Ab initio Green-Kubo (aiGK) simulations of heat transport in solids allow for assessing lattice thermalconductivity in anharmonic or complex materials from first principles. In this work, we present a detailed accountof their practical application and evaluation with an emphasis on noise reduction and finite-size corrections insemiconductors and insulators. To account for such corrections, we propose strategies in which all necessarynumerical parameters are chosen based on the dynamical properties displayed during molecular dynamicssimulations in order to minimize manual intervention. This paves the way for applying the aiGK method insemiautomated and high-throughput frameworks. The proposed strategies are presented and demonstrated forcomputing the lattice thermal conductivity at room temperature in the mildly anharmonic periclase MgO, andfor the strongly anharmonic marshite CuI.

The anharmonicity of atomic motion limits the thermal conductivity in crystalline solids. However, amicroscopic understanding of the mechanisms active in strong thermal insulators is lacking. In this Letter,we classify 465 experimentally known materials with respect to their anharmonicity and perform fullyanharmonic ab initio Green-Kubo calculations for 58 of them, finding 28 thermal insulators withκ < 10 W=mK including 6 with ultralow κ ≲ 1 W=mK. Our analysis reveals that the underlying stronganharmonic dynamics is driven by the exploration of metastable intrinsic defect geometries. This is atvariance with the frequently applied perturbative approach, in which the dynamics is assumed to evolvearound a single stable geometry.

The recent high-pressure synthesis of pentazolates and the subsequent stabilization of the aromatic [N-5](-) anion at atmospheric pressure have had an immense impact on nitrogen chemistry. Other aromatic nitrogen species have also been actively sought, including the hexaazabenzene N-6 ring. Although a variety of configurations and geometries have been proposed based on ab initio calculations, one that stands out as a likely candidate is the aromatic hexazine anion [N-6](4-). Here we present the synthesis of this species, realized in the high-pressure potassium nitrogen compound K9N56 formed at high pressures (46 and 61 GPa) and high temperature (estimated to be above 2,000 K) by direct reaction between nitrogen and KN3 in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. The complex structure of K9N56-composed of 520 atoms per unit cell-was solved based on synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction and corroborated by density functional theory calculations. The observed hexazine anion [N-6](4-) is planar and proposed to be aromatic.

We present a theoretical model for describing dissipative solitons and optical frequency combs formation in a dispersive and nonlinear χ⁽³⁾-based cavity system that is phase-matched for third-harmonic generation. We consider the importance of the stability properties of the homogeneous solution in generating various types of multi-frequency combs, and demonstrate a novel type of bistable cavity solitons.

Thermodynamic stability as well as structural, electronic, and elastic properties of boron-deficient AlB2-type tantalum diborides, which is designated as alpha-TaB2-x, due to the presence of vacancies at its boron sublattice are studied via first-principles calculations. The results reveal that alpha-TaB2-x, where 0.167 less than or similar to x less than or similar to 0.25, is thermodynamically stable even at absolute zero. On the other hand, the shear and Youngs moduli as well as the hardness of stable alpha-TaB2-x are predicted to be superior as compared to those of alpha-TaB2. The changes in the relative stability and also the elastic properties of alpha-TaB2-x with respect to those of alpha-TaB2 can be explained by the competitive effect between the decrease in the number of electrons filling in the antibonding states of alpha-TaB2 and the increase in the number of broken bonds around the vacancies, both induced by the increase in the concentration of boron vacancies. A good agreement between our calculated lattice parameters, elastic moduli and hardness of alpha-TaB2-x and the experimentally measured data of as-synthesized AlB2-type tantalum diborides with the claimed composition of TaB similar to 2, available in the literature, suggests that, instead of being a line compound with a stoichiometric composition of TaB2, AlB2-type tantalum diboride is readily boron-deficient, and its stable composition in equilibrium may be ranging at least from TaB similar to 1.833 to TaB similar to 1.75. Furthermore, the substitution of vacancies for boron atoms in alpha-TaB2 is responsible for destabilization of WB2-type tantalum diboride and orthorhombic Ta2B3, predicted in the previous theoretical studies to be thermodynamically stable in the Ta-B system, and it thus enables the interpretation of why the two compounds have never been realized in actual experiments.

Inherent brittleness, which easily leads to crack formation and propagation during use, is a serious problem for protective ceramic thin-film applications. Superlattice architectures, with alternating nm-thick layers of typically softer/stiffer materials, have been proven powerful method to improve the mechanical performance of, e.g., cubic transition metal nitride ceramics. Using high-throughput first-principles calculations, we propose that superlattice structures hold promise also for enhancing mechanical properties and fracture resistance of transition metal diborides with two competing hexagonal phases, a and ?. We study 264 possible combinations of a/a, a/? or co/co MB2 (where M = Al or group 3-6 transition metal) diboride superlattices. Based on energetic stability considerations, together with restrictions for lattice and shear modulus mismatch (?a &lt; 4%, ?G &gt; 40 GPa), we select 33 superlattice systems for further investigations. The identified systems are analysed in terms of mechanical stability and elastic constants, C-ij, where the latter provide indication of in-plane vs. out of-plane strength ( C-11, C-33 ) and ductility ( C-13 - C-44, C-12 - C-66 ). The superlattice ability to resist brittle cleavage along interfaces is estimated by Griffiths formula for fracture toughness. The a/a-type TiB2 /MB2 (M = Mo, W), HfB2/WB2, VB2/MB2 (M = Cr, Mo), NbB2/MB2 (M = Mo, W), and a/?-type AlB2/MB2 (M = Nb, Ta, Mo, W), are suggested as the most promising candidates providing atomic-scale basis for enhanced toughness and resistance to crack growth.

