexibility of the donor unit as the fundamental ingredient to optimize them simultaneously. Overall, these results provide a better understanding of the intramolecular 1TT dissociation process and establish a new paradigm for the development of novel iSF active materials.

en: Optimizing the thermodynamics and kinetics of the triplet-pair dissociation in donor-acceptor copolymers for intramolecular singlet fission

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

donor-acceptor-copolymers

display_name: donor-acceptor-copolymers

electronic-structure

display_name: electronic-structure

epfl

display_name: epfl

marie-curie-fellowship

display_name: marie-curie-fellowship


en: Extensive machine-learning assisted research has been dedicated to predicting band gaps for perovskites, driven by their immense potential in photovoltaics. Yet, the effectiveness is often hampered by the lack of high-quality band-gap datasets, particularly for perovskites involving d orbitals. In this work, we consistently calculate a large dataset of band gaps with a high level of accuracy, which is rigorously validated by experimental and state-of-the-art GW band gaps. Leveraging this achievement, our machine-learning derived descriptor exhibits exceptional universality and robustness, proving effectiveness not only for single and double, halide and oxide perovskites regardless of the underlying atomic structures, but also for hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. With this approach, we comprehensively explore up to 15,659 materials, unveiling 14 unreported lead-free perovskites with suitable band gaps for photovoltaics. Notably, MASnBr₃, FA₂SnGeBr₆, MA₂AuAuBr₆, FA₂AuAuBr₆, FA₂InBiCl₆, FA₂InBiBr₆, and Ba₂InBiO₆ stand out with direct band gaps, small effective masses, low exciton binding energies, and high stabilities.

en: High-quality data enabling universality of band-gap descriptor and discovery of photovoltaic perovskites

band-gap-descriptor

display_name: band-gap-descriptor

high-quality-dataset

display_name: high-quality-dataset

hybrid-functional

display_name: hybrid-functional

photoboltaic-perovskites

display_name: photoboltaic-perovskites


en: The reliable ab-initio description of strongly correlated materials is a long-sought capability in condensed matter physics. The GW+EDMFT method is a promising scheme, which provides a self-consistent description of correlations and screening, and does not require user-provided parameters. In order to test the reliability of this approach we apply it to the experimentally well characterized perovskite compound Ca₂RuO₄, in which a temperature-dependent structural deformation drives a paramagnetic metal-insulator transition. Our results demonstrate that the nonlocal polarization and self-energy components introduced by GW are essential for setting the correct balance between interactions and bandwidths, and that the GW+EDMFT scheme produces remarkably accurate predictions of the electronic properties of this strongly correlated material.

en: Fully ab-initio electronic structure of Ca₂RuO₄

first-principles

display_name: first-principles

gw-method

display_name: gw-method

snsf

display_name: snsf

strongly-correlated-systems

display_name: strongly-correlated-systems


en: Melt post-condensation, thermal, and thermo-oxidative degradation of a cyclo-aliphatic polyamide were studied through time-resolved rheometry (TRR). The implemented TRR elucidates structural changes occurring during two concurrent phenomena, namely melt post-condensation and thermal/thermo-oxidative degradation, during the time sweep in a parallel plate rheometer. TRR measurements were conducted on neat polyamide under nitrogen (inert/non-oxidative) and air (oxidative) environment at 3 % strain amplitude and a range of frequencies between 0.1 and 100 rad/sec for two hours. At temperatures of 260, 270, and 275 °C, a dual-stage time-dependent growth in viscoelastic properties was observed under an oxidative environment. Thermo-oxidative degradation of polyamide melt 270 °C was shown to occur from the exposed sample edge, continuing inwards, effectively reducing the radius of the unoxidized polymer melt by 6.4 %. A modeling approach using MATLAB is presented to interpret and differentiate the rheological behavior of edge oxidized gel and bulk polymer within the volume of the sample melt. The code removes the effects of the strain limiter and the edge gelation from experimental measurements in predicting the material properties.

en: Predicting the influence of edge oxidation in parallel-plate rheometry

edge-oxidation

display_name: edge-oxidation

experimental

display_name: experimental

matlab

display_name: matlab


en: Simulations of condensed matter systems at the hybrid density functional theory (DFT) level  pose significant computational challenges. The elevated costs arise from the non-local nature of the Hartree-Fock exchange (HFX) in conjunction with the necessity to approach the thermodynamic limit (TDL). In this work, we address these issues with the development of a new efficient method for the calculation of HFX in periodic systems, employing k-point sampling. We rely on a local atom-specific resolution-of-the-identity scheme, the use of atom-centered Gaussian type orbitals (GTOs), and the truncation of the Coulomb interaction to limit computational complexity. Our real-space approach exhibits a scaling that is  at worst linear with the number of k-points.  Issues related to basis set diffuseness are effectively addressed through the auxiliary density matrix method (ADMM). We report the implementation in the CP2K software package, as well as accuracy and performance benchmarks. The method demonstrates excellent agreement with equivalent Gamma-point supercell calculations in terms of relative energies and nuclear gradients. Good strong and weak scaling performances, as well as GPU acceleration, make this implementation a promising candidate for high-performance computing.

en: Efficient periodic resolution-of-the-identity Hartree-Fock exchange method with k-point sampling and Gaussian basis sets

auxiliary-density-matrix-method

display_name: auxiliary-density-matrix-method

high-performance-computing

display_name: high-performance-computing

hybrid-dft

display_name: hybrid-dft

k-point-sampling

display_name: k-point-sampling

method-development

display_name: method-development

periodic-hartree-fock

display_name: periodic-hartree-fock


en: We present the NaviCatGA package, a versatile genetic algorithm capable of optimizing molecular catalyst structures using well-suited fitness functions to achieve a set of targeted properties. The flexibility and generality of this tool are demonstrated with two examples: i) Ligand optimization and exploration for Ni-catalyzed aryl-ether cleavage manipulating SMILES and using a fitness function derived from molecular volcano plots, ii) multiobjective (i.e., activity/selectivity) optimization of bipyridine N.N'-dioxide Lewis basic organocatalysts for the asymmetric propargylation of benzaldehyde from 3D molecular fragments. We show that evolutionary optimization, enabled by NaviCatGA, is an efficient way of accelerating catalyst discovery that bypasses combinatorial scaling issues and incorporates compelling chemical constraints.

en: Genetic optimization of homogeneous catalysts

catalysis

display_name: catalysis

homogeneous-catalysis

display_name: homogeneous-catalysis

optimization

display_name: optimization

organocatalysis

display_name: organocatalysis

volcano-plot

display_name: volcano-plot


en: Weyl nodes can be classified into zero-dimensional (0D) Weyl points, 1D Weyl nodal lines, and 2D Weyl nodal surfaces (WNS), which possess finite Chern numbers. Up to date, the largest Chern number of WPs identified in Weyl semimetals is 4, which is thought to be a maximal value for linearly crossing points in solids. On the other hand, whether the Chern numbers of nonzero-dimensional linear crossing Weyl nodal objects have one upper limit is still an open question. In this work, combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with density-functional theory calculations, we show that the chiral crystal AlPt hosts a cube-shaped charged WNS which is formed by the linear crossings of two singly degenerate bands. Different from conventional Weyl nodes, the cube-shaped nodal surface in AlPt is enforced by nonsymmorphic chiral symmetries and time-reversal symmetry rather than accidental band crossings, and it possesses a giant Chern number |C|=26. Moreover, our results and analysis prove that there is no upper limit for the Chern numbers of such kind of 2D Weyl nodal object. This record includes the data in the related paper Phys. Rev. B 105, 115118 – Published 14 March 2022.

