Investigation on the electrical properties of anatase and rutile Nb-doped TiO2 by GGA(+U)

Crystal structure, electronic properties, and stability of anatase and rutile Nb-doped TiO2 (Nb:TiO2) compounds with different doping concentrations are studied by the combination of GGA and GGA+U methods within the density functional theory based first-principle calculation. And the main research work and contents are listed as follows: The anatase Nb:TiO2 appears as a degenerated semiconductor which behaves as an intrinsic metal. Its metallic property arises from Nb substitution into the Ti site, providing electrons to the conduction band. In contrast, the rutile Nb:TiO2 shows insulating behaviors. Ionization efficiency of Nb in anatase Nb:TiO2 is higher than that in rutile. We expect that anatase Nb:TiO2 is a potential material for transparent conducting oxide (TCO) while rutile Nb:TiO2 is not. The doped systems show different electronic characteristics, such as band structure, Fermi energy, and effective mass of carriers at different doping levels. In higher dopant concentration Nb-n, the ionization efficiency decreases slightly. Calculated defect-formation energy shows that Ti-rich material growth conditions are not in favor of the introduction of Nb while Nb can be easily doped in Nb:TiO2 under O-rich growth conditions. Nb dopant is difficult to be doped at higher doping level for both anatase and rutile Nb:TiO2.