Recent results [M. C. Tran and T. X. Tran, Chaos 32, 073113 (2022)] are put into the context of earlier work [A. V. Gorbach and M. Johansson, Eur. Phys. J. D 29, 77-93 (2004); M. Johansson and A. V. Gorbach, Phys. Rev. E 70, 057604 (2004)]. The two newly found families of "beyond-band discrete solitons " [M. C. Tran and T. X. Tran, Chaos 32, 073113 (2022)] are found to be smooth continuations of "on-top breathers " briefly mentioned by Gorbach and Johansson [Eur. Phys. J. D 29, 77-93 (2004)] and Johansson and Gorbach [Phys. Rev. E 70, 057604 (2004)] and the relevant bifurcation scenarios are described. One family is shown to be linearly unstable with respect to symmetry-breaking oscillations.

We investigate the impact of chirped driving fields on the dynamics and generation of Kerr cavity breathers and solitons. Synchronous phase and amplitude modulation of the pumping field can be exploited in order to control soliton dynamics. Here we show that using a phase-modulated super-Gaussian pump permits to stabilize the oscillations of breathing solitons. Moreover, our scheme permits to obtain new dynamical attractors, with a prescribed temporal intra-cavity pattern. Straightforward applications are the deterministic generation of optical frequency soliton combs, optical tweezers, and more generally, all-optical manipulation of light pulses.

Correction for Discovering atomistic pathways for supply of metal atoms from methyl-based precursors to graphene surface by Davide G. Sangiovanni et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2023, 25, 829-837, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CP04091C.

Understanding the competition between brittleness and plasticity in refractory ceramics is of importance for aiding design of hard materials with enhanced fracture resistance. Inspired by experimental observations of crack shielding due to dislocation activity in TiN ceramics [Kumar et al., Int. J. Plast. 27, 739 (2011)], we carry out comprehensive atomistic investigations to identify mechanisms responsible for brittleness and slip-induced plasticity in Ti-N systems. First, we validate a semiempirical interatomic potential against density-functional theory results of Griffith and Rice stress intensities for cleavage (K-Ic) and dislocation emission (K-Ie) as well as ab initio molecular dynamics mechanical-testing simulations of pristine and defective TiN lattices at temperatures between 300 and 1200 K. The calculated K-Ic and K-Ie values indicate intrinsic brittleness, as K-Ic &lt;&lt; K-Ie. However, KI-controlled molecular statics simulations-which reliably forecast macroscale mechanical properties through nanoscale modeling-reveal that slip plasticity can be promoted by a reduced sharpness of the crack and/or the presence of anion vacancies. Classical molecular dynamics simulations of notched Ti-N supercell models subject to tension provide a qualitative understanding of the competition between brittleness and plasticity at finite temperatures. Although crack growth occurs in most cases, a sufficiently rapid accumulation of shear stress at the notch tip may postpone or prevent fracture via nucleation and emission of dislocations. Furthermore, we show that the probability to observe slip-induced plasticity leading to crack blunting in flawed Ti-N lattices correlates with the ideal tensile/shear strength ratio (I-plasticity(slip)) of pristine Ti-N crystals. We propose that the I-plasticity(slip) descriptor should be considered for ranking the ability of ceramics to blunt cracks via dislocation-mediated plasticity at finite temperatures.

High-pressure metal hydride (MH) research evolved into a thriving field within condensed matter physics following the realization of metallic compounds showing phonon mediated near room-temperature superconductivity. However, severe limitations in determining the chemical formula of the reaction products, especially with regards to their hydrogen content, impedes a deep understanding of the synthesized phases and can lead to significantly erroneous conclusions. Here, we present a way to directly access the hydrogen content of MH solids synthesized at high pressures in (laser-heated) diamond anvil cells using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We show that this method can be used to investigate MH compounds with a wide range of hydrogen content, from MHx with x = 0.15 (CuH0.15) to x ≲ 6.4 (H6±0.4S5).

Traditional age hardening mechanisms in refractory ceramics consist of precipitation of fine particles. These processes are vital for widespread wear-resistant coating applications. Here, we report novel Guinier-Preston zone hardening, previously only known to operate in soft light-metal alloys, taking place in refractory ceramics like multicomponent nitrides. The added superhardening, discovered in thin films of Ti-Al-W-N upon high temperature annealing, comes from the formation of atomic-plane-thick W disks populating {111} planes of the cubic matrix, as observed by atomically resolved high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and corroborated by ab initio calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. Guinier-Preston zone hardening concurrent with spinodal decomposition is projected to exist in a range of other ceramic solid solutions and thus provides a new approach for the development of advanced materials with outstanding mechanical properties and higher operational temperature range for the future demanding applications.

We investigate how the magnetic state influences the interaction of Cr substitutional impurities with 1/2?111? screw dislocations in bcc Fe via density functional theory (DFT). We compare the paramagnetic state, modeled with a non-collinear disordered local moment (DLM) model, with the ferromagnetic state. In a previous work [Casillas-Trujillo et al., Phys. Rev. B 102, 094420 (2020)], we have shown that the magnetic moment and atomic volume landscape around screw dislocations in the paramagnetic state of iron are substantially different from that in the ferromagnetic state. Such a difference can have an impact in the formation energies of substitutional impurities, in particular, magnetic solutes. We investigate the formation energies of Cr solutes as a function of position with respect to the screw dislocation core, the interaction of Cr atoms along the dislocation line, and the segregation profile of Cr with respect to the dislocation in paramagnetic and ferromagnetic bcc iron. Our results suggest that with increasing temperature and connected entropic effects, Cr atoms gradually increase their occupation of dislocation sites, close to twice the amount of Cr in the DLM case than in the ferromagnetic case, with possible relevance to understand mechanical properties at elevated temperatures in low-Cr ferritic steels in use as structural materials in nuclear energy applications.

