Electronic structure of alkaline earth and post-transition metal oxides

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic structure of various alkaline earth and post-transition metal oxides using oxygen K-edge spectroscopy and compares experimental results with density functional theory calculations to estimate their bandgaps.

Contribution

It provides new experimental spectra and bandgap estimates for these oxides, enhancing understanding of their electronic properties.

Findings

Experimental spectra for AeO and MeO oxides obtained.

Bandgap estimates derived from oxygen K-edge spectra.

Comparison with literature values highlights consistency and discrepancies.

Abstract

The electronic structure in alkaline earth AeO (Ae = Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) and post-transition metal oxides MeO (Me = Zn, Cd, Hg) is probed with oxygen K-edge X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy. The experimental data is compared with density functional theory electronic structure calculations. We use our experimental spectra of the oxygen K-edge to estimate the bandgaps of these materials, and compare our results to the range of values available in the literature.