The electronic and optical properties of SiO2–Al–SiO2 with density functional theory

Abstract

In this work, a novel stishovite–aluminum alloy with chemical formula SiO2–Al–SiO2 is proposed. The structural, electronic and optical properties were obtained using GGA-PBE functional. The study of electronic properties of SiO2–Al–SiO2 shows that it has a bandgap energy at 22 meV, compared to a much wider energy gap inside stishovite. The band structure of SiO2–Al–SiO2 reported in this work indicates that the SiO2–Al alloy proposed is found to be a semi-metal. Also, we report a reflectivity of 73% (2.53 eV) and 70% (7.97 eV), based on 8.36 nm of its total thickness. The strong optical absorption at 2.11 eV and 5.79 eV is suggesting the SiO2–Al–SiO2 can be used as both visible part (orange) sensing and the UV photodetectors. Thus, the SiO2–Al alloy can have potential application in optoelectronic device fabrications.