Rich essential properties of Si-doped graphene

Rich essential properties of silicon-substituted graphene nanoribbons: a comprehensive computational study

The diverse structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of silicon (Si)-substituted armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs and ZGNRs) were investigated using spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Pristine AGNRs belong to a nonmagnetic semiconductor with a direct bandgap of 1.63/1.92 eV determined by PBE/HSE06 functionals. Under various Si substitutions, nonmagnetic bandgaps were tuned at 1.49/1.87, 1.06/1.84, 0.81/1.45, 1.04/1.71, 0.89/1.05, and 2.38/3.0 eV (PBE/HSE06) in the single Si edge-, single Si non-edge-, double Si ortho-, double Si meta-, double Si para-, and 100% Si-substituted AGNR configurations, respectively. Meanwhile, pristine ZGNRs displayed antiferromagnetic semiconducting behavior with a spin degenerate bandgap of 0.52/0.81 eV (PBE/HSE06) and becomes a ferromagnetic semimetal in the single Si configurations or an unusual ferromagnetic semiconductor in the 100% Si configuration. Under the developed first-principles theoretical framework, the formation of quasi π (C-2pz and Si-3pz) and quasi σ (C-2s, -2pxy and Si-3s and -3pxy) bands was identified in the Si-substituted configurations. These quasi π and quasi σ bands showed weak separation, resulting in weak quasi sp2 hybridization in Si-C bonds, in which the identified hybridization mechanism was a strong evidence for the formation of stable planar 1D structures in the Si-substituted configurations. Our complete revelation of the essential properties of Si-substituted GNRs can provide a complete understanding of their chemically doped 1D materials for various practical applications.

Adsorption effects of acetone and acetonitrile on defected penta-PdSe2 nanoribbons: a DFT study

Using DFT calculations, the structural and electronic properties of the ZZ7 p-PdSe2 nanoribbons (ZZ7) with the four kinds of vacancy defects, including ZZ7-VPd, ZZ7-VSe, ZZ7-VPd+Se, and ZZ7-V2Se are studied, in which their stability, diverse geometries, and altered electronic properties are determined through the formation energies, optimal structural parameters, electronic band structures, and DOSs. Specifically, the formation energies of all studied systems show significant negative values around -3.9 eV, evidencing their good thermal stability. The geometries of four defective structures exhibit different diversification, whereas only the ZZ7-V2Se structure possesses the highly enhanced feature, identified as the most effective substrate for the acetone and acetonitrile adsorption. On the electronic behaviors, the ZZ7 band structure displays the nonmagnetic metallic characteristics that become the ferromagnetic half-metallic band structures for the ZZ7-VPd and ZZ7-VSe and the ferromagnetic semi-metallic band structures for the ZZ7-VPd+Se and ZZ7-V2Se. For adsorption of the acetone and acetonitrile on the ZZ7-V2Se structure, the energetic stability, adsorption sites, adsorption distances, charge transfers, and electronic characteristics of the adsorbed systems are determined by the adsorption energies, optimal adsorption sites, adsorption distances, Mulliken populations, and DOSs. The adsorption energies of the acetone- and acetonitrile-adsorbed ZZ7-V2Se systems display significant values at -1.2 eV and -0.86 eV at the preferable sites of 8 and 11, respectively, indicating their great adsorption ability. The adsorption mechanism of the acetone- and acetonitrile-adsorbed systems belongs to the physisorption owing to absence of chemical bonds, in which the bond lengths of the ZZ7-V2Se substrate show a very small deviation. Under the acetone and acetonitrile adsorptions, the ferromagnetic semi-metallic DOSs of the ZZ7-V2Se become the ferromagnetic half-metallic DOSs for the ZZ7-V2Se-acetone-8 and the ferromagnetic semiconducting DOSs for the ZZ7-V2Se-acetonitrile-11. Our systematic results can provide a complete understanding of the acetone- and acetonitrile adsorptions on the potential ZZ7-V2Se structure, which is very useful for nanosensor application.

Electron delocalization in defect-containing graphene and its influence on tetrel bond formation

Using the advanced analyses of electron density and fermionic potential, we show how electron delocalization influences the ability of defect-containing graphene to form tetrel bonds. The Cg atoms of a vacancy defect can produce one nonpolar interaction, alongside a peculiar polar Cg⋯Cg bond. The latter stems from the presence of a localized electron pair on a vacancy defect Cg atom and the local depletion of electron localization on another Cg atom. This interaction is an example of intralayer tetrel bond. In the presence of an absorbed molecule of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA), graphene is able to form incipient tetrel Cg⋯O bonds with an ether group oxygen. In contrast to an epoxy group oxygen, the disposition of the ether oxygen often causes the orientation of electron-rich π-domains of graphene carbon on the weakly expressed electrophilic region of the oxygen. In the case of graphene with a point Si defect, the Si atom can form quite strong Si⋯C interactions with the DGEBA aryl carbons. In contrast to other noncovalent bonds, this interaction significantly alters the electron (de)localization on the Si atom and in the aryl ring. The reliability of the obtained results is enhanced by the use of multiple 2D periodic models with defects located at different positions along the DGEBA skeleton.

Graphene-based materials: A new tool to fight against breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors among women population on a global scale, with a huge number of new cases and deaths each year. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of literatures on the discovery and development of novel anti-breast cancer drugs and materials, aiming to increase the survival rate of breast cancer patients. One of the newest tools used for the therapy of breast cancer is graphene-based materials, which have ultra-high surface area as well as unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties. It is reported that graphene-based materials could induce apoptosis in cancer cells while showing low toxicity due to their carbon structure. Therefore, they can be used as nano-drugs or biological carriers to introduce small molecules such as nucleic acids, drugs, or photosensitizers into the human body to achieve treatment goals. This article introduces the synthetic methods for graphene-based materials, as well as the current status and the future prospects of graphene-based materials' application in the treatment of breast cancer.

Orbital-hybridization-created optical excitations in Li2GeO3

The three-dimensional ternary Li2GeO3 compound presents various unusual essential properties. The main features are thoroughly explored from the first-principles calculations. The concise pictures, the critical orbital hybridizations in Li-O and Ge-O bonds, are clearly examined through the optimal geometric structure, the atom-dominated electronic energy spectrum, the spatial charge densities, the atom and orbital-decomposed van Hove singularities, and the strong optical responses. The unusual optical transitions cover the red-shift optical gap, various frequency-dependent absorption structures and the most prominent plasmon mode in terms of the dielectric functions, energy loss functions, reflectance spectra, and absorption coefficients. Optical excitations, depending on the directions of electric polarization, are strongly affected by excitonic effects. The close combinations of electronic and optical properties can identify a significant orbital hybridization for each available excitation channel. The developed theoretical framework will be very useful in fully understanding the diverse phenomena of other emergent materials.