A family of magnetic halide double perovskites (HDPs) have recently attracted attention due to their potential to broaden application areas of halide double perovskites into, e.g., spintronics. Up to date the theoretical modeling of these systems have relied on primitive approximations to the density functional theory (DFT). In this paper, we study structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the Fe3+-containing HDPs Cs2AgFeCl6 and Cs2NaFeCl6 using a combination of more advanced DFT-based methods, including DFT + U, hybrid-DFT, and treatments of various magnetic states. We examine the effect of varying the effective Hubbard parameter, U-eff, in DFT + U and the mixing-parameter, alpha, in hybrid DFT on the electronic structure and structural properties. Our results reveal a set of localized Fe(d) states that are highly sensitive to these parameters. Cs2AgFeCl6 and Cs2NaFeCl6 are both antiferromagnets with Neel temperatures well below room temperature and are thus in their paramagnetic (PM) state at the external conditions relevant to most applications. Therefore, we have examined the effect of disordered magnetism on the electronic structure of these systems and find that while Cs2NaFeCl6 is largely unaffected, Cs2AgFeCl6 shows significant renormalization of its electronic band structure.

Advances in interface science over the last 20 years have demonstrated the use of molecular nanolayers (MNLs) at inorganic interfaces to access emergent phenomena and enhance a variety of interfacial properties. Here, we capture important aspects of how a MNL can induce multifold enhancements and tune multiple interfacial properties, including chemical stability, fracture energy, thermal and electrical transport, and electronic structure. Key challenges that need to be addressed for the maturation of this emerging field are described and discussed. MNL-induced interfacial engineering has opened up attractive opportunities for designing organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials with high interface fractions, where properties are determined predominantly by MNL-induced interfacial effects for applications.

We investigate the neutron damage expected in high-temperature superconducting tapes that will be employed in compact fusion reactors. Monte Carlo simulations yield the expected neutron spectrum and fluence at the magnet position, from which the primary knock-on atom energy distributions can be computed for each atomic species comprising the superconductor. This information is then employed to characterize the displacement cascades, in terms of size and morphology, through molecular dynamics simulations. The expected radiation environment is then compared with the neutron spectrum and fluences achievable at the facilities currently available for experimental investigation in order to highlight similarities and differences that could be relevant to the understanding of the radiation hardness of these materials in real fusion conditions. We find that the different neutron spectra result in different damage regimes, the irradiation temperature influences the number of generated defects, and the interaction of the neutrons with the superconductor results in a local increase in temperature. These observations suggest that further experimental investigations are needed in different regimes and that some neutron shielding will be necessary in compact fusion reactors.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to strongly increase the sensitivity of spin measure-ments on nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, which can be readily implemented in existing quantum sensing experiments. While charge state transitions of this defect are generally considered a parasitic effect to be avoided, we show here that these can be used to significantly increase the NV centers spin contrast, a key quantity for high-sensitivity magnetometry and high-fidelity state readout. The protocol consists of a two-step procedure, in which the charge state of the defect is first purified by a strong laser pulse, followed by weak illumination to obtain high spin polarization. We observe a relative improvement of the readout contrast by 17% and infer a reduction of the initialization error of more than 50%. The contrast enhancement is accompanied by a beneficial increase of the readout signal. For long sequence durations, typically encountered in high-resolution magnetometry, a measurement speedup by a factor of &gt;1.5 is extracted, and we find that the technique is beneficial for sequences of any duration. Additionally, our findings give detailed insight into the charge and spin polarization dynamics of the NV center and provide actionable insights for direct optical, spin-to-charge, and electrical readout of solid-state spin centers.

Active-site models comprise miniature active sites on the host element, providing one of effective descriptors for screening high-entropy-alloy (HEA) catalysts using machine learning. This study investigates the impact of host elements on the electronic properties of active sites via density functional theory (DFT), where the active-site model is used in the HEA electrocatalysts. Also, the appropriate host element selection significantly affects the systems surface structures, electronic, and catalytic properties that adsorbate adsorption energy, d-band center, Bader charge, Zero-point energy, and entropy are used as accuracy verification parameters compared to the original surface. Ultimately, the novel guideline for active-site model construction is proposed using the simple example of PtPdFeCoNi high-entropy alloys. This investigation demonstrates that the host element selection is a crucial parameter to the active-site models, influencing the electronic structure and electrocatalytic properties.

Mixtures of different metal diborides in the form of solid solutions are promising materials for hard-coating applications. Herein, we study the mixing thermodynamics and the mechanical properties of AlB2-structured Sc1-xTaXB2 solid solutions using the first-principles method, based on the density functional theory, and the cluster-expansion formalism. Our thermodynamic investigation reveals that the two diborides readily mix with one another to form a continuous series of stable solid solutions in the pseudo-binary TaB2 -ScB2 system even at absolute zero. Interestingly, the elastic moduli as well as the hardness of the solid solutions show significant positive deviations from the linear Vegards rule evaluated between those of ScB2 and TaB2. In case of Sc1-xTaXB2, the degrees of deviation from such linear trends can be as large as 25, 20, and 40% for the shear modulus, the Youngs modulus, and the hardness, respectively. The improvement in the stability as well as the mechanical properties of Sc1-xTaXB2 solid solutions relative to their constituent compounds is found to be related to the effect of electronic band filling, induced upon mixing TaB2 with ScB2. These findings not only demonstrate the prominent role of band filling in enhancing the stability and the mechanical properties of Sc1-xTaXB2, but also it can potentially open up a possibility for designing stable/metastable metal diboride-based solid solutions with superior and widely tunable mechanical properties for hard-coating applications.

