In this study, we used a combination of density functional theory with Hubbard U correction (DFT+U) and machine learning (ML) to accurately predict the band gaps and lattice parameters of metal oxides: TiO2 (rutile and anatase), cubic ZnO, cubic ZnO2, cubic CeO2, and cubic ZrO2. Our results show that including Up values for oxygen 2p orbitals alongside Ud/f for metal 3d or 4f orbitals significantly enhances the accuracy of these predictions. Through extensive DFT+U calculations, we identify optimal (Up, Ud/f) integer pairs that closely reproduce experimentally measured band gaps and lattice parameters for each oxide: (8 eV, 8 eV) for rutile TiO2; (3 eV, 6 eV) for anatase TiO2; (6 eV, 12 eV) for c-ZnO; (10 eV, 10 eV) for c-ZnO2; (9 eV, 5 eV) for c-ZrO2; and (7 eV, 12 eV) for c-CeO2. Our ML analysis showed that simple supervised ML models can closely reproduce these DFT+U results at a fraction of the computational cost and generalize well to related polymorphs. Our approach builds on existing high-throughput DFT+U frameworks by providing fast pre-DFT estimates of structural properties and band gaps. Since this work does not aim to improve the underlying DFT+U method, the ML model shares its limitations. We also note that the reported values of Up strongly depend on the choice of correlated orbitals, and caution is recommended with a different choice of correlated orbitals.
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Role of Sn in the Amorphous-to-Crystalline Transition of TiO 2 Thin Films
The amorphous-to-crystalline transition in TiO2 films upon annealing in air yields different polymorphs, depending on the oxygen partial pressure during the deposition of the amorphous precursor film. We further manipulate the resulting polymorph by introducing Sn into the system. By depositing a few nanometer-thick layer of metallic Sn between two layers of amorphous TiO2 prepared to yield the anatase polymorph of TiO2, we find that it results in the rutile polymorph if the content of Sn is high enough. If Sn is introduced as an oxide, no rutile is formed; anatase is by far the predominant phase (with a very small amount of brookite). This observation is consistent with scavenging of oxygen by elemental Sn at the Sn/TiO2 interfaces, stabilizing the rutile structure that can accommodate oxygen vacancies.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1945520
- PAR ID:
- 10503948
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACS
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Crystal Growth & Design
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 1528-7483
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 8818 to 8827
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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