This thesis deals with first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate hydrogen storage related properties in various high-surface area materials and the ground state crystal structures in alkaline earth dicarbide systems. High-surface area materials have been shown to be very promising for hydrogen storage applications owing to them containing numerous hydrogen adsorption sites and good kinetics for adsorption/desorption. However, one disadvantage of these materials is their very weak interaction with adsorbed hydrogen molecules. Hence, for any feasible applications, the hydrogen interaction energy of these materials must be enhanced.  In metal organic frameworks, approaches for improving the hydrogen interaction energy are opening the metal oxide cluster and decorating hydrogen attracting metals, e.g. Li, at the adsorption sites of the host.  In covalent organic framework-1, the effects of the H2-H2 interaction are also found to play a significant role for enhancing the hydrogen adsorption energy. Moreover, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations reveal that hydrogen molecules can be trapped in the host material due to the blockage from adjacent adsorbed hydrogen molecules. In light metal hydride systems, hydrogen ions play two different roles, namely they can behave as "promoter" and "inhibitor" of Li diffusion in lithium imide and lithium amide, respectively.  By studying thermodynamics of Li+ and proton diffusions in the mixture between lithium amide and lithium hydride, it was found that Li+ and proton diffusions inside lithium amide are more favorable than those between lithium amide and lithium hydride. Finally, our results show that the ground state configuration of BeC2 and MgC2 consists of five-membered carbon rings connected through a carbon atom forming an infinitely repeated chain surrounded by Be/Mg ions, whereas the stable crystal structure of the CaC2, SrC2 and BaC2 is the chain type structure, commonly found in the alkaline earth dicarbide systems. / Felaktigt tryckt som Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 712

This thesis presents the first-principles studies of materials properties within the framework of the density functional theory (DFT). The thesis constitutes three main parts, i. e., pressure-induced phase transitions in solids, data-storage and clean-energy materials. The first part focuses on the predictions of crystal structures and the determinations of electronic properties of Xe-H2, FeB4 and Co3O4. Pressurizing Xe-H2 compound yields the formation of H-rich Xe(H2)8, which can exhibit a metallic feature at comparatively lower pressure than pure hydrogen. Hard superconducting FeB4 gets transformed into a novel transparent phase under pressure owing to the enhanced overlap of atomic cores. Spinel Co3O4 undergoes the phase transition from a cubic to a monoclinic because of the charge transfer between cations via the increased 3d-3d interactions. The second part involves the study of structural and electronic properties of phase-change memory materials (PCMs), i. e., Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) and Ga-doped In2O3. Van der Waals (vdW) interaction must be considered to obtain accurate crystal structure of layered GST. For Ga-doped In2O3 (GIO), the local structure of amorphous GIO is found to resemble that of amorphous In2O3, except the vicinity of doping atoms. The electronic property of a-GIO is metallic, which considerably differs from the semiconducting feature of the crystalline GIO. This emphasizes the contrast in the conductivity of the crystalline and amorphous upon phase switching of GIO. The third part associates with the search for clean-energy materials, viz., hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and green Mg-ion batteries. For hydrogen production, the role of intrinsic point defects to water adsorption on ZnO(10-10) surface is investigated. The findings show that the Zn and O defect-sites are energetically not favorable for the water adsorption and dissociation. For the purpose of storing hydrogen in a solid phase, silicene, doped by alkaline and alkaline earth metals, is investigated. We find that Li-doped and Na-doped silicene can attain the superior storage capacity. For cathode material of Mg-ion batteries, Mg2Mo6S8, the diffusivity of Mg ions occurs through an available channel in the bulk with the onset temperature of 200 K.