Hafnium dinitride/poly(9-vinylcarbazole) heterojunction: Structural, electronic, optical and vibrational properties. A DFT and DFPT study

Abstract

Photosensitivity of semiconducting polymers can be enhanced by blending donor and acceptor polymers to optimize photoinduced charge separation. With a motivation to understand microscopic aspects of HfN2 and PVK relevant to optoelectronic properties of transition metal-dinitride/semiconductor interfaces, we examined their structural, electronic, optical and vibrational properties using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) levels of theory. We computed a large direct energy gap of 3.751 eV for PVK and an indirect narrow band gap of 1.396 eV in HfN2. The gap value computed for the composite structure, HfN2/PVK, was 0.958 eV. The heterojunction displayed an indirect energy gap. The charge transfer between HfN2 and PVK results in a polarized field within the interface region, which will benefit the separation of photogenerated carriers. The calculated density of electronic states, Lowdin charge transfer and charge density difference certify that this proposed layered nanoheterojunction is an excellent light-harvesting semiconductor. These findings indicate that the conjugated polymer PVK is a promising candidate as a non-noble metal co-catalyst for HfN2 photocatalysis. It also provides useful information for understanding the observed enhanced photocatalytic mechanisms in experiments.

Keywords

• Hafnium dinitride
• Optical
• Poly(9-vinylcarbazole)
• Nanoheterostructure
• Photocatalysis