RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Effect of substitutional metallic impurities on the optical absorption properties of TiO2 A1 Cisternas, Eduardo A1 Aguilera del Toro, Rodrigo Humberto A1 Aguilera Granja, Juan Faustino A1 Vogel, Eugenio E. K1 DFT calculations K1 Funcionales K1 Materials - Optical properties K1 Materiales - Propiedades ópticas K1 Electronic materials K1 Nanomaterial K1 Condensed Matter Physics K1 Física de la materia condensada K1 Materials science K1 Ciencia de los materiales K1 22 Física AB (TiO2) is both a natural and artificial compound that is transparent under visible and near-infrared light. However, it could be prepared with other metals, substituting for Ti, thus changing its properties. In this article, we present density functional theory calculations for Ti(1−x)AxO2, where A stands for any of the eight following neutral substitutional impurities, Fe, Ni, Co, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag and Au, based on the rutile structure of pristine TiO2. We use a fully unconstrained version of the density functional method with generalized gradient approximation plus the U exchange and correlation, as implemented in the Quantum Espresso free distribution. Within the limitations of a finite-size cell approximation, we report the band structure, energy gaps and absorption spectrum for all these cases. Rather than stressing precise values, we report on two general features: the location of the impurity levels and the general trends of the optical properties in the eight different systems. Our results show that all these substitutional atoms lead to the presence of electronic levels within the pristine gap, and that all of them produce absorptions in the visible and near-infrared ranges of electromagnetic radiation. Such results make these systems interesting for the fabrication of solar cells. Considering the variety of results, Ni and Ag are apparently the most promising substitutional impurities with which to achieve better performance in capturing the solar radiation on the planet’s surface. PB MDPI SN 2079-4991 YR 2024 FD 2024 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/70217 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/70217 LA eng NO Nanomaterials, 2024, Vol. 14, Nº. 14, 1224 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 26-nov-2024