DFT study on the crystal, electronic and magnetic structures of tantalum based double perovskite oxides Ba2MTaO6 (M = Cr, Mn, Fe) via GGA and GGA + U

Abstract

In this paper, we study the crystal, electronic and magnetic structures of three tantalum based double perovskite oxides Ba2MTaO6 (M = Cr, Mn, Fe). All calculations were performed using the full-potential linear augmented plane-wave (PF-LAPW) method based on the first-principles density functional theory (DFT). For the exchange correlation potential, the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA plus on-site Coulomb parameter (GGA + U) were employed. The structural optimization reveals that the three compounds are stable in cubic structure (space group Fm-3m; tilt system a0a0a0). The band structure, density of states (DOS), charge density and spin magnetic moments were calculated and analyzed in details. By analysis the band structure and DOS, Ba2MTaO6 exhibits an insulating behavior (M = Cr, Fe) and a half-metallic (HM) nature (M = Mn). GGA + U method yields quite accurate results for the band-gap (Eg) as compared with GGA. We found that all three compounds have stable ferromagnetic (FM) ground state within GGA and GGA + U calculations. The M3+ (3d) ions contribute the majority in the total spin magnetic-moments, while, the empty T5+ (5d) ions carry very small induced magnetic moment via the M (3d)–O (2p)–Ta (5d) hybridization. Keywords: Tantalum double perovskite oxides, Electronic structure, Ferromagnetic, DFT, GGA, GGA + U