The water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) is employed in industry to obtain high-purity H-2 from syngas, where H2O adsorption is an important step that controls H2O dissociation in WGSR. Therefore, exploring catalysts exhibiting strong H2O adsorption energy (E-ads) is crucial. Also, high-entropy alloys (HEA) are promising materials utilized as catalysts, including in WGSR. The PtPd-based HEA catalysts are explored via density functional theory (DFT) and Gaussian process regression. The input features are based on the microstructure data and electronic properties: d-band center (epsilon(d)) and Bader net atomic charge (delta). The DFT calculation reveals that the epsilon(d) and delta of each active site of all HEA surfaces are broadly scattered, indicating that the electronic properties of each atom on HEA are non-uniform and influenced by neighboring atoms. The strong H2O-active-site interaction determined by a highly negative E-ads is used as a criterion to explore good PtPd-based WGSR catalyst candidates. As a result, the potential candidates are found to have Co, Ru, and Fe as an H2O adsorption site with Ag as a neighboring atom, that is, PtPdRhAgCo, PtPdRuAgCo, PtPdRhAgFe, and PtPdRuAgFe.

The Fe0.64Ni0.36 alloy exhibits an anomalously low thermal expansion at ambient conditions, an effect that is known as the invar effect. Other FexNi1-x alloys do not exhibit this effect at ambient conditions but upon application of pressure even Ni-rich compositions show low thermal expansion, thus called the pressure induced invar effect. We investigate the pressure induced invar effect for FexNi1-x for x = 0.64, 0.50, 0.25 by performing a large set of supercell calculations, taking into account noncollinear magnetic states. We observe anomalies in the equation of states for the three compositions. The anomalies coincide with magnetic transitions from a ferromagnetic state at high volumes to a complex magnetic state at lower volumes. Our results can be interpreted in the model of noncollinear magnetism which relates the invar effect to increasing contribution of magnetic entropy with pressure.

K2SiH6, crystallizing in the cubicK(2)PtCl(6) structure type (Fm3 &#x305;m), features unusual hypervalent SiH6 (2-) complexes. Here, the formation of K2SiH6 athigh pressures is revisited by in situ synchrotron diffraction experiments,considering KSiH3 as a precursor. At the investigated pressures,8 and 13 GPa, K2SiH6 adopts the trigonal (NH4)(2)SiF6 structure type (P3 &#x305;m1) upon formation. The trigonal polymorphis stable up to 725 & DEG;C at 13 GPa. At room temperature, the transitioninto an ambient pressure recoverable cubic form occurs below 6.7 GPa.Theory suggests the existence of an additional, hexagonal, variantin the pressure interval 3-5 GPa. According to density functionaltheory band structure calculations, K2SiH6 isa semiconductor with a band gap around 2 eV. Nonbonding H-dominatedstates are situated below and Si-H anti-bonding states arelocated above the Fermi level. Enthalpically feasible and dynamicallystable metallic variants of K2SiH6 may be obtainedwhen substituting Si partially by Al or P, thus inducing p- and n-typemetallicity, respectively. Yet, electron-phonon coupling appearsweak, and calculated superconducting transition temperatures are &lt;1K. The formation of K2SiH6 at high pressuresstarting from KSiH3 or mixtures of KH and KSiH3 is investigated by in situ synchrotron diffraction experiments.Between 6.5 and 13 GPa, K2SiH6 adopts the trigonal(NH4)(2)SiF6 structure type (P3 &#x305;m1), which is stable up to 725 & DEG;C at 13 GPa. At room temperature, the transition into an ambientpressure-recoverable cubic form occurs below 6.5 GPa.

Data-driven approaches are becoming increasingly valuable for modern science, and they are making their way into industrial research and development (R&D). Supervised machine learning of statistical models can utilize databases of materials parameters to speed up the exploration of candidate materials for experimental synthesis and characterization. In this paper we introduce the HADB database, which contains properties of industrially relevant chemically disordered hard-coating alloys, focusing on their thermodynamic, elastic and mechanical properties. We present the technical implementations of the database infrastructure including support for browse, query, retrieval, and API access through the OPTIMADE API to make this data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of the database by training a graph -based machine learning (ML) model to predict elastic properties of hard-coating alloys. The ML model is shown to predict bulk and shear moduli for out out-of-sample alloys with less than 6 GPa mean average error.

A high-pressure (HP) yttrium allotrope, hP3-Y (space group P6/mmm), was synthesized in a multi-anvil press at 20 GPa and 2000 K which is recoverable to ambient conditions. Its relative stability and electronic properties were investigated using density functional theory calculations. A hP3-Y derivative hydride, hP3-YHx, with a variable hydrogen content (x = 2.8, 3, 2.4), was synthesized in diamond anvil cells by the direct reaction of yttrium with paraffin oil, hydrogen gas, and ammonia borane upon laser heating to similar to 3000 K at 51, 45 and 38 GPa, respectively. Room-temperature decompression leads to gradual reduction and eventually the complete loss of hydrogen at ambient conditions. Isostructural hP3-NdHx and hP3-GdHx hydrides were synthesized from Nd and Gd metals and paraffin oil, suggesting that the hP3-Y structure type may be common for rare-earth elements. Our results expand the list of allotropes of trivalent lanthanides and their hydrides and suggest that they should be considered in the context of studies of HP behavior and properties of this broad class of materials.

Chemical reactions between dysprosium and carbon were studied in laser-heated diamond anvil cells at pressures of 19, 55, and 58 GPa and temperatures of similar to 2500 K. In situ single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis of the reaction products revealed the formation of novel dysprosium carbides, Dy4C3 and Dy3C2, and dysprosium sesquicarbide Dy2C3 previously known only at ambient conditions. The structure of Dy4C3 was found to be closely related to that of dysprosium sesquicarbide Dy2C3 with the Pu2C3-type structure. Ab initio calculations reproduce well crystal structures of all synthesized phases and predict their compressional behavior in agreement with our experimental data. Our work gives evidence that high-pressure synthesis conditions enrich the chemistry of rare earth metal carbides.