en: Giant Chern number of a Weyl nodal surface without upper limit

envi

en: Environment

giant-chern-number

display_name: giant-chern-number

unpaired-weyl-point

display_name: unpaired-weyl-point

weyl-nodal-surface

display_name: weyl-nodal-surface

weyl-nodal-wall

display_name: weyl-nodal-wall


en: Magnetic materials can display many solutions to the electronic-structure problem, corresponding to different local or global minima of the energy functional. In Hartree-Fock or density-functional theory different single-determinant solutions lead to different magnetizations, ionic oxidation states, hybridizations, and inter-site magnetic couplings. The vast majority of these states can be fingerprinted through their projection on the atomic orbitals of the magnetic ions. We have devised an approach that provides an effective control over these occupation matrices, allowing us to systematically explore the landscape of the potential energy surface. We showcase the emergence of a complex zoology of self-consistent states; even more so when semi-local density-functional theory is augmented - and typically made more accurate - by Hubbard corrections. Such extensive explorations allow to robustly identify the ground state of magnetic systems, and to assess the accuracy (or not) of current functionals and approximations

en: The energy landscape of magnetic materials

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

high-throughput

display_name: high-throughput

marvel

display_name: marvel

openmodel

display_name: openmodel


en:
Quantum spin Hall insulators (QSHIs) are a class of topological materials that has been extensively studied during the past decade. One of their distinctive features is the presence of a finite band gap in the bulk and gapless, topologically protected edge states that are spin-momentum locked. These materials are characterized by a Z₂ topological order where, in the 2D case, a single topological invariant can be even or odd for a trivial or a topological material, respectively. Thanks to their interesting properties, such as the realization of dissipationless spin currents, spin pumping and spin filtering, they are of great interest in the field of electronics, spintronics and quantum computing. In this work we perform an high-throughput screening of QSHI starting from a set of 783 2D exfoliable materials (603 after removing materials with lanthanides), recently identified from a systematic screening of the ICSD, COD, and MPDS databases (MC2D). In this screening we identify 4 Z₂ topological insulators, 3 of which already known in the literature, and 7 direct gap metals with the potential of becoming QSHIs under a reasonable external perturbation.

All the data are also displayed in the dedicated DISCOVER section "2D topological insulators" https://www.materialscloud.org/discover/2dtopo/dashboard/ptable

en: A complementary screening for quantum spin Hall insulators in 2D exfoliable materials

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

dft

display_name: dft

quantum-espresso

display_name: quantum-espresso

quantum-spin-hall

display_name: quantum-spin-hall

topological-insulator

display_name: topological-insulator


en: The electronic density of states (DOS) quantifies the distribution of the energy levels that can be occupied by electrons in a quasiparticle picture and is central to modern electronic structure theory. It also underpins the computation and interpretation of experimentally observable material properties such as optical absorption and electrical conductivity. We discuss the challenges inherent in the construction of a machine-learning (ML) framework aimed at predicting the DOS as a combination of local contributions that depend in turn on the geometric configuration of neighbors around each atom, using quasiparticle energy levels from density functional theory as training data. We present a challenging case study that includes configurations of silicon spanning a broad set of thermodynamic conditions, ranging from bulk structures to clusters and from semiconducting to metallic behavior. We compare different approaches to represent the DOS, and the accuracy of predicting quantities such as the Fermi level, the electron density at the Fermi level, or the band energy, either directly or as a side product of the evaluation of the DOS. We find that the performance of the model depends crucially on the resolution chosen to smooth the DOS and that there is a tradeoff to be made between the systematic error associated with the smoothing and the error in the ML model for a specific structure. We find however that the errors are not strongly correlated among similar structures, and so the average DOS over an ensemble of configurations is in very good agreement with the reference electronic structure calculations, despite the large nominal error on individual configurations. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by computing the density of states of a large amorphous silicon sample, for which it would be prohibitively expensive to compute the DOS by direct electronic structure calculations and show how the atom-centered decomposition of the DOS that is obtained through our model can be used to extract physical insights into the connections between structural and electronic features.

en: Learning the electronic density of states in condensed matter

cosmo-epfl

display_name: cosmo-epfl

snsf

display_name: snsf


en:
Over the past decade we have developed Koopmans functionals, a computationally efficient approach for predicting spectral properties with an orbital-density-dependent functional formulation. These functionals address two fundamental issues with density functional theory (DFT). First, while Kohn-Sham eigenvalues can loosely mirror experimental quasiparticle energies, they are not meant to reproduce excitation energies and there is formally no connection between the two (except for the HOMO for the exact functional). Second, (semi-)local DFT deviates from the expected piecewise linear behavior of the energy as a function of the total number of electrons. This can make eigenvalues an even poorer proxy for quasiparticle energies and, together with the absence of the exchange-correlation derivative discontinuity, contributes to DFT's underestimation of band gaps. By enforcing a generalized piecewise linearity condition to the entire electronic manifold, Koopmans functionals yield molecular orbital energies and solids-state band structures with comparable accuracy to many-body perturbation theory but at greatly reduced computational cost and preserving a functional formulation. This paper introduces "koopmans", an open-source package that contains all of the code and workflows needed to perform Koopmans functional calculations without requiring expert knowledge. The theory and algorithms behind Koopmans functionals are summarized, and it is shown how one can easily use the koopmans package to obtain reliable spectral properties of molecules and materials.

This archive contains files that accompany the article of the same name.

en: koopmans: an open-source package for accurately and efficiently predicting spectral properties with Koopmans functionals

charged-excitations

display_name: charged-excitations

electronic-bands

display_name: electronic-bands

electronic-structure

display_name: electronic-structure

koopmans-spectral-functionals

display_name: koopmans-spectral-functionals

orbital-density-dependent-functionals

display_name: orbital-density-dependent-functionals


en: In the past decade, quantum diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) has been demonstrated to successfully predict the energetics and properties of a wide range of molecules and solids by numerically solving the electronic many-body Schrödinger equation. We show that when coupled with quantum machine learning (QML) based surrogate methods the computational burden can be alleviated such that QMC shows clear potential to undergird the formation of high quality descriptions across chemical space. We discuss three crucial approximations necessary to accomplish this: The fixed node approximation, universal and accurate references for chemical bond dissociation energies, and scalable minimal amons set based QML (AQML) models. Numerical evidence presented includes converged DMC results for over one thousand small organic molecules with up to 5 heavy atoms used as amons, and 50 medium sized organic molecules with 9 heavy atoms to validate the AQML predictions. Numerical evidence collected for 𝛥-AQML models suggests that already modestly sized QMC training data sets of amons suffice to predict total energies  with near chemical accuracy throughout chemical space. In this archive, we present DMC energies for over one thousand small organic molecules with up to 5 heavy atoms, and 50 medium sized organic molecules with 9 heavy atoms, as well as energies computed at cheaper levels of theory such as HF, DFT, MP2 and CCSD(T).

en: Fixed node diffusion Monte Carlo energies for over one thousand small organic molecules

chemical-space

display_name: chemical-space

quantum-machine-learning

display_name: quantum-machine-learning

quantum-monte-carlo

display_name: quantum-monte-carlo


en: Thin film organic photovoltaics (OPVs) aspire to extract solar energy in a green, high efficiency, and cost-effective pathway, offering a sustainable solution to energy and ecosystem. We take the effort of developing low ecological harmful solvent processing of OPV devices and mini-modules, to strengthen the environmental benefits of OPV. New formula utilizing safer solvents enhanced with additives affords an optimal laboratory device efficiency of 20% as well as superior operational and thermal stability. Mini-module shows an efficiency up to 17.6% in upscaled processing, representing the highest performance for green solvent OPV development. Suitable nanoscaled phase separation is obtained in together with a micron-scale surface wrinkle pattern from the new developed processing strategy. Thus efficient photon-to-electron conversion at nano-interfaces and light extraction in broader receiving angles is achieved, which allows for more flexible installation geometries in building-integrated applications.

