Structure and electronic properties of MNO3 (M: LI, NA, K, NH4) under pressure: DFT-D study

Abstract The structural and electronic properties of crystalline nitrates have been investigated within the framework of density functional theory including van der Waals interactions. Pressure behavior of nitrates has been investigated using semiempirical dispersion correction scheme DFT-D. The optimizations of the crystal structures have been done with full relaxation of the atomic positions and lattice parameters under the experimentally determined crystal symmetries. The pressure dependences of geometrical parameters, band gaps, densities of states, charge distributions, overlap populations and atomic charges are computed. The predicted results agree well with the available experimental data.