Density of States
Visualize total and element-projected density of states for electronic structure analysis.
Density of States
The density of states (DOS) shows the number of available electronic states at each energy level. MatCraft renders both total DOS and element-projected partial DOS (pDOS) for materials with data available from the Materials Project.
Understanding DOS Plots
The DOS plot has energy (eV) on the x-axis and density of states (states/eV/unit cell) on the y-axis:
- Total DOS: The black curve showing all electronic states combined
- Partial DOS: Colored curves showing contributions from individual elements
- Fermi level: Vertical dashed line at 0 eV
- Band gap: Region around the Fermi level with zero (or near-zero) DOS in semiconductors/insulators
What You Can Learn
- Metallic vs. insulating: Metals have non-zero DOS at the Fermi level; insulators have a gap
- Element contributions: pDOS reveals which elements dominate the valence band vs. conduction band
- Orbital character: In transition metal compounds, d-states often dominate near the Fermi level
- Hybridization: Overlapping pDOS peaks from different elements indicate orbital hybridization
Viewing DOS
Open any material's detail page and select the Density of States tab. The plot loads dynamically from the Materials Project API.
Display Options
- Total only: Show just the total DOS curve
- Element-projected: Show pDOS for each element with distinct colors
- Stacked area: Fill under each element's curve for visual clarity
- Spin-resolved: Show up-spin and down-spin DOS separately (for magnetic materials)
Interactivity
- Hover to read exact DOS values at any energy
- Click element labels in the legend to toggle individual pDOS curves
- Drag to zoom into specific energy ranges
- Double-click to reset the view
Integration with Band Structure
The DOS and band structure are complementary views of the same electronic structure. A narrow band in the band structure corresponds to a sharp peak in the DOS. MatCraft displays both side-by-side when available.
Export Options
- PNG/SVG: High-resolution plots for publications
- JSON: Raw DOS data (energy grid, total DOS, element-projected arrays)
- Jupyter notebook: Python code to reproduce the plot
API Access
curl "https://api.matcraft.ai/api/v1/electronic/dos/mp-149"Returns energy array, total DOS array, and per-element partial DOS arrays.