Study on the Relationship between Uniaxial Strain and Critical Transition Temperature of MgB2 Based on First-principles

It has been shown that the critical transition temperature (Tc) of MgB2 superconducting materials decreases with the increase of hydrostatic pressure, but this is a comprehensive Tc change after multiaxial strain, and the influence of strain on Tc is not clearly understood. In this paper, based on the McMillan superconducting calculation formula and the first-principles density functional theory, the Tc change of MgB2 under uniaxial strain and the properties of MgB2 such as energy band, Fermi surface, differential charge density and phonon dispersion spectrum under uniaxial strain are studied, and the relationship between uniaxial strain and these properties is analyzed. The calculated Tc of MgB2 at zero strain is 38.35 K, which is in good agreement with the experimental value of 39 K. When the a-axis strain is 1%, the Tc value can be increased to 49.7 K, and there is a further improvement trend. When the a-axis compression strain is -1%, Tc decreases to 31.52 K. When the c-axis tensioncompression strain is applied, the change of Tc value is small. Further analysis shows that the influence of a-axis strain on the differential charge density, electronic band structure, phonon dispersion and other properties of MgB2 is significantly greater than that of c-axis strain, and the influence of these properties on Tc is discussed. The work in this paper has certain theoretical and guiding significance for the preparation of MgB2 with higher Tc and the study of the effect of uniaxial strain on Tc of superconducting materials.

Strain and electric field tunable photoelectric properties of multilayer Sb2Se3

Antimony selenide, Sb2Se3, has been attracted widespread attention in photovoltaic applications due to its high absorption coefficient and suitable band gap. However, the influence of uniaxial strain and electric field on the electronic and photovoltaic properties of multilayer Sb2Se3 is still unknown. Here, the quantitative relationship, such as strain-property, electric field-property, as well as thickness-property, is explored via first-principles calculations. Our results demonstrate that the band gap and photovoltaic parameters (Jsc, Voc, FF and PCE) of multilayer Sb2Se3 are not only affected by the uniaxial strain and electric field, but can also be tuned via the coupling of thickness with strain and electric field. The band-gap of multilayer Sb2Se3 is linear dependent on uniaxial strain and external electric field. We found that the effect of strain on the photovoltaic parameters could be negligible as compared with the effect of thickness. However, the effect of electric field is thickness dependent, 1 ‒ 2 layer(s) thin films are not affected while the impact of electric field increases with the increasing thickness. The quantitative strain (electric field)-properties relation of multilayer Sb2Se3 suggesting that Sb2Se3 films have a potential application in the field of strain and electric field sensors.

Strain-controlled thermoelectric properties of phosphorene-carbon monosulfide hetero-bilayers

The application of strain to 2D materials allows manipulating the electronic, magnetic, and thermoelectric properties. These physical properties are sensitive to slight variations induced by tensile and compressive strain and the uniaxial strain direction. Herein, we take advantage of the reversible semiconductor-metal transition observed in certain monolayers to propose a hetero-bilayer device. We propose to pill up phosphorene (layered black phosphorus) and carbon monosulfide monolayers. In the first, such transition appears for positive strain, while the second appears for negative strain. Our first-principle calculations show that depending on the direction of the applied uniaxial strain; it is possible to achieve reversible control in the layer that behaves as an electronic conductor while the other layer remains as a thermal conductor. The described strain-controlled selectivity could be used in the design of novel devices.

Nematicity in a cuprate superconductor revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy under uniaxial strain

The nature of the pseudogap and its relationship with superconductivity are one of the central issues of cuprate superconductors. Recently, a possible scenario has been proposed that the pseudogap state is a distinct phase characterized by spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking called “nematicity” based on transport and magnetic susceptibility measurements, where the symmetry breaking was observed below the pseudogap temperature T∗. Here, we report a temperature-dependent ARPES study of nematicity in slightly overdoped Bi1.7Pb0.5Sr1.9CaCu2O8+δ triggered by a uniaxial strain applied along one of the Cu–O bond directions. While the nematicity was enhanced in the pseudogap state as in the previous studies, it was suppressed in the superconducting state. These results indicate that the pseudogap state is characterized by spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking and that the nematicity may compete with superconductivity. Relationship between the nematicity and charge-density waves, both of which are observed in the pseudogap state, is discussed.