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Title: Study of morphology effects on magnetic interactions and band gap variations for 3d late transition metal bi-doped ZnO nanostructures by hybrid DFT calculations

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4929510· OSTI ID:22493578
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Material Sciences, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, JD Block, Sector-III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700 098 (India)
  2. Central Department of Physics, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu (Nepal)

Using density functional theory (DFT) based electronic structure calculations, the effects of morphology of semiconducting nanostructures on the magnetic interaction between two magnetic dopant atoms as well as a possibility of tuning band gaps have been studied in the case of the bi-doped (ZnO){sub 24} nanostructures with the impurity dopant atoms of the 3d late transition metals—Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu. To explore the morphology effect, three different structures of the host (ZnO){sub 24} nano-system, having different degrees of spatial confinement, have been considered: a two dimensional nanosheet, a one dimensional nanotube, and a finite cage-shaped nanocluster. The present study employs hybrid density functional theory to accurately describe the electronic structure of all the systems. It is shown here that the magnetic coupling between the two dopant atoms remains mostly anti-ferromagnetic in the course of changing the morphology from the sheet geometry to the cage-shaped geometry of the host systems, except for the case of energetically most stable bi-Mn doping, which shows a transition from ferromagnetic to anti-ferromagnetic coupling with decreasing aspect ratio of the host system. The effect of the shape change, however, has a significant effect on the overall band gap variations of both the pristine as well as all the bi-doped systems, irrespective of the nature of the dopant atoms and provides a means for easy tunability of their optoelectronic properties.

OSTI ID:
22493578
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 143, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English