In this article, we report emergence of topological phase in extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR) material TmSb under hydrostatic pressure using first principles calculations. We find that TmSb, a topologically trivial semimetal, undergoes a topological phase transition with band inversion at X point without breaking any symmetry under a hydrostatic pressure of 12 GPa. At 15 GPa, it again becomes topologically trivial with band inversion at as well as X point. We find that the pressures corresponding to the topological phase transitions are far below the pressure corresponding to structural phase transition at 25.5 GPa. The reentrant behaviour of topological quantum phase with hydrostatic pressure would help in finding a correlation between topology and XMR effects through experiments.

This novel study is crucial in understanding the intriguing electronic, structural and chemical properties of special double perovskite compounds, Ba₂SmRuO₆ and Sr₂SmRuO₆, for their applications as “Spintronics based devices”.

In this article, we put forward a resolution to the prolonged ambiguity in energy band gaps between theory and experiments of fabricated graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Band structure calculations using density functional theory are performed on oxygen-passivated GNR supercells of customized edge configurations without disturbing the inherent $s{p}^2$ hybridization of carbon atoms. Direct band gaps are observed for both zigzag and armchair GNRs, consistent with the experimental reports. In addition, we provide an explanation of the experimentally observed scattered band gap values of GNRs as a function of width in a crystallographic orientation on the basis of edge configurations. We conclude that edge configurations of GNRs significantly contribute to band gap formation in addition to its width for a given crystallographic orientation and will play a crucial role in band gap engineering of GNRs for future research on fabrication of nanoelectronic devices.

The local or global straining techniques are used to modulate the electronic, vibrational and optical properties of the two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, manipulating the physical properties of a 2D material under a local strain is comparatively more challenging. In this work, we demonstrate an easy and efficient polymer curing assisted technique for the formation of optically visible multilayer graphene (MLG) blisters of different shapes and sizes. The detailed spectroscopic and morphological analyses have been employed for exploring the dynamics of the confined matter inside the sub-micron blisters, which confirms that the confined matter inside the blister is liquid (water). From further analyses, we find the nonlinear elastic plate model as an acceptable model under certain limits for the mechanical analyses of the MLG blisters over the (poly)vinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer film to estimate the MLG-substrate interfacial adhesion energy and confinement pressure inside the blisters. The findings open new pathways for exploiting the technique for the formation of sub-micron blisters of the 2D materials for local strain-engineering applications, as well as the temperature-controlled release of the confined matter.

This novel study is crucial in understanding the intriguing electronic, structural and magnetic properties of special double perovskite thin films, Ba ₂ DyRuO ₆ and Sr ₂ DyRuO ₆ , for their applications as “spintronics based devices”.