In our present work, five previously proposed sp$^3$ carbon crystals were suggested as silicon allotropes and their stabilities, electronic and optical properties were investigated by first-principles method. We find that these allotropes with direct or quasi-direct band gaps in range of 1.2-1.6 eV are very suitable for applications in thin-film solar cells. They display strong adsorption coefficients in the visible range of the sunlight in comparison with diamond silicon. These five silicon allotropes are confirmed possessing positive dynamical stability and remarkable themodynamical stability close to that of diamond silicon. Especially, the direct band gap M585-silicon possessing energy higher than diamond silicon only 25 meV per atom is expected to be experimentally produced for thin-film solar cells.
Materials with Dirac point are so amazing since the charge carriers are massless and have an effective speed of light. Among the reported two-dimensional silicon allotropes, no one showing such exciting nature was proved experimentally. This fact motivates us to search for other such two-dimensional silicon allotropes. As a result, a new single atomic layer thin silicon allotrope was predicted by employing CALYPSO code in this work. This silicon allotrope is composed of eight- membered rings linked by Si-Si bonds and presents buckling formation. Expectedly, the electronic calculation reveals t…
On basis of the first principle calculation we show that a crystalline structure of silicon, as a novel allotrope with nanotubular holes along two perpendicular directions, is stable. The calculations on geometrical and electronic properties reveal that this allotrope possesses a direct band gap wider by 0.5eV than the indirect one of silicon with diamond structure. The crystal belongs to I41/AMD space group, showing anisotropic optical properties and Young modulus. The bulk modulus is 64.4GPa and the density is 1.9g/cm$^{3}$, lower than that of the diamond silicon due to the presence of nanot…
This article continues our recent publication [I.A. Baburin and D.M. Proserpio and V.A. Saleev and A.V. Shipilova, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.17, 1332 (2015)] where we have presented a comprehensive computational study of sp3 carbon allotropes based on the topologies proposed for zeolites. Here we predict six new silicon and six new germanium allotropes which have the same space group symmetries and topologies as those predicted earlier for the carbon allotropes, and study their structural, elastic, vibrational, electronic and optical properties.
We present state-of-the-art first-principle calculations of the electronic and optical properties of silicon allotropes with interesting characteristics for applications in thin-film solar cells. These new phases consist of distorted sp$^3$ silicon networks and have a lower formation energy than other experimentally produced silicon phases. Some of these structures turned out to have quasi-direct and dipole-allowed band gaps in the range 0.8--1.5\,eV, and to display absorption coefficients comparable with those of chalcopyrites used in thin-film record solar cells.
We report the prediction of metallic quasione-dimensional $sp^{3}$-hybridized silicon allotropes in the form of prismanes. Silicon prismanes or polysilaprismanes are the silicon nanotubes of a special type constructed from the dehydrogenated molecules of cyclosilanes (silicon rings). By means of density functional theory the electronic, geometry, energy, and some mechanical properties of these tubes were investigated. Our results show that silicon polyprismanes are thermodynamically stable compounds, and the character of the energy spectrum, as well as the behavior of transmission function nea…
Silicon materials play a key role in many technologically relevant fields, ranging from the electronic to the photovoltaic industry. A systematic search for silicon allotropes was performed by employing a modified ab initio minima hopping crystal structure prediction method. The algorithm was optimized to specifically investigate the hitherto barely explored low-density regime of the silicon phase diagram by imitating the guest-host concept of clathrate compounds. In total 44 metastable phases are presented, of which 11 exhibit direct or quasi-direct band-gaps in the range of $\approx$1.0-1.8 …
Novel extended networks of C8, Si8 and silicon carbide Si4C4 are proposed based on crystal chemistry rationale and optimized structures to ground state energies and derived physical properties within the density functional theory (DFT). The two carbon and silicon allotropes and the silicon carbide belong to primitive tetragonal space group P-4m2 Number 115. C8 allotrope structure made of corner sharing C4 and Si4 tetrahedra is illustrated by charge density projections exhibiting sp3 like carbon hybridization. From careful symmetry analysis, Symmetry analysis of C8 indicated that it is another …
In this letter, we show that a new class of two-dimensional phosphorus allotropes can be constructed via assembling the previously proposed ultrathin metastable phosphorus nanotube into planar structures in different stacking orientations. Based on first-principles method, the structures, stabilities and fundamental electronic properties of these new two-dimensional phosphorus allotropes are systematically investigated. These two-dimensional phosphorus allotropes possess remarkable stabilities due to the strong inter-tube van der Waals interactions, which cause an energy release of about 30-70…
By the generalized gradient approximation in framewok of density functional theory, we investigate a 2D topological insulator of new silicon allotrope (call dumbbell silicene synthesized recently by Cahangirov et al) through tuning external compression strain, and find a topological quantum phase transition from normal to topological insulator, i.e., the dumbbell silicene can turn a two-dimensional topological insulator with an inverted band gap. The obtained maximum topological nontrivial band gap about 12 meV under isotropic strain is much larger than that for previous silicene, and can be f…