The defect structures forming during high-temperature decomposition of Ti1-xAlxNy films were investigated through high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. After annealing to 950 °C, misfit edge dislocations a/6〈112〉{111} partial dislocations permeate the interface between TiN-rich and AlN-rich domains to accommodate lattice misfits during spinodal decomposition. The stacking fault energy associated with the partial dislocations decreases with increasing Al content, which facilitates the coherent cubic to wurtzite structure transition of AlN-rich domains. The wurtzite AlN-rich structure is recovered when every third cubic {111} plane is shifted by along the [211] direction. After annealing to 1100 °C, a temperature where coarsening dominates the microstructure evolution, we observe intersections of stacking faults, which form sessile locks at the interface of the TiN- and AlN-rich domains. These observed defect structures facilitate the formation of semicoherent interfaces and contribute to hardening in Ti_1-xAl_xN_y.

Density functional theory is used to compare the catalytic performance of PtPdRhFeCo(100) high entropy alloy (HEA) three-way catalyst (TWC) to the conventional Pt(100) in the NO reduction step during NH3 production that supplies to passive NH3-SCR. Stronger adsorption of NO on the HEA(100) surface is beneficial to capture NO. During adsorption, the catalyst surface acts as an electron donor while the adsorbate is the acceptor on both HEA(100) and Pt(100) systems. Herein, the reaction mechanism of NO reduction can be classified into two steps: 1) NO activation and 2) product formation. During NO activation, direct NO dissociation is the preferable pathway on both HEA(100) and Pt(100) surfaces with the same Ea, whereas HNO and NOH pathways on HEA(100) are suppressed. For NH3, N2, and N2O production on HEA(100) is found to be more difficult than on Pt(100). However, the thermodynamic driving force of all reactions on HEA(100) is more spontaneous than on Pt(100). Also, the rate-determining step on HEA(100) is found to be NH3 formation different from the Pt(100), while difficult H diffusion on HEA(100) is the key factor that reduces NH3 production.

Hydrogenation reactions at gigapascal pressures can yield hydrogen-rich materials with properties relating to superconductivity, ion conductivity, and hydrogen storage. Here, we investigated the ternary Na-Si-H system by computational structure prediction and in situ synchrotron diffraction studies of reaction mixtures NaH-Si-H-2 at 5-10 GPa. Structure prediction indicated the existence of various hypervalent hydridosilicate phases with compositions NamSiH(4+m) (m = 1-3) at comparatively low pressures, 0-20 GPa. These ternary Na-Si-H phases share, as a common structural feature, octahedral SiH62- complexes which are condensed into chains for m = 1 and occur as isolated species for m = 2, 3. In situ studies demonstrated the formation of the double salt Na-3[SiH6]H (Na3SiH7, m = 3) containing both octahedral SiH62- moieties and hydridic H-. Upon formation at elevated temperatures (&gt;500 degrees C), Na3SiH7 attains a tetragonal structure (P4/mbm, Z = 2) which, during cooling, transforms to an orthorhombic polymorph (Pbam, Z = 4). Upon decompression, Pbam-Na3SiH7 was retained to approx. 4.5 GPa, below which a further transition into a yet unknown polymorph occurred. Na3SiH7 is a new representative of yet elusive hydridosilicate compounds. Its double salt nature and polymorphism are strongly reminiscent of fluorosilicates and germanates.

Defects determine many important properties and applications of materials, ranging from doping in semiconductors, to conductivity in mixed ionic-electronic conductors used in batteries, to active sites in catalysts. The theoretical description of defect formation in crystals has evolved substantially over the past century. Advances in supercomputing hardware, and the integration of new computational techniques such as machine learning, provide an opportunity to model longer length and time-scales than previously possible. In this Tutorial Review, we cover the description of free energies for defect formation at finite temperatures, including configurational (structural, electronic, spin) and vibrational terms. We discuss challenges in accounting for metastable defect configurations, progress such as machine learning force fields and thermodynamic integration to directly access entropic contributions, and bottlenecks in going beyond the dilute limit of defect formation. Such developments are necessary to support a new era of accurate defect predictions in computational materials chemistry.

Paramagnetic defects and nuclear spins are often the major sources of decoherence and spin relaxation in solid-state qubits realized by optically addressable point defect spins in semiconductors. It is commonly accepted that a high degree of depletion of nuclear spins can enhance the coherence time by reducing magnetic noise. Here we show that the isotope purification beyond a certain optimal level can become contraproductive when both electron and nuclear spins are present in the vicinity of the qubits, particularly for half-spin systems. Using state-of-the-art numerical tools and considering the silicon-vacancy qubit in various spin environments, we demonstrate that the coupling of the spin-3/2 qubit to a spin bath of spin-1/2 point defects in the lattice can be significantly enhanced by isotope purification. The enhanced coupling shortens the spin-relaxation time that in turn may limit the coherence time of spin qubits. Our results can be generalized to triplet point defect qubits, such as the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond and the divacancy in silicon carbide.

Atomically thin layers exfoliated from magnetic van der Waals layered materials are currently of high interest in solid state physics. VOCl is a quasi-two-dimensional layered antiferromagnet which was recently synthesized in monolayer form. Previous theoretical studies have assumed the high-temperature orthorhombic lattice symmetry also in the low-temperature range, where the bulk system is known to be monoclinic due to a strong magnetoelastic coupling. We demonstrate from ab initio calculations that this monoclinic distortion is prevalent also in monolayers, which is in line with recent experimental indications of monoclinic symmetry. Our calculations also show that competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions cause a frustrated twofold magnetic superstructure where higher-order magnetic interactions play a key role.

