Theoretical analysis of elastic, mechanical and phonon properties of wurtzite zinc sulfide under pressure

Abstract

We report for the first time the application of a mixed-type interatomic potential to determine the high-pressure elastic, mechanical, and phonon properties of wurtzite zinc sulfide (WZ-ZnS) with geometry optimization calculations under pressures up to 12 GPa. Pressure dependency of typical elastic constants, bulk, shear, and Young moduli, both longitudinal and shear wave elastic wave velocities, stability, as well as phonon dispersions and corresponding phonon density of states of WZ-ZnS were surveyed. Our results for the ground state elastic and mechanical quantities of WZ-ZnS are about experiments and better than those of some published theoretical data. Obtained phonon-related results are also satisfactory when compared with experiments and other theoretical findings. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.