Silicon and germanium are the well-known materials used to manufacture electronic devices for the integrated circuits but they themselves are not considered as promising options for interconnecting the devices due to their semiconducting nature. We have discovered that both Si and Ge atoms can form unexpected metallic monolayer structures which are more stable than the extensively studied semimetallic silicene and germanene, respectively. More importantly, the newly discovered two-dimensional allotropes of Si and Ge have Fermi velocities superior to the Dirac fermions in graphene, indicating t…
Based on first-principles calculation we predict two new thermodynamically stable layered-phases of silicon, named as silicites, which exhibit strong directionality in the electronic and structural properties. As compared to silicon crystal, they have wider indirect band gaps but also increased absorption in the visible range making them more interesting for photovoltaic applications. These stable phases consist of intriguing stacking of dumbbell patterned silicene layers having trigonal structure with $\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3}$ periodicity of silicene and have cohesive energies smaller but co…
Superstructures of cubic and hexagonal diamonds (h- and c-diamond) comprising a family of stable diamond-like $sp^3$ hybridized novel carbon allotropes are proposed, which are referred to as U$_n$-carbon where $n \geq 2$ denotes the number of structural layers in a unit cell. The conventional h- and c-diamond are included in this family as members with $n=2$ and 3, respectively. U$_n$-carbon ($n=4-6$), which are unveiled energetically and thermodynamically more stable than h-diamond and possess remarkable kinetic stabilities, are shown to be insulators with indirect gaps of $5.6 \sim 5.8$ eV, …
Owing to the natural compatibility with current semiconductor industry, silicon allotropes with diverse structural and electronic properties provide promising platforms for the next-generation Si-based devices. After screening 230 all-silicon crystals in the zeolite frameworks by first-principles calculations, we disclose two structurally stable Si allotropes (AHT-Si24 and VFI-Si36) containing open channels as topological node-line semimetals with Dirac nodal points forming a nodal loop in the kz=0 plane of Brillouin zone. Interestingly, their nodal loops protected by inversion and time-revers…
In a recent Letter, Fujii et. al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 016001] predicted a new carbon allotrope, pentadiamond, with remarkable mechanical properties: elastic moduli comparable or larger than diamond, and negative Poisson's ratio $μ$ = -0.241. The estimated Vicker's hardness is 422 GPa, $\sim$4.6 times higher than in diamond($\sim$92 GPa), the hardest material known to date. Pentadiamond, however was not investigated. Motivated by this, we used different approaches to estimate the elastic properties of pentadiamond with different approximations based on Density Functional Theory. The tests we…
We propose to reduce the thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) by introducing small hole at the centre, i.e. construct silicon nanotube (SiNT) structures. Our numerical results demonstrate that a very small hole (only 1% reduction in cross section area) can induce a 35% reduction in room temperature thermal conductivity. Moreover, with the same cross section area, thermal conductivity of SiNT is only about 33% of that of SiNW at room temperature. The spatial distribution of vibrational energy reveals that localization modes are concentrated on the inner and outer surfaces of SiNTs.…
The remarkable properties of graphene stem from its two-dimensional (2D) structure, with a linear dispersion of the electronic states at the corners of the Brillouin zone (BZ) forming a Dirac cone. Since then, other 2D materials have been suggested based on boron, silicon, germanium, phosphorus, tin, and metal di-chalcogenides. Here, we present an experimental investigation of a single silicon layer on Au(111) using low energy electron diffraction (LEED), high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (HR-ARPES), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The HR-ARPES data show compel…
Materials in which charge and spin degrees of freedom interact strongly offer applications known as spintronics. Following a remarkable success of metallic spintronics based on the giant-magnetoresistive effect, tremendous efforts have been invested into the less developed semiconductor spintronics, in particular, with the aim to produce three-terminal spintronic devices, e.g. spin transistors. One of the most important prerequisites for such a technology is an effective injection of spin-polarized carriers from a ferromagnetic semiconductor into a nonmagnetic semiconductor, preferably one of …
Graphene has attracted increasing interests due to its remarkable properties, however, the zero band gap of monolayer graphene might limit its further electronic and optoelectronic applications. Herein, we have successfully synthesized monolayer silicon-doped graphene (SiG) in large area by chemical vapor deposition method. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements evidence silicon atoms are doped into graphene lattice with the doping level of 3.4 at%. The electrical measurement based on field effect transistor indicates that the band gap of graphene has been opened …
The speed of silicon-based transistors has reached an impasse in the recent decade, primarily due to scaling techniques and the short-channel effect. Conversely, graphene (a revolutionary new material possessing an atomic thickness) has been shown to exhibit a promising value for electrical conductivity. Graphene would thus appear to alleviate some of the drawbacks associated with silicon-based transistors. It is for this reason why such a material is considered one of the most prominent candidates to replace silicon within nano-scale transistors. The major crux here, is that graphene is intri…
Semiconductivity and superconductivity are remarkable quantum phenomena that have immense impact on science and technology, and materials that can be tuned, usually by pressure or doping, to host both types of quantum states are of great fundamental and practical significance. Here we show by first-principles calculations a distinct route for tuning semiconductors into superconductors by diverse large-range elastic shear strains, as demonstrated in exemplary cases of silicon and silicon carbide. Analysis of strain driven evolution of bonding structure, electronic states, lattice vibration, and…