Phonon-phonon and electron/exciton-phonon coupling play a vitally important role in thermal, electronic, as well as optical properties of metal halide perovskites. In this work, we evaluate phonon anharmonicity and coupling between electronic and vibrational excitations in novel double perovskite Cs2NaFeCl6 single crystals. By employing comprehensive Raman measurements combined with first-principles theoretical calculations, we identify four Raman-active vibrational modes. Polarization properties of these modes imply Fm (3) over barm symmetry of the lattice, indicative for on average an ordered distribution of Fe and Na atoms in the lattice. We further show that temperature dependence of the Raman modes, such as changes in the phonon line width and their energies, suggests high phonon anharmonicity, typical for double perovskite materials. Resonant multiphonon Raman scattering reveals the presence of high-lying band states that mediate strong electron-phonon coupling and give rise to intense nA(1g) overtones up to the fifth order. Strong electron-phonon coupling in Cs2NaFeCl6 is also concluded based on the Urbach tail analysis of the absorption coefficient and the calculated Frohlich coupling constant. Our results, therefore, suggest significant impacts of phonon-phonon and electron-phonon interactions on electronic properties of Cs2NaFeCl6, important for potential applications of this novel material.

Paramagnetic defects and nuclear spins are the major sources of magnetic-field-dependent spin relaxation in point-defect quantum bits. The detection of related optical signals has led to the development of advanced relaxometry applications with high spatial resolution. The nearly degenerate quartet ground state of the silicon-vacancy qubit in silicon carbide (SiC) is of special interest in this respect, as it gives rise to relaxation-rate extrema at vanishing magnetic field values and emits in the first near-infrared transmission window of biological tissues, providing an opportunity for the development of sensing applications for medicine and biology. However, the relaxation dynamics of the silicon-vacancy center in SiC have not yet been fully explored. In this paper, we present results from a comprehensive theoretical investigation of the dipolar spin relaxation of the quartet spin states in various local spin environments. We discuss the underlying physics and quantify the magnetic field and spin-bath-dependent relaxation time T1. Using these findings, we demonstrate that the silicon-vacancy qubit in SiC can implement microwave-free low-magnetic-field quantum sensors of great potential.

Realizing stress-free inorganic epitaxial films on weakly bonding substrates is of importance for applications that require film transfer onto surfaces that do not seed epitaxy. Film-substrate bonding is usually weakened by harnessing natural van der Waals layers (e.g., graphene) on substrate surfaces, but this is difficult to achieve in non-layered materials. Here, we demonstrate van der Waals epitaxy of stress-free films of a non-layered material VO2 on mica. The films exhibit out-of-plane 010 texture with three inplane orientations inherited from the crystallographic domains of the substrate. The lattice parameters are invariant with film thickness, indicating weak film-substrate bonding and complete interfacial stress relaxation. The out-of-plane domain size scales monotonically with film thickness, but the in-plane domain size exhibits a minimum, indicating that the nucleation of large in-plane domains supports subsequent island growth. Complementary ab initio investigations suggest that VO2 nucleation and van der Waals epitaxy involves subtle polarization effects around, and the active participation of, surface potassium atoms on the mica surface. The VO2 films show a narrow domain-size-sensitive electrical-conductiv ity-temperature hysteresis. These results offer promise for tuning the properties of stress-free van der Waals epitaxial films of non-layered materials such as VO2 through microstructure control (C) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Third-harmonic generation frequency combs grant telecom pump laser sources the direct and simultaneous access to both the near infrared and the visible spectral regions. The authors model the broadband and temporally dispersive dual-comb generation, and identify conditions for accessing a regime supporting two distinct and coexisting cavity solitons. Phase-matching of the third-harmonic generation process can be used to extend the emission of radiation from Kerr microresonators into new spectral regions far from the pump wavelength. Here, we present a theoretical mean-field model for optical frequency combs in a dissipative and nonlinear chi((3))-based cavity system with parametric coupling between fundamental and third-harmonic waves. We investigate temporally dispersive dual-comb generation of phase-matched combs with broad bandwidth and anomalous dispersion of the fundamental field, individuating conditions for accessing a multistable regime that simultaneously supports two types of coupled bright cavity solitons. These bistable cavity solitons coexist for the same pump power and frequency detuning, while featuring dissimilar amplitudes of their individual field components. Third-harmonic generation frequency combs grant telecom pump laser sources a simultaneous and direct access to both the near-infrared and the visible regions, which may prove advantageous for the development of optical clocks and sensing applications.

Superionic conductors have great potential as solid-stateelectrolytes,but the physics of type-II superionic transitions remains elusive.In this study, we employed molecular dynamics simulations, using machinelearning force fields, to investigate the type-II superionic phasetransition in & alpha;-Li3N. We characterized Li3N above and below the superionic phase transition by calculatingthe heat capacity, Li+ ion self-diffusion coefficient,and Li defect concentrations as functions of temperature. Our findingsindicate that both the Li+ self-diffusion coefficient andLi vacancy concentration follow distinct Arrhenius relationships inthe normal and superionic regimes. The activation energies for self-diffusionand Li vacancy formation decrease by a similar proportion across thesuperionic phase transition. This result suggests that the superionictransition may be driven by a decrease in defect formation energeticsrather than changes in Li transport mechanism. This insight may haveimplications for other type-II superionic materials.

