First-principles studies of pure and fluorine substituted alanines

Abstract

This paper communicates the structural, electronic and optical properties of L-alanine, monofluoro and difluoro substituted alanines using density functional calculations. These compounds exist in orthorhombic crystal structure and the calculated structural parameters such as lattice constants, bond angles and bond lengths are in agreement with the experimental results. L-alanine is an indirect band gap insulator, while its fluorine substituted compounds (monofluoroalanine and difluoroalanine) are direct band gap insulators. The substitution causes reduction in the band gap and hence these optically tailored direct wide band gap materials have enhanced optical properties in the ultraviolet (UV) region of electromagnetic spectrum. Therefore, optical properties like dielectric function, refractive index, reflectivity and energy loss function are also investigated. These compounds have almost isotropic nature in the lower frequency range while at higher energies, they have a significant anisotropic nature.