https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03718-7
Regular Article
Different metal dopants effects on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of β-PbO: a density functional theory study
1
Department of Applied Physics, Adama Science and Technology University, P. O. Box 1888, Adama, Ethiopia
2
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus, 1710, Johannesburg, South Africa
3
Department of Physics, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box: 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
4
Department of Physics, Oda Bultum University, P. O. Box 226, Chiro, Ethiopia
Received:
9
October
2022
Accepted:
18
January
2023
Published online:
20
February
2023
The β-PbO has low electrical conductivity relative to α-PbO which hinders its application in optoelectronics and other technological devices. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Li+, and Sn2+-doped β-PbO at the Pb site were investigated in this work using Quantum espresso as a DFT tool. The GGA and LDA exchange functionals were used for band structure calculations. The indirect band gap property is indicated by the calculation of electronic band structure, with spin up state band gap values of 2.28 eV, 0.68 eV, 1.01 eV, 1.57 eV, 1.79 eV, and 1.76 eV for pristine, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Li+, and Sn2+-doped β-PbO, respectively. The spin down states band gap of Co2+ and Ni2+ was 0.1 eV and 0.32 eV, whereas other dopants and pristine β-PbO equal with spin up states. The PDOS calculation shows how each orbital contributes to the formation of deep level valence band, shallow level valence band, and conduction band states. Dopant effects on optical properties such as JDOS, dielectric functions, refractive index, extinction coefficient, reflectivity, absorption coefficient, electron energy loss spectrum, and optical conductivity were thoroughly discussed. This research provides in-depth functional characteristics for guiding laboratory working experiments and the applications of these materials in various fields such as energy storage and solar cells.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.