A GraphQL server contains two building blocks: (1) a GraphQL schema defining the types of data objects that can be requested; (2) resolver functions fetching the relevant data from underlying data sources. GraphQL can be used for data integration if the GraphQL schema provides an integrated view of data from multiple data sources, and the resolver functions are implemented accordingly.However, there does not exist a semantics-aware approach to use GraphQL for data integration.We proposed a framework using GraphQL for data integration in which a global domain ontology informs the generation of a GraphQL server. Furthermore, we implemented a prototype of this framework, OBG-gen. In this paper, we demonstrate OBG-gen in a real-world data integration scenario in the materials design domain and in  a synthetic benchmark scenario.

Transition metal diborides crystallize in the α, γ, or ω type structure, in which pure transition metal layers alternate with pure boron layers stacked along the hexagonal [0001] axis. Here we view the prototypes as different stackings of the transition metal planes and suppose they can transform from one into another by a displacive transformation. Employing first-principles calculations, we simulate sliding of individual planes in the group IV-VII transition metal diborides along a transformation pathway connecting the α, γ, or ω structure. Chemistry-related trends are predicted in terms of energetic and structural changes along a transformation pathway, together with the mechanical and dynamical stability of the different stackings. Our results suggest that MnB₂ and MoB₂ possess the overall lowest sliding barriers among the investigated TMB2s. Furthermore, we discuss trends in strength and ductility indicators, including Youngs modulus or Cauchy pressure, derived from elastic constants.

Electricity production from clean energy sources has gained attention during these decades. However, many power plants worldwide still use coal and natural gas as raw materials, which generates toxic gases, especially CO and CO2. To deal with this problem, transforming generated CO into another useful precursor before sup-plying it to the chemical process is a good idea. One of the most effective approaches is WGSR using a highly effective catalyst. In this work, we elucidate the insight information of PtPdRhFeCo HEA(1 1 1) surface improving the catalytic efficiency of Pt(1 1 1) surface. Interestingly, the homogenous form of electron distribution along Pt (1 1 1) surface is changed to heterogeneous forms creating unique electronic properties in which the electron donor and acceptor species exist simultaneously. The weakening interaction of CO corresponding to the strengthening interaction of CO2 on HEA(1 1 1) surface are advantages to preventing CO poison and trapping the CO2 after the WGSR. Moreover, the HEA(1 1 1) surface can thermodynamically promote the dissociation of H2O in pre-WGSR, creating active species of H*, O*, and OH* supplying to further the WGSR process. Nevertheless, consideration of PES along WGSR demonstrates that all possible pathways, including carboxyl, redox, and formate pathways along HEA(1 1 1) surface, are significantly improved by enhancing the thermodynamic driving force producing CO2.

As a single-phase alloy, CrFeCoNi is a face centered cubic (fcc) material related to the archetypical highentropy Cantor alloy CrFeCoNiMn. For thin films, CrFeCoNi of approximately equimolar composition tends to assume an fcc structure when grown at room temperature by magnetron sputtering. However, the single-phase solid solution state is typically not achieved for thin films grown at higher temperatures. The same holds true for Cantor alloy-based ceramics (nitrides and oxides), where phase formation is extremely sensitive to process parameters such as the amount of reactive gas. This study combines theoretical and experimental methods to understand the phase formation in nitrogen-containing CrFeCoNi thin films. Density functional theory calculations considering three competing phases (CrN, Fe-Ni and Co) show that the free energy of mixing, Delta G of (CrFeCoNi)(1-x)N-x solid solutions has a maximum at x = 0.20-0.25, and AG becomes lower when x &lt; 0.20 and x &gt; 0.25. Thin films of (CrFeCoNi)1-xNx (0.14 &gt;= x &lt;= 0.41) grown by magnetron sputtering show stabilization of the metallic fcc when x &lt;= 0.22 and the stabilization of the NaCl B1 structure when x &gt; 0.33, consistent with the theoretical prediction. In contrast, films with intermediate amounts of nitrogen (x = 0.22) grown at higher temperatures show segregation into multiple phases of CrN, Fe-Ni-rich and Co. These results offer an explanation for the requirement of kinetically limited growth conditions at low temperature for obtaining single-phase CrFeCoNi Cantor-like nitrogen-containing thin films and are of importance for understanding the phase-formation mechanisms in multicomponent ceramics. The results from the study further aid in making correlations between the observed mechanical properties and the crystal structure of the films.

The calculation of free energies from first principles enables the prediction of phase stability of materials with high accuracy; these calculations are complicated in magnetic materials by the interplay of electronic, magnetic, and vibrational degrees of freedom. In this work, we show the feasibility and accuracy of the calculation of phase stability in magnetic systems with ab initio methods and thermodynamic integration by sampling the magnetic and vibrational phase space with coupled atomistic spin dynamics-ab initio molecular dynamics simulations [Stockem et al., PRL 121, 125902 (2018)], where energies and interatomic forces are calculated with density functional theory. We employ the method to calculate the phase stability of Fe at ambient pressure from 800 up to 1800 K. The Gibbs free energy difference between fcc and bcc Fe at zero pressure is calculated with thermodynamic integration over temperature and over stress-strain variables and, for the best set of exchange interactions employed, the Gibbs free energy difference between the two structures is within 5 meV/atom from the CALPHAD estimate, corresponding to an error in transition temperature below 150 K. The present work paves the way to free energy calculations in magnetic materials from first principles with accuracy in the order of 1 meV/atom.

We have found that the polarization dependence of Raman scattering in organic crystals at finite temperatures can only be described by a fourth-rank tensor formalism. This generalization of the second-rank Raman tensor stems from the effect of off diagonal components in the crystal self-energy on the light scattering mechanism. We thus establish a novel manifestation of phonon-phonon interaction in inelastic light scattering, markedly separate from the better-known phonon lifetime.

