Structural and electronic properties of Cu2Q and CuQ (Q = O, S, Se, and Te) studied by first-principles calculations

In order to explore the similarity, difference, and tendency of binary copper-based chalcogenides, the crystal structure, electronic structure, and optical properties of eight compounds of Cu2Q and CuQ (Q = O, S, Se, and Te) have been calculated by density functional theory with HSE06 method. According to the calculated results, the electronic structure and optical properties of Cu2Q and CuQ present certain similarities and tendencies, with the increase of atomic number of Q elements: the interactions between Cu–Q, Cu–Cu, and Q–Q are gradually enhancing; the value of band gap is gradually decreasing, due to the down-shifting of Cu–4p states; the covalent feature of Cu atoms is gradually strengthening, while their ionic feature is gradually weakening; the absorption coefficient in the visible-light region is also increasing. On the other hand, some differences can be found, owing to the different crystal structure and component, for example: CuO presents the characteristics of multi-band gap, which is very favorable to absorb infrared-light; the electron transfer in CuQ is stronger than that in Cu2Q; the absorption peaks and intensity are very strong in the ultraviolet-light region and infrared-light region. The findings in the present work will help to understand the underlying physical mechanism of binary copper-based chalcogenides, and available to design novel copper-based chalcogenides photo-electronics materials and devices.