en: Organic solar cells with eco-friendly preparation to achieve an efficiency of 20%

long-term-lifetime

display_name: long-term-lifetime

organic-solar-cells

display_name: organic-solar-cells

sustainability

display_name: sustainability


en: Prismatic slip in magnesium at temperatures T ≲ 150 K occurs at ∼ 100 MPa independent of temperature, and jerky flow due to large prismatic dislocation glide distances is observed; this athermal regime is not understood. In contrast, the behavior at T ≳ 150 K is understood to be governed by a thermally-activated double-cross-slip of the stable basal screw dislocation through an unstable or weakly metastable prism screw configuration and back to the basal screw. Here, a range of neural network potentials (NNPs) that are very similar for many properties of Mg including the basal-prism-basal cross-slip path and pro- cess, are shown to have an instability in prism slip at a potential-dependent critical stress. One NNP, NNP-77, has a critical instability stress in good agreement with experiments and also has basal-prism-basal transition path energies in very good agreement with DFT results, making it an excellent potential for understanding Mg prism slip. Full 3d simulations of the expansion of a prismatic loop using NNP-77 then also show a transition from cross-slip onto the basal plane at low stresses to prismatic loop expansion with no cross- slip at higher stresses, consistent with in-situ TEM observations. These results reveal (i) the origin and prediction of the observed unstable low-T prismatic slip in Mg and (ii) the critical use of machine-learning potentials to guide discovery and understanding of new important metallurgical behavior.

en: A low-temperature prismatic slip instability in Mg understood using machine learning potentials

magnesium

display_name: magnesium

marvel

display_name: marvel

minimum-energy-path

display_name: minimum-energy-path

neural-network-potential

display_name: neural-network-potential

prismatic-slip

display_name: prismatic-slip


en: A key strategy to design environmental barrier coatings focuses on doping multiple rare-earth principal components into β-type rare-earth disilicates (RE2Si2O7) to achieve versatile property optimization. However, controlling the phase formation capability of (nRExi)2Si2O7 remains a crucial challenge, due to the complex polymorphic phase competitions and evolutions led by different RE3+ combination. Herein, by fabricating twenty-one model (REI0.25REII0.25REIII0.25REIV0.25)2Si2O7 compounds, we find that their formation capability can be evaluated by the ability to accommodate configurational randomness of multiple RE3+ cations in β-type lattice while preventing the β-to-γ polymorphic transformation. The phase formation and stabilization are controlled by the average RE3+ radius and the deviations of different RE3+ combinations. Subsequently, based on high-throughput density-functional-theory calculations, we propose that the configurational entropy of mixing is a reliable descriptor to predict the phase formation of β-type (nRExi)2Si2O7. The results may accelerate the design of (nRExi)2Si2O7 materials with tailored compositions and controlled polymorphic phases.

en: Phase formation capability and compositional design of β-phase multiple rare-earth principal component disilicates

envi

en: Environment

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

environmental-barrier-coating

display_name: environmental-barrier-coating

experimental

display_name: experimental

high-entropy-ceramics

display_name: high-entropy-ceramics

phase-formation

display_name: phase-formation

rare-earth-disilicate

display_name: rare-earth-disilicate


en:
The widespread application of machine learning (ML) to the chemical sciences is making it very important to understand how the ML models learn to correlate chemical structures with their properties, and what can be done to improve the training efficiency whilst guaranteeing interpretability and transferability. In this work, we demonstrate the wide utility of prediction rigidities, a family of metrics derived from the loss function, in understanding the robustness of ML model predictions. We show that the prediction rigidities allow the assessment of the model not only at the global level, but also on the local or the component-wise level at which the intermediate (e.g. atomic, body-ordered, or range-separated) predictions are made. We leverage these metrics to understand the learning behavior of different ML models, and to guide efficient dataset construction for model training. We finally implement the formalism for a ML model targeting a coarse-grained system to demonstrate the applicability of the prediction rigidities to an even broader class of atomistic modeling problems.
This record contains all the data used for the analyses conducted in the associated work published in Faraday Discussions.

en: Prediction rigidities for data-driven chemistry

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

machine-learning

display_name: machine-learning

ml-model-robustness

display_name: ml-model-robustness

prediction-rigidity

display_name: prediction-rigidity

uncertainty-quantification

display_name: uncertainty-quantification


en: Complex oxide functionality, such as ferroelectricity, magnetism or superconductivity is often achieved in epitaxial thin-film geometries. Oxygen vacancies tend to be the dominant type of defect in these materials but a fundamental understanding of their stability and electronic structure has so far mostly been established in the bulk or strained bulk, neglecting interfaces and surfaces present in a thin-film geometry. We investigate here, via density functional theory calculations, oxygen vacancies in the model system of a SrMnO3 (SMO) thin film grown on a SrTiO3 (STO) (001) substrate. Structural and electronic differences compared to bulk SMO result mainly from undercoordination at the film surface. The changed crystal field leads to a depletion of subsurface valence-band states and transfer of this charge to surface Mn atoms, both of which strongly affect the defect chemistry in the film. The result is a strong preference of oxygen vacancies in the surface region compared to deeper layers. Finally, for metastable oxygen vacancies in the substrate, we predict a spatial separation of the defect from its excess charge, the latter being accommodated in the film but close to the substrate boundary. These results show that surface and interface effects lead to significant differences in stability and electronic structure of oxygen vacancies in thin-film geometries compared to the (strained) bulk.

en: Surface and interface effects in oxygen deficient SrMnO3 thin films grown on SrTiO3

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

crystal-field

display_name: crystal-field

cscs

display_name: cscs

interface

display_name: interface

oxygen-vacancy

display_name: oxygen-vacancy

snsf

display_name: snsf

surface

display_name: surface

thin-film

display_name: thin-film


en: In the upcoming process to overcome the limitations of the standard von Neumann architecture, synaptic electronics is gaining a primary role for the development of in-memory computing. In this field, Ge-based compounds have been proposed as switching materials for nonvolatile memory devices and for selectors. By employing the classical molecular dynamics, we study the structural features of both the liquid states at 1500 K and the amorphous phase at 300 K of Ge-rich and Se-rich chalcogenides binary Ge_x Se_1–x systems in the range 0.4 ≤ x ≤ 0.6. The simulations rely on a model of interatomic potentials where ions interact through steric repulsion, as well as Coulomb and charge–dipole interactions given by the large electronic polarizability of Se ions. Our results indicate the formation of temperature-dependent hierarchical structures with short-range local orders and medium-range structures, which vary with the Ge content. Our work demonstrates that nanosecond-long simulations, not accessible via ab initio techniques, are required to obtain a realistic amorphous phase from the melt. Our classical molecular dynamics simulations are able to describe the profound structural differences between the melt and the glassy structures of GeSe chalcogenides. These results open to the understanding of the interplay between chemical composition, atomic structure, and electrical properties in switching materials.

en: Hierarchical short- and medium-range order structures in amorphous Ge_x Se_1–x for selectors applications

amorphous

display_name: amorphous

chalcogenides

display_name: chalcogenides

intersect

display_name: intersect

molecular-dynamics

display_name: molecular-dynamics


en: The α/β interface is central to the microstructure and mechanical properties of titanium alloys. We investigate the structure, thermodynamics and migration of the coherent and semicoherent Ti α/β interfaces as a function of temperature and misfit strain via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, thermodynamic integration and an accurate, DFT-trained Deep Potential. The structure of an equilibrium semicoherent interface consists of an array of steps, an array of misfit dislocations, and coherent terraces. Analysis determines the dislocation and step (disconnection) array structure and habit plane. The MD simulations show the detailed interface morphology dictated by intersecting disconnection arrays. The steps are shown to facilitate α/β interface migration, while the misfit dislocations lead to interface drag; the drag mechanism is different depending on the direction of interface migration. These results are used to predict the nature of α phase nucleation on cooling through the α-β phase transition.

