Issue 41, 2022, Issue in Progress

A first-principles investigation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients of BeF2: giant thermal expansion

Abstract

We present the results of a theoretical investigation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) of BeF2, within a direct Grüneisen formalism where symmetry-preserving deformations are employed. The required physical quantities such as the optimized crystal structures, elastic constants, mode Grüneisen parameters, and phonon density of states are calculated from first-principles. BeF2 shows an extensive polymorphism at low pressures, and the lowest energy phases [α-cristobalite with space group (SG) P41212 and its similar phase with SG P43212] are considered in addition to the experimentally observed α-quartz phase. For benchmarking purposes, similar calculations are performed for the rutile phase of ZnF2, where the volumetric TEC (αv), derived from the calculated linear TECs along the a (αa) and c (αc) directions, is in very good agreement with experimental data and previous theoretical results. For the considered phases of BeF2, we do not find any negative thermal expansion (NTE). However we observe diverse thermal properties for the distinct phases. The linear TECs are very large, especially αc of the α-cristobalite phase and its similar phase, leading to giant αv (∼175 × 10−6 K−1 at 300 K). The giant αv arises from large Grüneisen parameters of low-frequency phonon modes, and the C13 elastic constant that is negatively signed and large in magnitude for the α-cristobalite phase. The elastic constants, high-frequency dielectric constants, Born effective charge tensors, and thermal properties of the above phases of BeF2 are reported for the first time and hence serve as predictions.

Graphical abstract: A first-principles investigation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients of BeF2: giant thermal expansion

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Aug 2022
Accepted
09 Sep 2022
First published
20 Sep 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 26588-26595

A first-principles investigation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients of BeF2: giant thermal expansion

C. K. Gan, A. I. Al-Sharif, A. Al-Shorman and A. Qteish, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 26588 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA04860D

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