“A novel explanation for the increased conductivity in annealed Al-doped ZnO: an insight into migration of aluminum and displacement of zinc”. Momot A, Amini MN, Reekmans G, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Slocombe DR, Elen K, Adriaensens P, Hardy A, Van Bael MK, Physical chemistry, chemical physics 19, 27866 (2017). http://doi.org/10.1039/C7CP02936E
Abstract: A combined experimental and first-principles study is performed to study the origin of conductivity in
ZnO:Al nanoparticles synthesized under controlled conditions via a reflux route using benzylamine as a
solvent. The experimental characterization of the samples by Raman, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
and conductivity measurements indicates that upon annealing in nitrogen, the Al atoms at interstitial
positions migrate to the substitutional positions, creating at the same time Zn interstitials. We provide
evidence for the fact that the formed complex of AlZn and Zni corresponds to the origin of the Knight
shifted peak (KS) we observe in 27Al NMR. As far as we know, the role of this complex has not been
discussed in the literature to date. However, our first-principles calculations show that such a complex is
indeed energetically favoured over the isolated Al interstitial positions. In our calculations we also
address the charge state of the Al interstitials. Further, Zn interstitials can migrate from Al_Zn and possibly
also form Zn clusters, leading to the observed increased conductivity.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT); Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 4.123
Times cited: 26
DOI: 10.1039/C7CP02936E
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“Understanding the Effect of Iodide Ions on the Morphology of Gold Nanorods”. Amini MN, Altantzis T, Lobato I, Grzelczak M, Sánchez-Iglesias A, Van Aert S, Liz-Marzán LM, Partoens B, Bals S, Neyts EC, Particle and particle systems characterization 35, 1800051 (2018). http://doi.org/10.1002/ppsc.201800051
Abstract: The presence of iodide ions during the growth of gold nanorods strongly affects the shape of the final products, which is proposed to be due to selective iodide adsorption on certain crystallographic facets. Therefore, a detailed structural and morphological characterization of the starting rods is crucial toward understanding this effect. Electron tomography is used to determine the crystallographic indices of the lateral facets of gold nanorods, as well as those present at the tips. Based on this information, density functional theory calculations are used to determine the surface and interface energies of the observed facets and provide insight into the relationship between the amount of iodide ions in the growth solution and the final morphology of anisotropic gold nanoparticles.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT); Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 4.474
Times cited: 6
DOI: 10.1002/ppsc.201800051
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“Attracting shallow donors : hydrogen passivation in (Al,Ga,In)-doped ZnO”. Matsubara M, Amini MN, Saniz R, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Physical review : B : condensed matter and materials physics 86, 165207 (2012). http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.165207
Abstract: The hydrogen interstitial and the substitutional AlZn, GaZn, and InZn are all shallow donors in ZnO and lead to n-type conductivity. Although shallow donors are expected to repel each other, we show by first-principles calculations that in ZnO these shallow donor impurities attract and form a complex, leading to a donor level deep in the band gap. This puts a limit on the n-type conductivity of (Al,Ga,In)-doped ZnO in the presence of hydrogen.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 3.836
Times cited: 7
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.86.165207
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“Electronic band structures and native point defects of ultrafine ZnO nanocrystals”. Zeng Y-J, Schouteden K, Amini MN, Ruan S-C, Lu Y-F, Ye Z-Z, Partoens B, Lamoen D, Van Haesendonck C, ACS applied materials and interfaces 7, 10617 (2015). http://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b02545
Abstract: Ultrafine ZnO nanocrystals with a thickness down to 0.25 nm are grown by a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition method. Electronic band structures and native point defects of ZnO nanocrystals are studied by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory calculations. Below a critical thickness of nm ZnO adopts a graphitic-like structure and exhibits a wide band gap similar to its wurtzite counterpart. The hexagonal wurtzite structure, with a well-developed band gap evident from scanning tunneling spectroscopy, is established for a thickness starting from similar to 1.4 nm. With further increase of the thickness to 2 nm, V-O-V-Zn defect pairs are easily produced in ZnO nanocrystals due to the self-compensation effect in highly doped semiconductors.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 7.504
Times cited: 15
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b02545
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Amini M (2014) First-principles study of defects in transparent conducting oxide materials. Antwerpen
Keywords: Doctoral thesis; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
