arXiv subjects

Stefano Curtarolo

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Curtarolo.

123 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Influence of Mo on the Fe:Mo:C nano-catalyst thermodynamics for single-walled carbon nanotube growth

We explore the role of Mo in Fe:Mo nanocatalyst thermodynamics for low-temperature chemical vapor deposition growth of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). By using the size-pressure approximation and ab initio modeling, we prove that for both Fe-rich (~80% Fe or more) and Mo-rich (~50% Mo or more) Fe:Mo clusters, the presence of carbon in the cluster causes nucleation of Mo2C. This enhances the activity of the particle since it releases Fe, which is initially bound in a stable Fe:Mo phase, so that it can catalyze SWCNT growth. Furthermore, the presence of small concentrations of Mo reduce the lower size limit of low-temperature steady-state growth from ~0.58nm for pure Fe particles to ~0.52nm. Our ab initio-thermodynamic modeling explains experimental results and establishes a new direction to search for better catalysts.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Thermodynamic stabilities of ternary metal borides: An ab initio guide for synthesizing layered superconductors

Density functional theory calculations have been used to identify stable layered Li-$M$-B crystal structure phases derived from a recently proposed binary metal-sandwich (MS) lithium monoboride superconductor. We show that the MS lithium monoboride gains in stability when alloyed with electron-rich metal diborides; the resulting ordered Li$_{2(1-x)}M_x$B$_2$ ternary phases may form under normal synthesis conditions in a wide concentration range of $x$ for a number of group-III-V metals $M$. In an effort to pre-select compounds with the strongest electron-phonon coupling we examine the softening of the in-plane boron phonon mode at $Γ$ in a large class of metal borides. Our results reveal interesting general trends for the frequency of the in-plane boron phonon modes as a function of the boron-boron bond length and the valence of the metal. One of the candidates with a promise to be an MgB$_2$-type superconductor, Li$_2$AlB$_4$, has been examined in more detail: according to our {\it ab initio} calculations of the phonon dispersion and the electron-phonon coupling $λ$, the compound should have a critical temperature of $\sim4$ K.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Quest for high Tc in layered structures: the case of LiB

Using electronic structure calculation we study the superconducting properties of the theoretically-devised superconductor MS1-LiB (LiB). We calculate the electron-phonon coupling ($λ=0.62$) and the phonon frequency logarithmic average ($<ω>_{log}=54.6$ meV) and show that the LiB critical temperature is in the range of 10-15 K, despite the frozen-phonon deformation potential being of the same order of MgB$_2$. As a consequence, LiB captures some of the essential physics of MgB$_2$ but (i) the electron-phonon coupling due to $σ$ states is smaller and (ii) the precious contribution of the $π$ carriers to the critical temperature is lacking. We investigate the possible change in $T_c$ that can be induced by doping and pressure and find that these conditions cannot easily increase $T_c$ in LiB.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Theoretical study of the thermal behavior of free and alumina-supported Fe-C nanoparticles

The thermal behavior of free and alumina-supported iron-carbon nanoparticles is investigated via molecular dynamics simulations, in which the effect of the substrate is treated with a simple Morse potential fitted to ab initio data. We observe that the presence of the substrate raises the melting temperature of medium and large $Fe_{1-x}C_x$ nanoparticles ($x$ = 0-0.16, $N$ = 80-1000, non- magic numbers) by 40-60 K; it also plays an important role in defining the ground state of smaller Fe nanoparticles ($N$ = 50-80). The main focus of our study is the investigation of Fe-C phase diagrams as a function of the nanoparticle size. We find that as the cluster size decreases in the 1.1-1.6-nm-diameter range the eutectic point shifts significantly not only toward lower temperatures, as expected from the Gibbs-Thomson law, but also toward lower concentrations of C. The strong dependence of the maximum C solubility on the Fe-C cluster size may have important implications for the catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Xe films on a decagonal Al-Ni-Co quasicrystal surface

