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Abstract The silver‐fluorine phase diagram has been scrutinized as a function of external pressure using theoretical methods. Our results indicate that two novel stoichiometries containing Ag+and Ag2+cations (Ag3F4and Ag2F3) are thermodynamically stable at ambient and low pressure. Both are computed to be magnetic semiconductors under ambient pressure conditions. For Ag2F5, containing both Ag2+and Ag3+, we find that strong 1D antiferromagnetic coupling is retained throughout the pressure‐induced phase transition sequence up to 65 GPa. Our calculations show that throughout the entire pressure range of their stability the mixed‐valence fluorides preserve a finite band gap at the Fermi level. We also confirm the possibility of synthesizing AgF4as a paramagnetic compound at high pressure. Our results indicate that this compound is metallic in its thermodynamic stability region. Finally, we present general considerations on the thermodynamic stability of mixed‐valence compounds of silver at high pressure.
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Defect-free and crystallinity-preserving ductile deformation in semiconducting Ag2S
Abstract Typical ductile materials are metals, which deform by the motion of defects like dislocations in association with non-directional metallic bonds. Unfortunately, this textbook mechanism does not operate in most inorganic semiconductors at ambient temperature, thus severely limiting the development of much-needed flexible electronic devices. We found a shear-deformation mechanism in a recently discovered ductile semiconductor, monoclinic-silver sulfide (Ag2S), which is defect-free, omni-directional, and preserving perfect crystallinity. Our first-principles molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the ductile deformation mechanism in monoclinic-Ag2S under six types of shear systems. Planer mass movement of sulfur atoms plays an important role for the remarkable structural recovery of sulfur-sublattice. This in turn arises from a distinctively high symmetry of the anion-sublattice in Ag2S, which is not seen in other brittle silver chalcogenides. Such mechanistic and lattice-symmetric understanding provides a guideline for designing even higher-performance ductile inorganic semiconductors.
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- PAR ID:
- 10380278
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2045-2322
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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