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“Graphane- and fluorographene-based quantum dots”. Amini MN, Leenaerts O, Partoens B, Lamoen D, The journal of physical chemistry: C : nanomaterials and interfaces 117, 16242 (2013). http://doi.org/10.1021/jp405079r
Abstract: With the help of first-principles calculations, we investigate graphane/fluorographene heterostructures with special attention for graphane and fluorographene-based quantum dots. Graphane and fluorographene have large electronic band gaps, and we show that their band structures exhibit a strong type-II alignment. In this way, it is possible to obtain confined electron states in fluorographene nanostructures by embedding them in a graphane crystal. Bound hole states can be created in graphane domains embedded in a fluorographene environment. For circular graphane/fluorographene quantum dots, localized states can be observed in the band gap if the size of the radii is larger than approximately 4 to 5 Å.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 4.536
Times cited: 14
DOI: 10.1021/jp405079r
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“Hydrogen impurities and native defects in CdO”. Amini MN, Saniz R, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Journal of applied physics 110, 063521 (2011). http://doi.org/10.1063/1.3641971
Abstract: We have used first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to study point defects in CdO within the local density approximation and beyond (LDA+U). Hydrogen interstitials and oxygen vacancies are found to act as shallow donors and can be interpreted as the cause of conductivity in CdO. Hydrogen can also occupy an oxygen vacancy in its substitutional form and also acts as a shallow donor. Similar to what was found for ZnO and MgO, hydrogen creates a multicenter bond with its six oxygen neighbors in CdO. The charge neutrality level for native defects and hydrogen impurities has been calculated. It is shown that in the case of native defects, it is not uniquely defined. Indeed, this level depends highly on the chemical potentials of the species and one can obtain different values for different end states in the experiment. Therefore, a comparison with experiment can only be made if the chemical potentials of the species in the experiment are well defined. However, for the hydrogen interstitial defect, since this level is independent of the chemical potential of hydrogen, one can obtain a unique value for the charge neutrality level. We find that the Fermi level stabilizes at 0.43 eV above the conduction band minimum in the case of the hydrogen interstitial defect, which is in good agreement with the experimentally reported value of 0.4 eV.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 2.068
Times cited: 13
DOI: 10.1063/1.3641971
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“The origin of p-type conductivity in ZnM2O4 (M = Co, Rh, Ir) spinels”. Amini MN, Dixit H, Saniz R, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Physical chemistry, chemical physics 16, 2588 (2014). http://doi.org/10.1039/c3cp53926a
Abstract: ZnM2O4 (M = Co, Rh, Ir) spinels are considered as a class of potential p-type transparent conducting oxides (TCOs). We report the formation energy of acceptor-like defects using first principles calculations with an advanced hybrid exchange-correlation functional (HSE06) within density functional theory (DFT). Due to the discrepancies between the theoretically obtained band gaps with this hybrid functional and the – scattered – experimental results, we also perform GW calculations to support the validity of the description of these spinels with the HSE06 functional. The considered defects are the cation vacancy and antisite defects, which are supposed to be the leading source of disorder in the spinel structures. We also discuss the band alignments in these spinels. The calculated formation energies indicate that the antisite defects ZnM (Zn replacing M, M = Co, Rh, Ir) and VZn act as shallow acceptors in ZnCo2O4, ZnRh2O4 and ZnIr2O4, which explains the experimentally observed p-type conductivity in those systems. Moreover, our systematic study indicates that the ZnIr antisite defect has the lowest formation energy in the group and it corroborates the highest p-type conductivity reported for ZnIr2O4 among the group of ZnM2O4 spinels. To gain further insight into factors affecting the p-type conductivity, we have also investigated the formation of localized small polarons by calculating the self-trapping energy of the holes.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 4.123
Times cited: 47
DOI: 10.1039/c3cp53926a
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“Perovskite transparent conducting oxides : an ab initio study”. Dabaghmanesh S, Saniz R, Amini MN, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Journal of physics : condensed matter 25, 415503 (2013). http://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/25/41/415503
Abstract: We present an ab initio study of the electronic structure and of the formation energies of various point defects in BaSnO3 and SrGeO3. We show that La and Y impurities substituting Ba or Sr are shallow donors with a preferred 1 + charge state. These defects have a low formation energy within all the suitable equilibrium growth conditions considered. Oxygen vacancies behave as shallow donors as well, preferring the 2 + charge state. Their formation energies, however, are higher in most growth conditions, indicating a limited contribution to conductivity. The calculated electron effective mass in BaSnO3, with a value of 0.21 me, and the very high mobility reported recently in La-doped BaSnO3 single-crystals, suggest that remarkably low scattering rates can be achieved in the latter. In the case of SrGeO3, our results point to carrier density and mobility values in the low range for typical polycrystalline TCOs, in line with experiment.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT); Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 2.649
