Electronic structure engineering of SrTiO3 via rhodium doping: A DFT study

Abstract

SrTiO3, with a highly tunable electronic structure has been recently studied for its thermoelectric (TE) properties. Although originally believed to be a poor TE material, doped SrTiO3 has shown considerable improvement in its TE properties. Herein, we study the electronic structure modifications in Rh doped SrTiO3 by varying the dopant site by using first principles density functional theory calculations. Rh acts as a resonant dopant in SrTiO3 by distorting the density of states near the Fermi level. Transport property calculations predict Rh doped SrTiO3 to be a potential TE material. The results reveal both p- and n-type TE material could be developed by devising synthetic technique to direct Rh towards Ti or Sr site, respectively.