Experimentally synthesized $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ (\textcolor[rgb]{0.00,0.00,1.00}{Science 369, 670-674 (2020)}) is a piezoelectric semiconductor. Here, we systematically study the large biaxial (isotropic) strain effects (0.90 to 1.10) on electronic structures and transport coefficients of monolayer $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ by density functional theory (DFT). With $a/a_0$ from 0.90 to 1.10, the energy band gap firstly increases, and then decreases, which is due to transformation of conduction band minimum (CBM). Calculated results show that the $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ monolayer is mechanically stable in considered strain range. It is found that the spin-orbital coupling (SOC) effects on Seebeck coefficient depend on the strain. In unstrained $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$, the SOC has neglected influence on Seebeck coefficient. However, the SOC can produce important influence on Seebeck coefficient, when the strain is applied, for example 0.96 strain. The compressive strain can change relative position and numbers of conduction band extrema (CBE), and then the strength of conduction bands convergence can be enhanced, to the benefit of n-type $ZT_e$. Only about 0.96 strain can effectively improve n-type $ZT_e$. Our works imply that strain can effectively tune the electronic structures and transport coefficients of monolayer $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$, and can motivate farther experimental exploration.
In a recent work, new two-dimensional materials, the monolayer MoSi$_{2}$N$_{4}$ and WSi$_{2}$N$_{4}$, have been successfully synthesized in experiment, and several other monolayer materials with the similar structure, such as MoSi$_{2}$As$_{4}$, have been predicted [{\color{blue}Science 369, 670-674 (2020)}]. Here, based on first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis, we investigate the electronic and optical properties of monolayer MoSi$_{2}$N$_{4}$, WSi$_{2}$N$_{4}$ and MoSi$_{2}$As$_{4}$. We show that these materials are semiconductors, with a pair of Dirac-type valleys located …
By a combined study with first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we theoretically investigate the electronic properties of monolayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$. While the spin-orbital coupling results in bands splitting, the horizontal mirror symmetry locks the spin polarization along z-direction. In addition, a three-band tight-binding model is constructed to describe the low-energy quasi-particle states of monolayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$, which can be generalized to strained MoSi$_2$N$_4$ and its derivatives. The calculations using the tight-binding model show an undamped $\sqrt{q}$-dependent plasmo…
The electronic properties of a field-effect transistor with two different structures of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ and WSi$_2$N$_4$ monolayers as the channel material in the presence of biaxial strain are investigated. The band structures show that these compounds are semiconductors with an indirect bandgap. Their band gaps can be adjusted by applying in-plane biaxial strain. In the following, the variation of the energies of the valleys and corresponding effective masses with respect to the strain are explored. Finally, the strained MoSi$_2$N$_4$ or WSi$_2$N$_4$ are used as the channel of a p-type FET and…
In this letter, the effect of four types of defects (ONout, ONin, VNout and VNin) on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of MoSi2N4 monolayer were investigated using first-principles calculations. The calculated results reveal that all the four types of defects lead to structural distortions around the O-dopant or N-vacancy, and thereby change the lattice parameter and monolayer height h. Specifically, ONout or ONin increases the lattice parameter, but VNout or VNin is on the contrary. ONout or VNout increases the monolayer height, whereas the height decreases for ONin or VNin. …
Motived by experimentally synthesized $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ (\textcolor[rgb]{0.00,0.00,1.00}{Science 369, 670-674 (2020})), the intrinsic piezoelectricity in monolayer $\mathrm{XSi_2N_4}$ (X=Ti, Zr, Hf, Cr, Mo and W) are studied by density functional theory (DFT). Among the six monolayers, the $\mathrm{CrSi_2N_4}$ has the best piezoelectric strain coefficient $d_{11}$ of 1.24 pm/V, and the second is 1.15 pm/V for $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$. Taking $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ as a example, strain engineering is applied to improve $d_{11}$. It is found that tensile biaxial strain can enhance $d_{11}$ of $\mat…