Times cited: 17
DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/25/41/415503
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“A simplified approach to the band gap correction of defect formation energies : Al, Ga, and In-doped ZnO”. Saniz R, Xu Y, Matsubara M, Amini MN, Dixit H, Lamoen D, Partoens B, The journal of physics and chemistry of solids 74, 45 (2013). http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpcs.2012.07.017
Abstract: The calculation of defect levels in semiconductors within a density functional theory approach suffers greatly from the band gap problem. We propose a band gap correction scheme that is based on the separation of energy differences in electron addition and relaxation energies. We show that it can predict defect levels with a reasonable accuracy, particularly in the case of defects with conduction band character, and yet is simple and computationally economical. We apply this method to ZnO doped with group III elements (Al, Ga, In). As expected from experiment, the results indicate that Zn substitutional doping is preferred over interstitial doping in Al, Ga, and In-doped ZnO, under both zinc-rich and oxygen-rich conditions. Further, all three dopants act as shallow donors, with the +1 charge state having the most advantageous formation energy. Also, doping effects on the electronic structure of ZnO are sufficiently mild so as to affect little the fundamental band gap and lowest conduction bands dispersion, which secures their n-type transparent conducting behavior. A comparison with the extrapolation method based on LDA+U calculations and with the HeydScuseriaErnzerhof hybrid functional (HSE) shows the reliability of the proposed scheme in predicting the thermodynamic transition levels in shallow donor systems.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 2.059
Times cited: 36
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2012.07.017
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“The role of the VZn-NO-H complex in the p-type conductivity in ZnO”. Amini MN, Saniz R, Lamoen D, Partoens B, Physical chemistry, chemical physics 17, 5485 (2015). http://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05894a
Abstract: Past research efforts aiming at obtaining stable p-type ZnO have been based on complexes involving nitrogen doping. A recent experiment by (J. G. Reynolds et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 2013, 102, 152114) demonstrated a significant ([similar]1018 cm−3) p-type behavior in N-doped ZnO films after appropriate annealing. The p-type conductivity was attributed to a VZnNOH shallow acceptor complex, formed by a Zn vacancy (VZn), N substituting O (NO), and H interstitial (Hi). We present here a first-principles hybrid functional study of this complex compared to the one without hydrogen. Our results confirm that the VZnNOH complex acts as an acceptor in ZnO. We find that H plays an important role, because it lowers the formation energy of the complex with respect to VZnNO, a complex known to exhibit (unstable) p-type behavior. However, this additional H atom also occupies the hole level at the origin of the shallow behavior of VZnNO, leaving only two states empty higher in the band gap and making the VZnNOH complex a deep acceptor. Therefore, we conclude that the cause of the observed p-type conductivity in experiment is not the presence of the VZnNOH complex, but probably the formation of the VZnNO complex during the annealing process.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 4.123
Times cited: 20
DOI: 10.1039/c4cp05894a
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“Charge transfer doping modulated raman scattering and enhanced stability of black phosphorus quantum dots on a ZnO nanorod”. Hu L, Amini MN, Wu Y, Jin Z, Yuan J, Lin R, Wu J, Dai Y, He H, Lu Y, Lu J, Ye Z, Han S-T, Ye J, Partoens B, Zeng Y-J, Ruan S, Advanced Optical Materials 6, 1800440 (2018). http://doi.org/10.1002/ADOM.201800440
Abstract: Black phosphorus (BP) has recently triggered an unprecedented interest in the 2D community. However, many of its unique properties are not exploited and the well-known environmental vulnerability is not conquered. Herein, a type-I mixed-dimensional (0D-1D) van der Waals heterojunction is developed, where three-atomic-layer BP quantum dots (QDs) are assembled on a single ZnO nanorod (NR). By adjusting the indium (In) content in ZnO NRs, the degree and even the direction of surface charge transfer doping within the heterojunction can be tuned, which result in selective Raman scattering enhancements between ZnO and BP. The maximal enhancement factor is determined as 4340 for BP QDs with sub-ppm level. Furthermore, an unexpected long-term ambient stability (more than six months) of BP QDs is revealed, which is ascribed to the electron doping from ZnO:In NRs. The first demonstration of selective Raman enhancements between two inorganic semiconductors as well as the improved stability of BP shed light on this emerging 2D material.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT); Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 6.875
Times cited: 37
DOI: 10.1002/ADOM.201800440
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