en: Coherent and semicoherent interfaces in titanium: structure, thermodynamics, migration

free-energy

display_name: free-energy

molecular-dynamics-simulation

display_name: molecular-dynamics-simulation

titanium-interfaces

display_name: titanium-interfaces


en: Organic semiconductors with high-spin ground states are fascinating because they could enable fundamental understanding on the spin-related phenomenon in light element and provide opportunities for organic magnetic and quantum materials. Although high-spin ground states have been observed in some quinoidal type small molecules or doped organic semiconductors, semiconducting polymers with high-spin at their neutral ground state are rarely reported. Here we report three high-mobility semiconducting polymers with different spin ground states. We show that polymer building blocks with small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔES-T) could enable small ΔES-T gap and increase the diradical character in copolymers. We demonstrate that the electronic structure, spin density, and solid-state interchain interactions in the high-spin polymers are crucial for their ground states. Polymers with a triplet ground state (S = 1) could exhibit doublet (S = 1/2) behavior due to different spin distributions and solid-state interchain spin-spin interactions. Besides, these polymers showed outstanding charge transport properties with high hole/electron mobilities and can be both n- and p-doped with superior conductivities. Our results demonstrate a rational approach to high-mobility semiconducting polymers with different spin ground states.

en: High-mobility semiconducting polymers with different spin ground states

high-mobility-polymers

display_name: high-mobility-polymers

high-spin-materials

display_name: high-spin-materials

organic-semiconductor

display_name: organic-semiconductor


en:
Despite the high promise of Li-metal-based batteries, its commercialization has been hampered due to the formation of dendrites that lead to mechanical instability,
energy loss and eventual internal short circuits. The provided dataset consists of the phase-field simulation results for investigating the effect of applied overpotential and operating temperature on dendrite growth. These data are used for elucidating the correlation of overpotential and temperature with the surface modulation during electrodeposition. The simulation cell consists of a Li metal anode and 1M LiPF6 in EC:DMC (1:1), and the electrodeposition process was simulated under the applied overpotential ranging from 0.30 V to 0.44 V with a 0.02 V increment at temperatures from 268 K and 333 K with a 5 K increment. The data contains order parameter, chemical potential and overpotential. The supplied Python script can compute the surface tortuosity, average and maximum Li heights and dendrite height at a given temperature, overpotential and time step.

en: Phase-field investigation of lithium electrodeposition under different applied overpotentials and operating temperatures

anode

display_name: anode

big-map

display_name: big-map

dendrites

display_name: dendrites

interfaces

display_name: interfaces

lithium

display_name: lithium

phase-field

display_name: phase-field


en: The heat capacity of a material is a fundamental property that is of significant practical importance. For example, in a carbon capture process, the heat required to regenerate a solid sorbent is directly related to the heat capacity of the material. However, for most materials suitable for carbon capture applications the heat capacity is not known, and thus the standard procedure is to assume the same value for all materials. In this work, we developed a machine-learning approach to accurately predict the heat capacity of these materials, i.e., zeolites, metal-organic frameworks, and covalent-organic frameworks. The accuracy of our prediction is confirmed with novel experimental data. Finally, for a temperature swing adsorption process that captures carbon from the flue gas of a coal-fired power plant, we show that for some materials the energy requirement is reduced by as much as a factor of two using the correct heat capacity.

en: A data-science approach to predict the heat capacity of nanoporous materials

heat-capacity

display_name: heat-capacity

machine-learning

display_name: machine-learning

mof

display_name: mof

snsf

display_name: snsf

thermal-properties

display_name: thermal-properties

zeolite

display_name: zeolite


en:
The interplay between electron correlation and nuclear quantum effects makes our understanding of elemental hydrogen a formidable challenge. Here, we present the phase diagram of hydrogen and deuterium at low temperatures and high-pressure (P > 300 GPa) by accounting for highly accurate electronic and nuclear enthalpies. We evaluated internal electronic energies by diffusion quantum Monte Carlo, while nuclear quantum motion and anharmonicity have been included by the stochastic self-consistent harmonic approximation. Our results show that the long-sought atomic metallic hydrogen, predicted to host room-temperature superconductivity, forms at 577±10 GPa (640±14 GPa in deuterium). Indeed, anharmonicity pushes the stability of this phase towards pressures much larger than previous theoretical estimates or attained experimental values. Before atomization, molecular hydrogen transforms from a metallic phase III to another metallic structure that is still molecular (phase VI) at 422±40 GPa (442±30 GPa in deuterium). We predict clear-cut signatures in optical spectroscopy and DC conductivity that can be used experimentally to distinguish between the two structural transitions. According to our findings, the experimental evidence of metallic hydrogen has so far been limited to molecular phases.
The data uploaded here contains the structural information of the simulated phases of hydrogen and their quantum centroid position as a function of pressure and isotope.

en: Quantum phase diagram of high-pressure hydrogen

envi

en: Environment

high-pressure-hydrogen

display_name: high-pressure-hydrogen


en: Li–S batteries are a promising alternative to Li-ion batteries, offering large energy storage capacity and wide operating temperature range. However, their performance is heavily affected by the Li-polysulphide (LiPS) shuttling. Computational screening of LiPS adsorption on single-atom catalyst (SAC) substrates is of great aid to the design of Li–S batteries which are robust against the LiPS shuttling from the cathode to the anode and the electrolyte. To facilitate this process, we develop a machine learning (ML) protocol to accelerate the systematic mapping of dominant local energy minima found with calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT), and, in turn, fast screening of LiPS adsorption properties on SACs. We first validate the approach by probing the potential energy surface for LiPS adsorbed on graphene decorated with a Fe–N4–C SAC. We identify minima whose binding energies are better or on par with the one previously reported in the literature. We then move to analyse the adsorption trends on Zn–N4–C SAC and observe similar adsorption strength and behaviour with the Fe–N4–C SAC, highlighting the good predictive power of our protocol. Our approach offers a comprehensive and computationally efficient alternative to conventional approaches studying LiPS adsorption

en: Accelerating the theoretical study of Li-polysulphide adsorption on single-atom catalysts via machine learning approaches

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

batteries

display_name: batteries

generalised-convex-hull

display_name: generalised-convex-hull

minima-search

display_name: minima-search


en: Smearing techniques are widely used in first-principles calculations of metallic and magnetic materials, where they improve the accuracy of Brillouin zone sampling and lessen the impact of level-crossing instabilities. Smearing introduces a fictitious electronic temperature that smooths the discontinuities of the integrands; consequently, a corresponding fictitious entropic term arises and needs to be considered in the total free energy functional. Advanced smearing techniques – such as Methfessel-Paxton and cold smearing – have been introduced to guarantee that the system's total free energy remains independent of the smearing temperature at least up to the second order. In doing so, they give rise to non-monotonic occupation functions (and, for Methfessel-Paxton, non-positive definite), which can result in the chemical potential not being uniquely defined. We explore this shortcoming in detail and introduce a numerical protocol utilizing Newton's minimization method that is able to identify the desired Fermi energy. We validate the method by calculating the Fermi energy of ~20,000 materials and comparing it with the results of standard bisection approaches. In passing, we also highlight how traditional approaches, based on Fermi-Dirac or Gaussian smearing, are actually equivalent for all practical purposes, provided the smearing width is appropriately renormalized by a factor ~2.565. This data set contains the AiiDA databases, scripts, and other data necessary for the reproduction of our results.