Very recently, a novel two-dimension (2D) MXene, MoSi$_2$N$_4$, was successfully synthesized with excellent ambient stability, high carrier mobility, and moderate band gap (Science 369, 670, 2020). In this work, the intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity of monolayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$ is predicted by solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation based on the first-principles calculations. Despite the heavy atomic mass of Mo and complex crystal structure, the monolayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$ unexpectedly exhibits a quite high lattice thermal conductivity over a wide temperature range between 300 to 800 K.…
Photo-excited electrons and holes in insulators, above a critical density and below a critical temperature, can condense to form an electron-hole liquid (EHL) phase. However, observing the EHL phase at room temperature is extremely challenging. Here, we introduce the monolayer MoSi$_2$Z$_4$ (Z= N, As, P) series of compounds as a promising platform for observing the EHL phase at room temperature. The higher impact of the Coulomb interactions in two dimensions helps these monolayers support the EHL phase with an increased EHL binding energy and transition temperature, along with strongly bound e…
The electronic structure of two-dimensional (2D) materials are inherently prone to environmental perturbations, which may pose significant challenges to their applications in electronic or optoelectronic devices. A 2D material couples with its environment through two mechanisms: local chemical coupling and nonlocal dielectric screening effects. The local chemical coupling is often difficult to predict or control experimentally. Nonlocal dielectric screening, on the other hand, can be tuned by choosing the substrates or layer thickness in a controllable manner. Therefore, a compelling 2D electr…
Motivated by the recent successful formation of the MoSi2N4 monolayer [Hong et al., Sci. 369, 670 (2020)], the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of MoSi2N4 nanoribbons (NRs) is investigated for the first time . The band structure calculations showed spin-polarization in zigzag edges and a non-magnetic semiconducting character in armchair edges. For armchair-edges, we identify an indirect to direct band gap shift compared to the MoSi2N4 monolayer, and its energy gap increases with increasing NR width. Anisotropic electrical and magnetic behavior is observed via band structure calcu…
Two-dimensional (2D) MoSi$_2$N$_4$ monolayer is an emerging class of air-stable 2D semiconductor possessing exceptional electrical and mechanical properties. Despite intensive recent research efforts devoted to uncover the material properties of MoSi$_2$N$_4$, the physics of electrical contacts to MoSi$_2$N$_4$ remains largely unexplored thus far. In this work, we study the van der Waals heterostructures composed of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ contacted by graphene and NbS$_2$ monolayers using first-principle density functional theory calculations. We show that the MoSi$_2$N$_4$/NbS$_2$ contact exhibits an …
In this work, the electrical and spin properties of monolayer MoSi2X4 (X= N, P, As, and Sb) under vertical strain are investigated. The band structures state that MoSi2N4 is an indirect semiconductor, whereas other compounds are direct semiconductors. The vertical strain has been selected to modify the electrical properties. The bandgap shows a maximum and decreases for both tensile and compressive strains. The valence band at K-point displays a large spin-splitting, whereas the conduction band has a negligible splitting. On the other hand, the second conduction band has a large spin-splitting…
Reduced dielectric screening in two-dimensional materials enables bound excitons, which modifies their optical absorption and optoelectronic response even at room temperature. Here, we demonstrate the existence of excitons in the bandgap of the monolayer family of the newly discovered synthetic MoSi$_2$Z$_4$ (Z = N, P, and As) series of materials. All three monolayers support several bright and strongly bound excitons with binding energies varying from 1 eV to 1.35 eV for the lowest energy exciton resonances. On increasing the pump fluence, the exciton binding energies get renormalized, leadin…
We use the modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential (mBJ) with the spin-orbit coupling effect (SOC) to study effects of biaxial strain and local constant potential on electronic structure of monolayer SnSe. Our results show the fundamental band gap size can be tuned via biaxial strain. Compressive strain (tensile strain) can narrow (enlarge) band gap, and compressive strain causes the transition from quasi-direct to indirect band gap. Moreover, considering that any tuning of electronic structure is realized by changing the periodic potential distribution in the crystalline, we directly add co…
