First-principles calculations to investigate half-metallic ferromagnetism in Zn_0.50Ti_0.50S alloy by using DFT + U calculations

ABSTRACT

The spin-polarized structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the Ti-doped zincblende ZnS compound at x = 0.50 (Zn_0.50Ti_0.50S alloy) have been investigated by employing the first-principles full-potential linearised augmented plane wave with local orbitals (FP-L/APW + lo) method within the frame-work of spin-polarized density functional theory (spin-DFT). For the treating of the structural properties, the electronic exchange and correlation (XC) functional was defined by generalised gradient approximation (GGA), whereas both GGA and GGA + U approximations are applied to treat and to compare the electronic and magnetic properties (U is the Coulomb repulsion energy). It has been confirmed that the ferromagnetic (FM) state of this alloy is found the most stable phase; however, all the equilibrium lattice parameters such as; lattice constant (a₀), bulk modulus (B₀), and its first-pressure derivative (B′) are computed in all paramagnetic, ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic phases. The calculations of electronic properties unveil the perfect half-metallic character in the tetragonal Zn_0.50Ti_0.50S system. The computed magnetic properties reveal that the total magnetic moment is mainly originated from the transition element (TM) of Ti. Moreover, we have found that the p-d hybridisation is the paramount responsible for the reduction of the magnetic moment of TM from its free space charge value and for the production of minor magnetic moments on the nonmagnetic Zn and S sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Zn_0.50Ti_0.50S
• electronic properties
• magnetic properties
• half-metallic character
• FP-L/APW + lo
• GGA + U

Acknowledgements

The author Mohammed El Amine Monir acknowledges the help of Professor Hadj Baltach from Mustapha Stambouli University of Mascara.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Mohammed El Amine Monir http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6966-7856

Fouad El Haj Hassan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8184-3373

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Mustapha Stambouli University of Mascara.