Effect of Nb on electronic structure of NiTi intermetallic compound: A first-principles study

The electronic structure of pure and Nb doped B2 NiTi have been calculated with the first-principle ultrasoft pseudopotential approach of the plane wave based on the density functional theory aiming at examining the effect of Nb on the electronic structure and bonding characteristic of NiTi. The point defect formation energy calculation results show that the introduction of Nb largely enhances the energy required to form the vacancies and anti-sites of both Ni and Ti sublattice. Furthermore, the calculation results on the partial density of states (PDOS) suggest that the addition of Nb increase the s-s, p-p and d-d electronic interactions between Nb and neighboring Ni and Ti atoms. The electron density of NiTi was also increased with the introduction of Nb. All these Nb-inuced results on electronic structure and bonding characteristic may hamper the hop of Ni and Ti atoms, which may facilitate to improve of oxidation resistance of NiTi intermetallic compound in the experimental findings.