Metal contacts to two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are ubiquitous in modern electronic and optoelectronic devices. Such contacts are, however, often plagued by strong Fermi level pinning (FLP) effect which reduces the tunability of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) and degrades the performance of 2D-semiconductor-based devices. In this work, we show that monolayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$ and WSi$_2$N$_4$ - a recently synthesized 2D material class with exceptional mechanical and electronic properties - exhibit strongly suppressed FLP and wide-range tunable SBH when contacted by metals. An exceptionall…
Electronic Phase Transformations and Energy Gap Variations in Uniaxial and Biaxial Strained Monolayer VS$_2$ TMDs: A Comprehensive DFT and Beyond-DFT Study
Graphite-like carbon nitride (g-$\mathrm{C_3N_4}$) is considered as a promising candidate for energy materials. In this work, the biaxial strain (-4\%-4\%) effects on piezoelectric properties of g-$\mathrm{C_3N_4}$ monolayer are studied by density functional theory (DFT). It is found that the increasing strain can reduce the elastic coefficient $C_{11}$-$C_{12}$, and increases piezoelectric stress coefficient $e_{11}$, which lead to the enhanced piezoelectric strain coefficient $d_{11}$. Compared to unstrained one, strain of 4\% can raise the $d_{11}$ by about 330\%. From -4\% to 4\%, strain c…
Tuning physical properties of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers by strain engineering have most widely studied, and recently Janus TMD monolayer MoSSe has been synthesized. In this work, we systematically study biaxial strain dependence of electronic structures and transport properties of Janus TMD MXY (M = Mo or W, X/Y = S, Se, or Te) monolayer by using generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus spin-orbit coupling (SOC). It is found that SOC has a noteworthy detrimental influence on power factor in p-type MoSSe, WSSe, n-type WSTe, p-type MoSeTe and WSeTe, and has a negligib…
With exceptional electrical and mechanical properties and at the same time air-stability, layered MoSi2N4 has recently draw great attention. However, band structure engineering via strain and electric field, which is vital for practical applications, has not yet been explored. In this work, we show that the biaxial strain and external electric field are effective ways for the band gap engineering of bilayer MoSi$_2$N$_4$ and WSi$_2$N$_4$. It is found that strain can lead to indirect band gap to direct band gap transition. On the other hand, electric field can result in semiconductor to metal t…
Strain engineering is a very effective method to tune electronic, optical, topological and thermoelectric properties of materials. In this work, we systematically study biaxial strain dependence of electronic structures and thermoelectric properties (both electron and phonon parts) of monolayer $\mathrm{PtSe_2}$ with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for electron part and GGA for phonon part. Calculated results show that compressive or tensile strain can induce conduction band minimum (CBM) or valence band maximum (VBM) transition, which produces important…
Various two-dimensional (2D) materials with graphene-like buckled structure emerge, and the $β$-phase AsP monolayer has been recently proposed to be thermodynamically stable from first-principles calculations. The studies of thermal transport are very useful for these 2D materials-based nano-electronics devices. Motivated by this, a comparative study of strain-dependent phonon transport of AsP monolayer is performed by solving the linearized phonon Boltzmann equation within the single-mode relaxation time approximation (RTA). It is found that the lattice thermal conductivity ($κ_L$) of AsP mon…
Strain engineering in single-layer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides aims to tune their bandgap energy and to modify their optoelectronic properties by the application of external strain. In this paper we study transition metal dichalcogenides monolayers deposited on polymeric substrates under the application of biaxial strain, both tensile and compressive. We can control the amount of biaxial strain applied by letting the substrate thermally expand or compress by changing the substrate temperature. After modelling the substrate-dependent strain transfer process with a finite ele…
Van de Waals heterostructures (VDWH) is an emerging strategy to engineer the electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) material systems. Motivated by the recent discovery of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ - a synthetic septuple-layered 2D semiconductor with exceptional mechanical and electronic properties, we investigate the synergy of \ce{MoSi2N4} with wide band gap (WBG) 2D monolayers of GaN and ZnO using first-principle calculations. We find that MoSi$_2$N$_4$/GaN is a direct band gap Type-I VDWH while MoSi$_2$N$_4$/ZnO is an indirect band gap Type-II VDWH. Intriguingly, by applying an electric field or…