Colour centres in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have emerged as intriguing contenders for integrated quantum photonics. In this work, we present a detailed photophysical analysis of hBN single emitters emitting at the blue spectral range. The emitters are fabricated by different electron beam irradiation and annealing conditions and exhibit narrow-band luminescence centred at 436 nm. Photon statistics as well as rigorous photodynamics analysis unveils potential level structure of the emitters, which suggests lack of a metastable state, supported by a theoretical analysis. The potential defect can have an electronic structure with fully occupied defect state in the lower half of the hBN band gap and empty defect state in the upper half of the band gap. Overall, our results are important to understand the photophysical properties of the emerging family of blue quantum emitters in hBN as potential sources for scalable quantum photonic applications.

Lead-free halide double perovskites (HDPs) have emerged as a new generation of thermochromic materials. However, further materials development and mechanistic understanding are required. Here, a highly stable HDP Cs2NaFeCl6 single crystal is synthesized, and its remarkable and fully reversible thermochromism with a wide color variation from light-yellow to black over a temperature range of 10 to 423 K is investigated. First-principles, density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations indicate that the thermochromism in Cs2NaFeCl6 is an effect of electron–phonon coupling. The temperature sensitivity of the bandgap in Cs2NaFeCl6 is up to 2.52 meVK−1 based on the Varshni equation, which is significantly higher than that of lead halide perovskites and many conventional group-IV, III–V semiconductors. Meanwhile, this material shows excellent environmental, thermal, and thermochromic cycle stability. This work provides valuable insights into HDPs' thermochromism and sheds new light on developing efficient thermochromic materials.

The stabilization of nitrogen-rich phases presents a significant chemical challenge due to the inherent stability of the dinitrogen molecule. This stabilization can be achieved by utilizing strong covalent bonds in complex anions with carbon, such as cyanide CN- and NCN(2- )carbodiimide, while more nitrogen-rich carbonitrides are hitherto unknown. Following a rational chemical design approach, we synthesized antimony guanidinate SbCN3 at pressures of 32-38 GPa using various synthetic routes in laser-heated diamond anvil cells. SbCN3, which is isostructural to calcite CaCO3, can be recovered under ambient conditions. Its structure contains the previously elusive guanidinate anion [CN3](5-), marking a fundamental milestone in carbonitride chemistry. The crystal structure of SbCN3 was solved and refined from synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction data and was fully corroborated by theoretical calculations, which also predict that SbCN3 has a direct band gap with the value of 2.20 eV. This study opens a straightforward route to the entire new family of inorganic nitridocarbonates.

A series of isostructural Ln(3)O(2)(CN3) (Ln=La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Yb) oxoguanidinates was synthesized under high-pressure (25-54 GPa) high-temperature (2000-3000 K) conditions in laser-heated diamond anvil cells. The crystal structure of this novel class of compounds was determined via synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) as well as corroborated by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The Ln(3)O(2)(CN3) solids are composed of the hitherto unknown CN35- guanidinate anion-deprotonated guanidine. Changes in unit cell volumes and compressibility of Ln(3)O(2)(CN3) (Ln=La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Yb) compounds are found to be dictated by the lanthanide contraction phenomenon. Decompression experiments show that Ln(3)O(2)(CN3) compounds are recoverable to ambient conditions. The stabilization of the CN35- guanidinate anion at ambient conditions provides new opportunities in inorganic and organic synthetic chemistry.

Inhomogeneous broadening is a major limitation for the application of quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride to integrated quantum photonics. Here we demonstrate that so-called blue emitters with an emission wavelength of 436 nm are less sensitive to electric fields than other quantum emitters in hexag-onal boron nitride. Our measurements reveal a weak, predominantly quadratic Stark effect that indicates a negligible transition dipole moment of the defect. Using these results, we discuss implications for the symmetry of the defect and use density-functional-theory simulations to identify a likely atomic structure of blue emitters in hexagonal boron nitride.

Machine-learning potentials provide computationally efficient and accurate approximations of the Born–Oppenheimer potential energy surface. This potential determines many materials properties and simulation techniques usually require its gradients, in particular forces and stress for molecular dynamics, and heat flux for thermal transport properties. Recently developed potentials feature high body order and can include equivariant semi-local interactions through message-passing mechanisms. Due to their complex functional forms, they rely on automatic differentiation (AD), overcoming the need for manual implementations or finite-difference schemes to evaluate gradients. This study discusses how to use AD to efficiently obtain forces, stress, and heat flux for such potentials, and provides a model-independent implementation. The method is tested on the Lennard-Jones potential, and then applied to predict cohesive properties and thermal conductivity of tin selenide using an equivariant message-passing neural network potential.

Metal halide perovskites have shown extraordinary performance in solar energy conversion technologies. They have been classified as "soft semiconductors" due to their flexible corner-sharing octahedral networks and polymorphous nature. Understanding the local and average structures continues to be challenging for both modeling and experiments. Here, we report the quantitative analysis of structural dynamics in time and space from molecular dynamics simulations of perovskite crystals. The compact descriptors provided cover a wide variety of structural properties, including octahedral tilting and distortion, local lattice parameters, molecular orientations, as well as their spatial correlation. To validate our methods, we have trained a machine learning force field (MLFF) for methylammonium lead bromide (CH3NH3PbBr3) using an on-the-fly training approach with Gaussian process regression. The known stable phases are reproduced, and we find an additional symmetry-breaking effect in the cubic and tetragonal phases close to the phase-transition temperature. To test the implementation for large trajectories, we also apply it to 69,120 atom simulations for CsPbI3 based on an MLFF developed using the atomic cluster expansion formalism. The structural dynamics descriptors and Python toolkit are general to perovskites and readily transferable to more complex compositions.