The grand canonical Monte Carlo method is employed to study the adsorption of Xe on a quasicrystalline Al-Ni-Co surface. The calculation uses a semiempirical gas-surface interaction, based on conventional combining rules and the usual Lennard-Jones Xe-Xe interaction. The resulting adsorption isotherms and calculated structures are consistent with the results of LEED experimental data. In this paper we focus on five features not discussed earlier (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 136104 (2005)): the range of the average density of the adsorbate, the order of the transition, the orientational degeneracy of the ground state, the isosteric heat of adsorption of the system, and the effect of the vertical cell dimension.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Theoretical study of metal borides stability

We have recently identified metal-sandwich (MS) crystal structures and shown with ab initio calculations that the MS lithium monoboride phases are favored over the known stoichiometric ones under hydrostatic pressure [Phys. Rev. B 73, 180501(R) (2006)]. According to previous studies synthesized lithium monoboride tends to be boron-deficient, however the mechanism leading to this phenomenon is not fully understood. We propose a simple model that explains the experimentally observed off-stoichiometry and show that compared to such boron-deficient phases the MS-LiB compounds still have lower formation enthalpy under high pressures. We also investigate stability of MS phases for a large class of metal borides. Our ab initio results suggest that MS noble metal borides are less unstable than the corresponding AlB$_2$-type phases but not stable enough to form under equilibrium conditions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Prediction of new crystal structure phases in metal borides: a lithium monoboride analog to MgB2

Modern compound prediction methods can efficiently screen large numbers of crystal structure phases and direct the experimental search for new materials. One of the most challenging problems in alloy theory is the identification of stable phases with a never seen prototype; such predictions do not always follow rational strategies. While performing ab initioa data mining of intermetallic compounds we made an unexpected discovery: even in such a well-studied class of systems as metal borides there are previously unknown layered phases comparable in energy to the existing ones. With ab initio calculations we show that the new metal-sandwich (MS) lithium monoboride phases are marginally stable under ambient conditions but become favored over the known stoichiometric compounds under moderate pressures. The MS lithium monoboride exhibits electronic features similar to those in magnesium diboride and is expected to be a good superconductor.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

High-throughput ab initio analysis of the Bi-In, Bi-Mg, Bi-Sb, In-Mg, In-Sb, and Mg-Sb systems

Prediction and characterization of crystal structures of alloys are a key problem in materials research. Using high-throughput ab initio calculations we explore the low-temperature phase diagrams for the following systems: {Bi-In, Bi-Mg, Bi-Sb, In-Mg, In-Sb, and Mg-Sb}. For the experimentally observed phases in these systems we provide information about their stability at low temperatures. Keywords: Binary Alloys, Ab initio, Intermetallics, Transition Metals, Structure Prediction, Phase Stability, Magnesium, Indium, Bismuth, Antimony.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Accuracy of ab initio methods in predicting the crystal structures of metals: review of 80 binary alloys

Predicting and characterizing the crystal structure of materials is a key problem in materials research and development. We report the results of ab initio LDA/GGA computations for the following systems: AgAu, AgCd, AgMg, AgMo*, AgNa, AgNb*, AgPd, AgRh*, AgRu*, AgTc*, AgTi, AgY, AgZr, AlSc, AuCd, AuMo*, AuNb, AuPd, AuPt*, AuRh*, AuRu*, AuSc, AuTc*, AuTi, AuY, AuZr, CdMo*, CdNb*, CdPd, CdPt, CdRh, CdRu*, CdTc*, CdTi, CdY, CdZr, CrMg*, MoNb, MoPd, MoPt, MoRh, MoRu, MoTc*, MoTi, MoY*, MoZr, NbPd, NbPt, NbRh, NbRu, NbTc, NbY*, NbZr*, PdPt, PdRh*, PdRu*, PdTc, PdTi, PdY, PdZr, PtRh, PtRu, PtY, PtTc, PtTi, PtZr, RhRu, RhTc, RhTi, RhY, RhZr, RuTi, RuTc, RuY, RuZr, TcTi, TcY, TcZr, TiZr*, YZr* (*= systems in which the ab initio method predicts that no compounds are stable). A detailed comparison to experimental data confirms the high accuracy with which ab initio methods can predict ground states. Keywords: Binary Alloys, Ab initio, Intermetallics, Transition Metals, StructureAluminum, Cadmium, Gold, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Palladium, Platinum, Rhodium, Ruthenium, Scandium, Silver, Sodium, Titanium, Technetium, Yttrium, Zirconium.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Evolution of topological order in Xe films on a quasicrystal surface

