Ab initio calculations of ABO3 perovskite (001), (011) and (111) nano-surfaces, interfaces and defects

Abstract

We carried out ab initio calculations for technologically important ABO3 perovskite, such as, SrTiO3, BaTiO3, SrZrO3 and PbZrO3 (001), (011) and (111) nano-surfaces, interfaces and bulk [Formula: see text]-centers. For SrTiO3, BaTiO3, SrZrO3 and PbZrO3 (001) nano-surfaces, as a rule, all first surface layer atoms relax inward, whereas all second layer atoms relax outward, and, typically, all third surface layer atoms, again, relax inward. Calculated (001) surface energies for SrTiO3, BaTiO3, SrZrO3 and PbZrO3 perovskites are almost equal for both BO2 and AO-terminations, and always smaller than the (011) and (111) surface energies. We discussed the results of our ab initio calculations dealing with BaTiO3/SrTiO3 and SrZrO3/PbZrO3 (001) interfaces. We analyzed systematic trends in ABO3 perovskite bulk [Formula: see text]-center ab initio calculations.