en: Fermi energy determination for advanced smearing techniques

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

fermi-energy

display_name: fermi-energy

insulators

display_name: insulators

intersect

display_name: intersect

marvel

display_name: marvel

semiconductors

display_name: semiconductors

smearing

display_name: smearing


en: The microscopic mechanism of heavy band formation, relevant for unconventional superconductivity in CeCoIn₅ and other Ce-based heavy fermion materials, depends strongly on the efficiency with which f electrons are delocalized from the rare earth sites and participate in a Kondo lattice. Replacing Ce³⁺ (4f 1, J = 5/2) with Sm³⁺ (4f 5, J = 5/2), we show that a combination of crystal field and on-site Coulomb repulsion causes SmCoIn₅ to exhibit a Γ7 ground state similar to CeCoIn5 with multiple f electrons. Remarkably, we also find that with this ground state, SmCoIn₅ exhibits a temperature-induced valence crossover consistent with a Kondo scenario, leading to increased delocalization of f holes below a temperature scale set by the crystal field, Tv ≈ 60 K. Our result provides evidence that in the case of many f electrons, the crystal field remains the most important tuning knob in controlling the efficiency of delocalization near a heavy fermion quantum critical point, and additionally clarifies that charge fluctuations are present and may play a generally important role in the ground state of "115" materials.

en: Charge fluctuations in the intermediate-valence ground state of SmCoIn₅

dftu

display_name: dftu

heavy-fermions

display_name: heavy-fermions

mixed-valence

display_name: mixed-valence


en: Maximally-localized Wannier functions (MLWFs) are a powerful and broadly used tool to characterize the electronic structure of materials, from chemical bonding to dielectric response to topological properties. Most generally, one can construct MLWFs that describe isolated band manifolds, e.g. for the valence bands of insulators, or entangled band manifolds, e.g. in metals or describing both the valence and the conduction manifolds in insulators. Obtaining MLWFs that describe a target manifold accurately and with the most compact representation often requires chemical intuition and trial and error, a challenging step even for experienced researchers and a roadblock for automated high-throughput calculations. Here, we present a very natural and powerful approach that provides automatically MLWFs spanning the occupied bands and their natural complement for the empty states, resulting in WÎannier Hamiltonian models that provide a tight-binding picture of optimized atomic orbitals in crystals. Key to the success of the algorithm is the introduction of a projectability measure for each Bloch state onto atomic orbitals (here, chosen from the pseudopotential projectors) that determines if that state should be kept identically, discarded, or mixed into a disentangling algorithm. We showcase the accuracy of our method by comparing a reference test set of 200 materials against the selected-columns-of-the-density-matrix (SCDM) algorithm, and its reliability by Wannierizing 21 737 materials from the Materials Cloud.

en: Projectability disentanglement for accurate and automated electronic-structure Hamiltonians

high-throughput

display_name: high-throughput

wannier-functions

display_name: wannier-functions

wannierization

display_name: wannierization


en: This data set includes the workflows (all steps including input parameters and output data) for the computation of the adsorption energies for atomic oxygen on different platinum nanoparticles using density functional theory. Different number of adsorbed oxygen atoms, starting from single adsorbed oxygen atoms, and different adsorption configurations have been considered. The lowest-energy adsorption configurations have been used to compute the phase diagrams describing the thermodynamic equilibrium in the platinum-oxygen system at different temperatures and pressures. For the construction of the phase diagrams, additional calculations for platinum oxide nanoparticles and a correction to the O2 dissociation energy have been performed.

en: Platinum nanoparticles under oxidizing conditions

oxygen-adsorption

display_name: oxygen-adsorption

platinum-nanocatalyst

display_name: platinum-nanocatalyst

platinum-nanoparticle

display_name: platinum-nanoparticle

pressure-temperature-phase-diagram

display_name: pressure-temperature-phase-diagram


en: For decades transition-metal oxides have generated a huge interest due to the multitude of physical phenomena they exhibit. In this class of materials, the rare-earth nickelates, RNiO₃, stand out for their rich phase diagram stemming from complex couplings between the lattice, electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom. Here, we present a first-principles study of the low-temperature phase for two members of the RNiO₃ series, with R = Pr, Y. We employ density-functional theory with Hubbard corrections accounting not only for the on-site localizing interactions among the Ni-3d electrons (U), but also the inter-site hybridization effects between the transition-metals and the ligands (V). All the U and V parameters are calculated from first-principles using density-functional perturbation theory, resulting in a fully ab initio methodology. Our simulations show that the inclusion of the inter-site interaction parameters V is necessary to simultaneously capture the features well-established by experimental characterizations of the low-temperature state: insulating character, antiferromagnetism and bond disproportionation. On the contrary, for some magnetic orderings the inclusion of on-site interaction parameters U alone completely suppresses the breathing distortion occurring in the low-temperature phase and produces an erroneous electronic state with a vanishing band gap. In addition - only when both the U and V are considered - we predict a polar phase with a magnetization-dependent electric polarization,  supporting very recent experimental observations that suggest a possible occurrence of type-II multiferroicity for these materials.

en: Hybridization driving distortions and multiferroicity in rare-earth nickelates

electronic-structure

display_name: electronic-structure

magnetism

display_name: magnetism

rare-earth-nickelates

display_name: rare-earth-nickelates


en: Conversion of graphene into pure free-standing graphane — where each C atom is sp³ bound to a hydrogen atom — has not been achieved so far, in spite of numerous experimental attempts. Here, we obtain an unprecedented level of hydrogenation (~90% of sp³ bonds) by exposing fully free-standing nano porous samples — constituted by single to few veils of smoothly rippled graphene — to atomic hydrogen in ultra-high-vacuum. Such a controlled hydrogenation of high-quality and high-specific-area samples converts the original conductive graphene into a wide gap semiconductor, with the valence band maximum (VBM) ~3.5 eV below the Fermi level, as monitored by photoemission spectro-microscopy and confirmed by theoretical predictions. In fact, the calculated band structure unequivocally identifies the achievement of a stable, double-side fully hydrogenated configuration, with no trace of pi states and a gap opening in excellent agreement with the experimental results.

en: Gap opening in double-sided highly hydrogenated free-standing graphene

big-map

display_name: big-map

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

first-principles

display_name: first-principles

graphane

display_name: graphane

gw-approximation

display_name: gw-approximation

hydrogenated-graphene

display_name: hydrogenated-graphene

max

display_name: max

nanoporous-graphene

display_name: nanoporous-graphene

spectromicroscopy

display_name: spectromicroscopy

yambo-code

display_name: yambo-code


en:
The creation and maintenance of crystallographic data repositories is one of the greatest data-related achievements in chemistry. Platforms such as the Cambridge Structural Database host what is likely the most diverse collection of synthesizable molecules. If properly mined, they could be the basis for the large-scale exploration of new regions of the chemical space using quantum chemistry (QC). However, it is currently challenging to retrieve all the necessary information for QC based exclusively on the available structural data, especially for transition metal complexes. To solve this shortcoming, we present  cell2mol, a software that interprets crystallographic data and retrieves the connectivity and total charge of molecules, including the oxidation state (OS) of metal atoms. We prove that  cell2mol outperforms other popular methods at assigning the metal OS, while offering a much more comprehensive interpretation of the unit cell, and we make publicly available reliable QC-ready databases totaling 31k transition metal complexes and 13k ligands, encompassing incomparable chemical diversity.

