Density Functional Theory Calculation of the Band Alignment of (101̅0) In(x)Ga(1-x)N/Water Interfaces.

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Article
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Authors
Meng, Andrew C 
Cheng, Jun 
Abstract

Conduction band edge (CBE) and valence band edge (VBE) positions of InxGa1-xN photoelectrodes were computed using density functional theory methods. The band edges of fully solvated GaN and InN model systems were aligned with respect to the standard hydrogen electrode using a molecular dynamics hydrogen electrode scheme applied earlier to TiO2/water interfaces. Similar to the findings for TiO2, we found that the Purdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional gives a VBE potential which is too negative by 1 V. This cathodic bias is largely corrected by application of the Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE06) hybrid functional containing a fraction of Hartree-Fock exchange. The effect of a change of composition was investigated using simplified model systems consisting of vacuum slabs covered on both sides by one monolayer of H2O. The CBE was found to vary linearly with In content. The VBE, in comparison, is much less sensitive to composition. The data show that the band edges straddle the hydrogen and oxygen evolution potentials for In fractions less than 47%. The band gap was found to exceed 2 eV for an In fraction less than 54%.

Description
Keywords
band alignment, InGaN, hydrogen insertion method, water splitting, density functional theory
Journal Title
J Phys Chem B
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
1520-6106
1520-5207
Volume Title
120
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K014560/1)
ACM is grateful to the Winston Churchill foundation of the United States for a scholarship. The computations were carried out on the Archer facility of the National Supercomputer Service of the United Kingdom using the computer time allocation of the UK Car-Parrinello consortium (UKCP).