Tuning band inversion symmetry of buckled III-Bi sheets by halogenation.

First-principles calculations are employed to investigate structural, electronic and topological insulating properties of XBi (X = B, Al, Ga, and In) monolayers upon halogenation. It is known that Y-XBi (X = Ga, In, Tl; Y = F, Cl, Br, I) can originate inversion-asymmetric topological insulators with large bulk band gaps. Our results suggest that Y-XBi (X = B, Al; Y = F, Cl, Br, I) may also result in nontrivial topological insulating phases. Despite the lower atomic number of B and Al, the spin-orbit coupling opens a band gap of about 400 meV in Y-XBi (X = B, Al), exhibiting an unusual electronic behavior for practical applications in spintronics. The nature of the bulk band gap and Dirac-cone edge states in their nanoribbons depends on the group-III elements and Y chemical species. They lead to a chemical tunability, giving rise to distinct band inversion symmetries and exhibiting Rashba-type spin splitting in the valence band of these systems. These findings indicate that a large family of Y-XBi sheets can exhibit nontrivial topological characteristics, by a proper tuning, and open a new possibility for viable applications at room temperature.

Distribution of scaled height in one-dimensional competitive growth profiles.

This work investigates the scaled height distribution, ρ(q), of irregular profiles that are grown based on two sets of local rules: those of the restricted solid on solid (RSOS) and ballistic deposition (BD) models. At each time step, these rules are respectively chosen with probability p and r=1-p. Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the system behaves differently in three succeeding intervals of values of p: I(B) ≈ [0,0.75),I(T) ≈ (0.75,0.9), and I(R) ≈ (0.9,1.0]. In I(B), the ballistic character prevails: the growth velocity υ(∞) decreases with p in a linear way, and similar behavior is found for Γ(∞) (p), the amplitude of the t(1/3)-fluctuations, which is measured from the second-order height cumulant. The distribution of scaled height fluctuations follows the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) Tracy-Widom (TW) distribution with resolution roughly close to 10(-4). The skewness and kurtosis of the computed distribution coincide with those for TW distribution. Similar results are observed in the interval I(R), with prevalent RSOS features. In this case, the skewness become negative. In the transition interval I(T), the system goes smoothly from one regime to the other: the height distribution becomes apparently Gaussian, which motivates us to identify this phenomenon as a transition from Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) behavior to Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) behavior back to KPZ behavior.

A DFT study of halogen atoms adsorbed on graphene layers.

In this work, ab initio density functional theory calculations were performed in order to study the structural and electronic properties of halogens (X = fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine) that were deposited on both sides of graphene single layers (X-graphene). The adsorption of these atoms on only one side of the layer with hydrogen atoms adsorbed on the other was also considered (H,X-graphene). The results indicate that the F-C bond in the F-graphene system causes an sp(2) to sp(3) transition of the carbon orbitals, and similar effects seem to occur in the H,X-graphene systems. For the other cases, two configurations are found: bonded (B) and non-bonded (NB). For the B configuration, the structural arrangement of the atoms was similar to F-graphene and H-graphene (graphane), although the electronic structures present some differences. In the NB configuration, the interaction between the adsorbed atoms and the graphene layer seems to be essentially of the van der Waals type. In these cases, the original shape of the graphene layer presents only small deviations from the pristine form and the adsorbed atoms reach equilibrium far from the sheet. The F-graphene structure has a direct bandgap of approximately 3.16 eV at the Γ point, which is a value that is close to the value of 3.50 eV that was found for graphane. The Cl-graphene (B configuration), H,F-graphene and H,Cl-graphene systems have smaller bandgap values. All of the other systems present metallic behaviours. Energy calculations indicate the possible stability of these X-graphene layers, although some considerations about the possibility of spontaneous formation have to be taken into account.

Adsorption of monovalent metal atoms on graphene: a theoretical approach.

This work investigates, using first-principles calculations, electronic and structural properties of hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium and rubidium that are adsorbed, in a regular pattern, on a graphene surface. The results for H-graphene (graphane) and Li-graphene were compared with previous calculations. The present results do not support previous claims that the Li-C bond in such a layer would result in an sp(2) to an sp(3) transition of carbon orbitals, being more compatible with some ionic character for the covalent bond and with lithium acting as an electron acceptor in a bridging environment. Calculations were also performed for the Na, K, and Rb-graphene systems, resulting in a similar electronic behaviour but with a more pronounced ionic character than for Li-graphene. Energy calculations indicate the possible stability of such ad-graphene layers, with only the Li-graphene being possible to be spontaneously obtained.

Band gap and density of states of the hydrated C60 fullerene system at finite temperature.

We examine the electronic properties of the hydrated C60 fullerene under ambient conditions using a sequential Monte Carlo/density functional theory scheme. In this procedure, the average electronic properties of the first hydration shell of C60 equilibrate for ca. 40 uncorrelated configurations of the fullerene aqueous solution. We obtain a systematic red-shift of 0.8 eV in the band gap of the hydrated system, which is mainly attributed to the thermal fluctuations of the aqueous environment.