This record contains the aforementioned database of crystallographic structures after interpretation using the cell2mol software. The database spans 8 different transition metals (Fe, Mn, Ru, Re, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu; named from 1 to 8) and contains over 31000 different transition metal complexes and 13000 unique ligands, but also contains the interpreted contents of the entire unit cells in terms of discrete chemical species with well-defined charges and connectivities. Details can be found in the README.txt file and an exemplary script is provided for usage. The cell2mol code can be obtained in https://github.com/lcmd-epfl/cell2mol.

en: cell2mol: encoding chemistry to interpret crystallographic data

envi

en: Environment

crystal

display_name: crystal

experimental

display_name: experimental

marvel

display_name: marvel


en: Maximally localized Wannier functions (MLWFs) are widely used to construct first-principles tight-binding models that accurately reproduce the electronic structure of materials. Recently, robust and automated approaches to generate these MLWFs have emerged, leading to natural sets of atomic-like orbitals that describe both the occupied states and the lowest lying unoccupied ones (when the latter can be meaningfully described by bonding/anti-bonding combinations of localized orbitals). For many applications, it is important to instead have MLWFs that describe only certain target manifolds separated in energy between them — the occupied states, the empty states, or certain groups of bands. Here, we start from the full set of MLWFs describing simultaneously all the target manifolds, and then mix them using a combination of parallel transport and maximal localization to construct orthogonal sets of MLWFs that fully and only span the desired target submanifolds. The algorithm is simple and robust, and it is applied to some paradigmatic but non-trivial cases (the valence and conduction bands of silicon, the top valence band of MoS₂, the 3d and t2g/eg bands of SrVO₃ and to a mid-throughput study of 77 insulators.

en: Automated mixing of maximally localized Wannier functions into target manifolds

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

manifold-optimization

display_name: manifold-optimization

snsf

display_name: snsf

wannier-functions

display_name: wannier-functions

wannier-interpolation

display_name: wannier-interpolation

wannierization

display_name: wannierization


en:
We develop an accurate nanoelectronic modeling approach for realistic three-dimensional topological insulator nanostructures and investigate their low-energy surface-state spectrum. Starting from the commonly considered four-band k·p bulk model Hamiltonian for the Bi₂Se₃ family of topological insulators, we derive new parameter sets for Bi₂Se₃, Bi₂Te₃ and Sb₂Te₃. We consider a fitting strategy applied to ab initio band structures around the Γ point that ensures a quantitatively accurate description of the low-energy bulk and surface states, while avoiding the appearance of unphysical low-energy states at higher momenta, something that is not guaranteed by the commonly considered perturbative approach. We analyze  the effects that arise in the low-energy spectrum of topological surface states due to band anisotropy and electron-hole asymmetry, yielding Dirac surface states that naturally localize on different side facets. In the thin-film limit, when surface states hybridize through the bulk, we resort to a thin-film model and derive thickness-dependent model parameters from ab initio calculations that show good agreement with experimentally resolved band structures, unlike the bulk model that neglects relevant many-body effects in this regime. Our versatile modeling approach offers a reliable starting point for accurate simulations of realistic topological material-based nanoelectronic devices.
This dataset contains the data used in the corresponding publication.

en: Low-energy modeling of three-dimensional topological insulator nanostructures

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

dft

display_name: dft

effective-hamiltonian

display_name: effective-hamiltonian

kp-low-energy-model

display_name: kp-low-energy-model

tight-binding

display_name: tight-binding

topological-insulator

display_name: topological-insulator


en: Charge density wave (CDW) orders in vanadium-based kagome metals have recently received tremendous attention, yet their origin remains a topic of debate. The discovery of ScV₆Sn₆, a bilayer kagome metal featuring an intriguing √3 x √3 x 3 CDW order, offers a novel platform to explore the underlying mechanism behind the unconventional CDW. Here, we combine high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, Raman scattering and density functional theory to investigate the electronic structure and phonon modes of ScV₆Sn₆. We identify topologically nontrivial surface states and multiple van Hove singularities (VHSs) in the vicinity of the Fermi level, with one VHS aligning with the in-plane component of the CDW vector near the K ̅ point. Additionally, Raman measurements indicate a strong electron-phonon coupling, as evidenced by a two-phonon mode and new emergent modes. Our findings highlight the fundamental role of lattice degrees of freedom in promoting the CDW in ScV₆Sn₆.

en: Phonon promoted charge density wave in topological kagome metal ScV₆Sn₆

arpes-raman-stm-dft

display_name: arpes-raman-stm-dft

nccr-marvel

display_name: nccr-marvel


en:
Materials that can host Majorana zero modes gained a lot of attention in recent years due to the possibility to engineer topologically protected quantum computing platforms. Promising candidates are heterostructures of topological insulators and superconductors. Here we present density-functional-theory-based calculations for Pd-doped Bi₂Te₃ and Pd(Bi,Te)x (x=1,2) in order to shed light on the superconducting properties in the self-formed superconducting phase when Pd is deposited on top of the topological insulator Bi₂Te₃.
This dataset accompanies a joint experiment/theory publication and publishes the related density functional theory calculations for:
- relaxed geometries for Pd intercalation in the Bi₂Te₃ vdW gap
- electronic structure of PdTe and PdTe₂ compared to alloy phases of Pd(Bi,Te) and Pd(Bi,Te)₂, collectively referred to as "xPBT"
- calculations for the superconducting state of xPBT phases within the Kohn-Sham Bogoliubov-de Gennes method

en: Pd-doping of Bi₂Te₃ and superconductivity of Pd(Bi,Te)x from density functional theory

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

majorana

display_name: majorana

superconductivity

display_name: superconductivity

topological-materials

display_name: topological-materials


en: On-surface synthesis has emerged as a powerful strategy to fabricate unprecedented forms of atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). However, the on-surface synthesis of zigzag GNRs (ZGNR) has met with only limited success. In the paper where the data are discussed, we report the synthesis and on-surface reactions of 2,7-dibromo-9,9'-bianthryl as the precursor towards π-extended ZGNRs. Characterization by scanning tunneling microscopy and high-resolution noncontact atomic force microscopy clearly demonstrated the formation of anthracene-fused ZGNRs. Unique skeletal rearrangements were also observed, which could be explained by intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition. Theoretical calculations of the electronic properties of the anthracene-fused ZGNRs revealed spin-polarized edge-states and a narrow bandgap of 0.20 eV.

en: On-surface synthesis of anthracene-fused zigzag graphene nanoribbons from 2,7-dibromo-9,9'-bianthryl reveals unexpected ring rearrangements

graphene-nanoribbons

display_name: graphene-nanoribbons

marvel

display_name: marvel

on-surface-synthesis

display_name: on-surface-synthesis


en:
Hubbard-corrected density-functional theory has proven to be successful in addressing self-interaction errors in 3D magnetic materials. However, the effectiveness of this approach for 2D magnetic materials has not been extensively explored. Here, we use PBEsol+U and its extensions PBEsol+U+V to investigate the electronic, structural, and vibrational properties of 2D antiferromagnetic FePS₃ and ferromagnetic CrI₃, and compare the monolayers with their bulk counterparts. Hubbard parameters (on-site U and inter-site V) are computed self-consistently using density-functional perturbation theory, thus avoiding any empirical assumptions. We show that for FePS₃ the Hubbard corrections are crucial in obtaining the experimentally observed insulating state with the correct crystal symmetry, providing also vibrational frequencies in good agreement with Raman experiments. While empirical U can lead to an unstable ground-state (i.e. imaginary phonons), the system remains stable through the self-consistent process of calculating Hubbard parameters.
For ferromagnetic CrI₃, we discuss how a straightforward application of Hubbard corrections worsens the results and introduces a spurious separation between spin-majority and minority conduction bands. Promoting the Hubbard U to be a spin-resolved parameter — that is, applying different (first-principles) values to the spin-up and spin-down manifolds — recovers a more physical picture of the electronic bands and delivers the best comparison with experiments.

