Configurational energies and effective cluster interactions in substitutionally disordered binary alloys

First-principles study of order-disorder transitions in multicomponent solid-solution alloys

In this review, we will focus on the recent development of the order-disorder transition in metallic materials. The past decades have witnessed fast development in the first-principles methodologies and their applications to ordering transitions in multi-component alloys, particularly the high-entropy alloys. The driving force for the proceedings comes from (i) the advance of algorithms and increasingly cheaper hardware, and also (ii) the great passion to model alloys with increasing number of components. The review starts with a brief introduction of the history for the ordering transitions. More detailed scientific proceedings prior to the 1970s had been well summarized in Krivoglaz and Smirnov (1965 The Theory of Order-Disorder in Alloys (New York: Elsevier)) and Stoloff and Davies (1968 Prog. Mater. Sci. 13 1-84). In the second part, the methods to study the ordering transitions, primarily on the theoretic methods are introduced. These will include (i) KKR-CPA method and supercell methods for energetic calculations; and (ii) thermodynamic and statistical methods to compute the transition temperatures. The third part will focus on representative applications in alloys, including our own work and many others. This part supplies the primary information of this review to the readers. The fourth part will summarize the connections between ordering transitions and broader physical properties (e.g. the mechanical properties). In the last part, some concluding remarks and perspectives will be given.

A comprehensive search for stable Pt-Pd nanoalloy configurations and their use as tunable catalysts

Using density-functional theory, we predict stable alloy configurations (ground states) for a 1 nm Pt-Pd cuboctahedral nanoparticle across the entire composition range and demonstrate their use as tunable alloy catalysts via hydrogen-adsorption studies. Unlike previous works, we use simulated annealing with a cluster expansion Hamiltonian to perform a rapid and comprehensive search that encompasses both high and low-symmetry configurations. The ground states show Pt(core)-Pd(shell) type configurations across all compositions but with specific Pd patterns. For catalysis studies at room temperatures, the ground states are more realistic structural models than the commonly assumed random alloy configurations. Using the ground states, we reveal that the hydrogen adsorption energy increases (decreases) monotonically with at. % Pt for the {111} hollow ({100} bridge) adsorption site. Such trends are useful for designing tunable Pd-Pt nanocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

A First-Principles Study of Short Range Order in Cu-Zn

Recently, measurements of short-range order (SRO) diffuse neutron scattering intensity have been performed on quenched Cu-Zn alloys with 22.4 to 31.1 atomic percent (a/o) Zn, and pair interactions were obtained by Inverse Monte Carlo simulation [1]. These results are compared to SRO intensities and effective pair interactions obtained from first-principles electronic structure calculations. The theoretical SRO intensities were calculated with the Cluster Variation Method (CVM) in the tetrahedron-octahedron approximation with first-principles pair interactions as input. More generally, phase stability in the Cu-Zn alloy system is discussed, using ab-initio energetic properties.

Where are nature's missing structures?

Our society's environmental and economic progress depends on the development of high-performance materials such as lightweight alloys, high-energy-density battery materials, recyclable motor vehicle and building components, and energy-efficient lighting. Meeting these needs requires us to understand the central role of crystal structure in a material's properties. Despite more than 50 years of progress in first-principles calculations, it is still impossible in most materials to infer ground-state properties purely from a knowledge of their atomic components--a situation described as 'scandalous' in the well-known essay by Maddox. Many methods attempt to predict crystal structures and compound stability, but here I take a different tack--to infer the existence of structures on the basis of combinatorics and geometric simplicity. The method identifies 'least random' structures, for which the energy is an extremum (maximum or minimum). Although the key to the generic nature of the approach is energy minimization, the extrema are found in a chemistry-independent way.

First-principles KKR-CPA calculation of interactions between concentration fluctuations

The aim of this work is to develop the method of calculating atomic interactions in metals and semiconductors on the basis of first-principles electronic structure calculation. A new method to calculate the atomic interactions in the framework of KKR-CPA is proposed. In this approach two specific atoms embedded in a CPA medium are considered and the effects of both electron-electron interactions and multiple scattering, which are neglected in the generalized perturbation method (GPM), are fully taken into account. The calculated atomic interactions show that these effects are important for alloys containing transition-metal alloys such as FeAl. On the other hand, in the case of AuCu, where the d states lie considerably below the Fermi level, the effects are less important.