We report results of the first computer simulation studies of a physically adsorbed gas on a quasicrystalline surface, Xe on decagonal Al-Ni-Co. The grand canonical Monte Carlo method is employed, using a semi-empirical gas-surface interaction, based on conventional combining rules, and the usual Lennard-Jones Xe-Xe interaction. The resulting adsorption isotherms and calculated structures are consistent with the results of LEED experimental data. The evolution of the bulk film begins in the second layer, while the low coverage behavior is epitaxial. This transition from 5-fold to 6-fold ordering is temperature dependent, occurring earlier (at lower coverage) for the higher temperatures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

Predicting Crystal Structures with Data Mining of Quantum Calculations

Predicting and characterizing the crystal structure of materials is a key problem in materials research and development. It is typically addressed with highly accurate quantum mechanical computations on a small set of candidate structures, or with empirical rules that have been extracted from a large amount of experimental information, but have limited predictive power. In this letter, we transfer the concept of heuristic rule extraction to a large library of ab-initio calculated information, and demonstrate that this can be developed into a tool for crystal structure prediction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Dynamic of a non homogeneously coarse grained system

To study materials phenomena simultaneously at various length scales, descriptions in which matter can be coarse grained to arbitrary levels, are necessary. Attempts to do this in the static regime (i.e. zero temperature) have already been developed. In this letter, we present an approach that leads to a dynamics for such coarse-grained models. This allows us to obtain temperature-dependent and transport properties. Renormalization group theory is used to create new local potentials model between nodes, within the approximation of local thermodynamical equilibrium. Assuming that these potentials give an averaged description of node dynamics, we calculate thermal and mechanical properties. If this method can be sufficiently generalized it may form the basis of a Molecular Dynamics method with time and spatial coarse-graining.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2001

Evidence concerning Drying behavior of Ne near the Cs surface

Using density functional (DF) and Monte Carlo methods, we have studied the properties of Ne adsorbed on a Cs surface, focusing on the region at and near saturated vapor pressure (SVP). In the case of Ne/Rb, the experimental data of Hess, Sabatini and Chan are consistent with the calculations based on an ab initio fluid-substrate potential, while in the Ne/Cs case there is indication that the potential is approx 9% too deep. In that case, the calculations yield partial drying behavior consistent with the experimental finding of depressed fluid density near the surface, above SVP. However, we find no evidence of a drying transition, a result consistent with a mean field calculation of Ebner and Saam.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Marcatili's Lossless Tapers and Bends: an Apparent Paradox and its Solution

Numerical results based on an extended BPM algorithm indicate that, in Marcatili's lossless tapers and bends, through-flowing waves are drastically different from standing waves. The source of this surprising behavior is inherent in Maxwell's equations. Indeed, if the magnetic field is correctly derived from the electric one, and the Poynting vector is calculated, then the analytical results are reconciled with the numerical ones. Similar considerations are shown to apply to Gaussian beams in free space.

physics.optics↗

arXiv1999

Atoms in nanotubes: small dimensions and variable dimensionality

Newly discovered carbon nanotubes provide an environment in which small atoms move relatively freely. An assembly of such atoms provides a realization of a quasi-one dimensional system which is an ideal testing ground for concepts and mathematics of statistical physics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