en: On-site and inter-site Hubbard corrections in magnetic monolayers: The case of FePS₃ and CrI₃

cscs

display_name: cscs

dftu

display_name: dftu

dftuv

display_name: dftuv

epfl

display_name: epfl

first-principles

display_name: first-principles

hubbard

display_name: hubbard

quantum-espresso

display_name: quantum-espresso


en: Neural networks (NNs) often assign high confidence to their predictions, even for points far out-of-distribution, making uncertainty quantification (UQ) a challenge. When they are employed to model interatomic potentials in materials systems, this problem leads to unphysical structures that disrupt simulations, or to biased statistics and dynamics that do not reflect the true physics. Differentiable UQ techniques can find new informative data and drive active learning loops for robust potentials. However, a variety of UQ techniques, including newly developed ones, exist for atomistic simulations and there are no clear guidelines for which are most effective or suitable for a given case. In this work, we examine multiple UQ schemes for improving the robustness of NN interatomic potentials (NNIPs) through active learning. In particular, we compare incumbent ensemble-based methods against strategies that use single, deterministic NNs: mean-variance estimation, deep evidential regression, and Gaussian mixture models. We explore three datasets ranging from in-domain interpolative learning to more extrapolative out-of-domain generalization challenges: rMD17, ammonia inversion, and bulk silica glass. Performance is measured across multiple metrics relating model error to uncertainty. Our experiments show that none of the methods consistently outperformed each other across the various metrics. Ensembling remained better at generalization and for NNIP robustness;  MVE only proved effective for in-domain interpolation, while GMM was better out-of-domain; and evidential regression, despite its promise, was not the preferable alternative in any of the cases. More broadly, cost-effective, single deterministic models cannot yet consistently match or outperform ensembling for uncertainty quantification in NNIPs.

en: Single-model uncertainty quantification in neural network potentials does not consistently outperform model ensembles

adversarial-sampling

display_name: adversarial-sampling

ammonia

display_name: ammonia

neural-network-interatomic-potentials

display_name: neural-network-interatomic-potentials

silica-glass

display_name: silica-glass

single-deterministic-neural-networks

display_name: single-deterministic-neural-networks

uncertainty-quantification

display_name: uncertainty-quantification


en: We study the electronic and optical properties of the hydrogen boride sheet by using the many-body perturbation theory with the perturbative GW (G₀W₀) approximation. It was found that the hydrogen boride sheet shows a semimetallic electronic structure, supporting the previous theoretical study based on the semilocal density functional theory calculations. It was also found that the optical spectrum calculated based on the quasiparticle energies agrees well with the experiments. This work suggests that G₀W₀ approximation may be useful for predicting precise electronic and optical properties of the hydrogen boride sheet and its derivatives.

en: Electronic and optical properties of the hydrogen boride sheet from the many-body perturbation theory

envi

en: Environment

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

dft

display_name: dft

hydrogen-boride

display_name: hydrogen-boride

many-body-perturbation-theory

display_name: many-body-perturbation-theory

nanosheet

display_name: nanosheet

two-dimensional

display_name: two-dimensional


en: One key bottleneck of solid-state NMR spectroscopy is that ¹H NMR spectra of organic solids are often very broad due to the presence of a strong network of dipolar couplings. We have recently suggested a new approach to tackle this problem. More specifically, we parametrically mapped errors leading to residual dipolar broadening into a second dimension and removed them in a correlation experiment. In this way pure isotropic proton (PIP) spectra were obtained that contain only isotropic shifts and provide the highest ¹H NMR resolution available today in rigid solids. Here, using a deep-learning method, we extend the PIP approach to a second dimension, and for samples of L-tyrosine hydrochloride and ampicillin we obtain high resolution ¹H-¹H double-quantum/single-quantum dipolar correlation and spin-diffusion spectra with significantly higher resolution than the corresponding spectra at 100 kHz MAS, allowing the identification of previously overlapped isotropic correlation peaks.

en: Two-dimensional pure isotropic proton solid state NMR

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

machine-learning

display_name: machine-learning

nmr

display_name: nmr

resolution

display_name: resolution


en: Existing, classical interatomic potentials for bcc iron predict contradicting crack-tip mechanisms (i.e. cleavage, dislocation emission, phase transition) for the same crack systems, thus leaving the crack propagation mechanism in bcc iron unclear. In this work, we develop a Gaussian approximation potential (GAP) by extending a DFT database for ferromagnetic bcc iron to include highly distorted primitive bcc cells and surface separation, along with small crack-tip configurations that are identified by means of a fully automated active learning workflow. Our GAP (referred to as Fe-GAP22) predicts crack propagation within 8 meV/atom accuracy. The fully automated, active learning workflow is made publicly available on GitHub. With the newly developed Fe-GAP22, we find that in absence of other defects around the crack tip (e.g. nanovoids, dislocations), the static (T=0K) crack-tip mechanism is cleavage, thus settling the contradictions in the literature. Our work also highlights the need for multi-scale modelling to predict fracture at finite temperatures and finite strain rates.

en: Atomistic fracture in bcc iron revealed by active learning of Gaussian approximation potential

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

bcc-iron

display_name: bcc-iron

fracture

display_name: fracture

gaussian-approximation-potential

display_name: gaussian-approximation-potential


en: AuNi is a classic long-studied fcc alloy combining a very "large" atom (Au) and a very "small" atom (Ni), and the large atomic size misfits suggest very high strengthening. Here, AuNi is used as a model alloy for the testing of new strengthening theories in random alloys that include the effects of both size misfits and solute–solute interactions. Experimentally, AuNi samples are fabricated, characterized, and tested, and show no segregation after annealing at 900 °C and a very high yield strength of 769 MPa. Theoretically, the main inputs to the theory (alloy lattice and elastic constants, solute misfit volumes, energy fluctuations associated with slip in the presence of solute–solute interactions) are extracted from experiments or computed using first-principles DFT. The parameter-free prediction of the yield strength is 809 MPa, in very good agreement with experiments. Solute–solute interactions enhance the strength only moderately (13%), demonstrating that the strengthening is dominated by the solute misfit contribution. Various aspects of the full theory are discussed, the general methodology is presented in an easy-to-apply analytic framework, and a new analysis for strengthening in alloys with zero misfits but non-zero solute–solute interactions is presented. These results provide support for the theories and point toward applications to many fcc complex concentrated alloys.

en: Solute misfit and solute interaction effects on strengthening: A case study in AuNi

auni

display_name: auni

marvel

display_name: marvel

misfit-volume

display_name: misfit-volume

solute-strengthening-theory

display_name: solute-strengthening-theory

stacking-fault-energy

display_name: stacking-fault-energy

yield-strength

display_name: yield-strength


en: The temperature-dependent properties of the aqueous electron have been extensively studied using mixed quantum-classical simulations in a wide range of thermodynamic conditions based on one-electron pseudopotentials. While the cavity model appears to explain most of the physical properties of the aqueous electron, only a non-cavity model has so far been successful in accounting for the temperature dependence of the absorption spectrum. Here, we present an accurate and efficient description of the aqueous electron under various thermodynamic conditions by combining hybrid functional-based molecular dynamics, machine learning techniques, and multiple time-step methods. Our advanced simulations accurately describe the temperature dependence of the absorption maximum in the presence of cavity formation. Specifically, our work reveals that the red shift of the absorption maximum results from an increasing gyration radius with temperature, rather than from global density variations as previously suggested.

en: Temperature dependent properties of the aqueous electron

ab-initio-molecular-dynamics

display_name: ab-initio-molecular-dynamics

aqueous-electron

display_name: aqueous-electron

hybrid-functional

display_name: hybrid-functional


en: The GW approach produces highly accurate quasiparticle energies, but its application to large systems is computationally challenging, which can be largely attributed to the difficulty in computing the inverse dielectric matrix. To address this challenge, we develop a machine learning approach to efficiently predict density-density response functions (DDRF) in materials. For this, an atomic decomposition of the DDRF is introduced as well as the neighbourhood density-matrix descriptor both of which transform in the same way under rotations. The resulting DDRFs are then used to evaluate quasiparticle energies via the GW approach. This technique is called the ML-GW approach. To assess the accuracy of this method, we apply it to hydrogenated silicon clusters and find that it reliably reproduces HOMO-LUMO gaps and quasiparticle energy levels. The accuracy of the predictions deteriorates when the approach is applied to larger clusters than those included in the training set. These advances pave the way towards GW calculations of complex systems, such as disordered materials, liquids, interfaces and nanoparticles.

