Electric Field Gradient Calculations of Various Borides

Abstract

Abstract A first-principles method for the computation of electric field gradients (EFG) is illustrated for various borides. It is based on energy band calculations using the full-potential linearized aug-mented plane wave (LAPW) method within density functional theory. From the self-consistent charge density distribution the EFG is obtained without further approximations by numerically solving Poisson's equation. The dependence of the EFG on structure, chemical composition or substitution is demonstrated for the diborides MB2 (with M = Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, and Ta), the hexaborides (CaB6, SrB6 and BaB6) and boron carbide which is closely related to α-boron.