en: Accelerating GW calculations through machine learned dielectric matrices

ab-initio

display_name: ab-initio

dft

display_name: dft


en: Topological data analysis based on persistent homology has been applied to the molecular dynamics simulation for the fast ion-conducting phase (α-phase) of AgI, to show its effectiveness on the ion-migration mechanism analysis. Time-averaged persistence diagrams of α-AgI, which quantitatively records the shape and size of the ring structures in the given atomic configurations, clearly showed the emergence of the four-membered rings formed by two Ag and two I ions at high temperatures. They were identified as common structures during the Ag ion migration. The averaged potential energy change due to the deformation of four-membered ring agrees well with the activation energy calculated from the conductivity Arrhenius plot. The concerted motion of two Ag ions via the four-membered ring was also successfully extracted from molecular dynamics simulations by our approach, providing the new insight into the specific mechanism of the concerted motion.

en: Topological data analysis of superionic conductor silver iodide

ion-migration

display_name: ion-migration

molecular-dynamics-simulation

display_name: molecular-dynamics-simulation

persistence-diagram

display_name: persistence-diagram


en: We present an approach for the calculation of the Z2 topological invariant in non-crystalline two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulators. While topological invariants were originally mathematically introduced for crystalline periodic systems, and crucially hinge on tracking the evolution of occupied states through the Brillouin zone, the introduction of disorder or dynamical effects can break the translational symmetry and imply the use of larger simulation cells, where the k-point sampling is typically reduced to the single Γ-point. Here, we introduce a single-point formula for the spin Chern number that enables to adopt the supercell framework, where a single Hamiltonian diagonalisation is performed. Our single-point approach allows to calculate the spin Chern number even when the spin operator does not commute with the Hamiltonian, as in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. This archive entry contains the results of the single-point calculations of the topological invariant on the tight-binding Kane-Mele model for large supercells (up to 7200 sites). Convergence tests as function of the supercell size are reported, both in the pristine case and in presence of Anderson disorder. Single-point calculations of the spin Chern number are carried out over the entire phase diagram of the Kane-Mele model. The study of topological phase transitions due to disorder is performed in terms of single-point spin Chern number by averaging over several realisations of the Anderson disorder in the supercell.

en: Single-point spin Chern number in a supercell framework

anderson-disorder

display_name: anderson-disorder

kane-mele-model

display_name: kane-mele-model

spin-chern-number

display_name: spin-chern-number

supercell-framework

display_name: supercell-framework

topological-insulators

display_name: topological-insulators


en: Recent neutron-diffraction experiments in honeycomb CrI₃ quasi-2D ferromagnets have evinced the existence of a gap at the Dirac point in their spin-wave spectra. The existence of this gap has been attributed to strong in-plane Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya or Kitaev (DM/K) interactions and suggested to set the stage for topologically protected edge states to sustain non-dissipative spin transport. We perform state-of-the-art simulations of the spin-wave spectra in monolayer CrI₃, based on time-dependent density-functional perturbation theory (TDDFpT) and fully accounting for spin-orbit couplings (SOC) from which DM/K interactions ultimately stem. While our results are in qualitative agreement with experiments, the computed TDDFpT magnon gap at the Dirac point is found to be 0.47 meV, roughly six times smaller than the most recent experimental estimates, so questioning that intralayer anisotropies alone can explain the observed gap. Lattice-dynamical calculations, performed within density-functional perturbation theory (DFpT), indicate that a substantial degeneracy and a strong coupling between vibrational and magnetic excitations exist in this system, providing a possible additional gap-opening mechanism in the spin-wave spectra. To pursue this path, we introduce an interacting magnon-phonon Hamiltonian featuring a linear coupling between lattice and spin fluctuations, enabled by the magnetic anisotropy induced by SOC. Upon determination of the relevant interaction constants by DFpT and supercell calculations, this model allows us to propose magnon-phonon interactions as an important microscopic mechanism responsible for the enhancement of the gap in the range of ≈4meV around the Dirac point of the CrI₃ monolayer.

en: Magnon-phonon interactions enhance the gap at the Dirac point in the spin-wave spectra of CrI₃ two-dimensional magnets

envi

en: Environment

dfpt

display_name: dfpt

magnon-phonon-coupling

display_name: magnon-phonon-coupling

magnons

display_name: magnons

marvel

display_name: marvel

phonons

display_name: phonons

quantum-espresso

display_name: quantum-espresso

tddft

display_name: tddft


en: We present an inexpensive first-principles approach for describing quantum paraelectricity that combines density functional theory (DFT) treatment of the electronic subsystem with quantum mechanical treatment of the ions through solution of the single-particle Schrödinger equation with the DFT-calculated potential. Using BaTiO3, SrTiO3, and KTaO3 as model systems, we show that the approach can straightforwardly distinguish between ferroelectric, paraelectric, and quantum paraelectric materials, based on simple quantities extracted from standard density functional and density functional perturbation theories. We calculate the influence of isotope substitution and strain on quantum paraelectric behavior and find that, while complete replacement of oxygen-16 by oxygen-18 has a surprisingly small effect, experimentally accessible strains can induce large changes. Finally, we collect the various choices for the phonon mass that have been introduced in the literature. We ide tify those that are most physically meaningful by comparing them with our results that avoid such a choice through the use of mass-weighted coordinates.

en: Ferroelectric, quantum paraelectric, or paraelectric? Calculating the evolution from BaTiO3 to SrTiO3 to KTaO3 using a single-particle quantum mechanical description of the ions

materialscloud

en:
Materials Cloud is a platform built to enable the seamless sharing and dissemination of resources in computational materials science, offering educational, research, and archiving tools; simulation software and services; and curated and raw data. These underpin published results and empower data-based discovery, compliant with data management plans and the FAIR principles.

In the Materials Cloud you can browse, explore, download, or deposit raw and curated data (in the Discover, Explore, and Archive sections); you can access cloud or redeployable simulation services (from AiiDAlab turnkey simulations to the Quantum Mobile virtual machine, the AiiDA registry of plugins and workflows, and the OSSCAR notebooks, in the Work section), and you can use all our educational material, tutorials and lectures (in the Learn section).

ferroelectricity

display_name: ferroelectricity

quantum-paraelectricity

display_name: quantum-paraelectricity


en: Metal surfaces have long been known to reconstruct, significantly influencing their structural and catalytic properties. Many key mechanistic aspects of these subtle transformations remain poorly understood due to limitations of previous simulation approaches. Using active learning of Bayesian machine-learned force fields trained from ab initio calculations, we enable large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to describe the thermodynamics and time evolution of the low-index mesoscopic surface reconstructions of Au (e.g., the Au(111)-`Herringbone,' Au(110)-(1x2)-`Missing-Row,' and Au(100)-`Quasi-Hexagonal' reconstructions). This capability yields direct atomistic understanding of the dynamic emergence of these surface states from their initial facets, providing previously inaccessible information such as nucleation kinetics and a complete mechanistic interpretation of reconstruction under the effects of strain and local deviations from the original stoichiometry. We successfully reproduce previous experimental observations of reconstructions on pristine surfaces and provide quantitative predictions of the emergence of spinodal decomposition and localized reconstruction in response to strain at non-ideal stoichiometries. A unified mechanistic explanation is presented of the kinetic and thermodynamic factors driving surface reconstruction. Furthermore, we study surface reconstructions on Au nanoparticles, where characteristic (111) and (100) reconstructions spontaneously appear on a variety of high-symmetry particle morphologies. The training data, MLFF, and subsequent simulations are provided for reproducibility.

en: Low-index mesoscopic surface reconstructions of Au surfaces using Bayesian force fields

materialscloud

en: Materials Cloud

density-functional-theory

display_name: density-functional-theory

machine-learning

display_name: machine-learning