The lattice thermal conductivity ($κ$) of newly synthesized two-dimensional (2D) MoSi$_2$N$_4$ family and its associated abnormality is anatomized by $ab$ $initio$ phonon Boltzmann transport calculations. $κ$ of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ and WSi$_2$N$_4$ is found over 400 Wm$^{-1}$K$^{-1}$ at 300 K. $κ$ of MoSi$_2$Z$_4$ (Z=N,P,As) obeys Slack's rule of thumb, decreasing by one order of magnitude from Z=N to Z=As with 46 Wm$^{-1}$K$^{-1}$. However, in MSi$_2$N$_4$ (M=Mo,Cr,W,Ti,Zr,Hf), the variation of $κ$ with respect to M is anomalous, i.e. deviating from Slack's classic rule. For M in the same group, $κ…
The recently experimentally synthesized monolayer $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ and $\mathrm{WSi_2N_4}$ (\textcolor[rgb]{0.00,0.00,1.00}{Science 369, 670-674 (2020})) lack inversion symmetry, which allows them to become piezoelectric. In this work, based on ab initio calculations, we report structure effect on intrinsic piezoelectricity in septuple-atomic-layer $\mathrm{MSi_2N_4}$ (M=Mo and W), and six structures ($α_i$ ($i$=1 to 6)) are considered with the same space group.It is found that $\mathrm{MSi_2N_4}$ (M=Mo and W) with $α_i$ ($i$=1 to 6) all are indirect band gap semiconductors. Calculated res…
Recent studies indicated the interesting metal-to-semiconductor transition when layered bulk GeP3 and SnP3 are restricted to the monolayer or bilayer, and SnP3 monolayer has been predicted to possess high carrier mobility and promising thermoelectric performance. Here, we investigate the biaxial strain effect on the electronic and thermoelectric properties of SnP3 monolayer. Our first-principles calculations combined with Boltzmann transport theory indicate that SnP3 monolayer has the pudding-mold-type valence band structure, giving rise to a large p-type Seebeck coefficient and a high p-type …
Photocatalytic water splitting is an effective way to obtain renewable clean energy. The challenge is to design tunable photocatalyst to meet the needs in different environments. At the same time, the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER and HER) on the photocatalyst should be separated, which will be conducive to the separation of products. The electronic, optical and photocatalytic properties of Janus X2PAs (X = Si, Ge and Sn) monolayers are explored by first-principles calculation. All the strain-free X2PAs monolayers exhibit excellent photocatalytic properties with suitable band ed…
The discovery of two dimensional (2D) magnetic materials has brought great research value for spintronics and data storage devices. However, their air-stability as well as the oxidation mechanism has not been unveiled, which limits their further applications. Here, by first-principles calculations, we carried out a detailed study on the oxidation process of monolayer CrSe2 and biaxial tensile strain effect. We found dissociation process of O2 on pristine CrSe2 sheet is an endothermic reaction with a reaction energy barrier of 0.53 eV, indicating its thermodynamics stability. However, such a pr…
Our First-principles Full-Potential Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations show that a monolayer of ZnS (ML-ZnS), which is predicted to adopt a graphene-like planar honeycomb structure with a direct band gap, undergoes strain-induced modifications in its structure and band gap when subjected to in-plane homogeneous biaxial strain ($δ$). ML-ZnS gets buckled for compressive strain greater than 0.92%; the buckling parameter $Δ$ (= 0.00 Å\, for planar ML-ZnS) linearly increases with increasing compressive strain ($Δ= 0.435$ Å\,at $δ= - 5.25$%). A tensile strain of 2.91% turns the direct band…
Due to their great potential in electronics, optoelectronics and piezoelectronics, Janus transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers have attracted increasing research interest, the MoSSe of which with sandwiched S-Mo-Se structure has been synthesized experimentally. In this work, the biaxial strain dependence of electronic structures and transport properties of Janus PtSSe monolayer is systematically investigated by using generalized gradient approximation (GGA) plus spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Calculated results show that SOC has a detrimental effect on power factor of PtSSe monolayer, w…
Using first-principles full-potential density functional calculations, we predict that mechanically tunable band-gap is realizable in ZnS monolayer in graphene-like honeycomb structure by application of in-plane homogeneous biaxial strain. A transition point from direct-to-indirect gap-phase is predicted to exist for biaxial tensile strain lying in the interval (2.645%, 3.171%). In the two gap-phases, the band gap decreases with increasing strain and varies linearly with strain.
Manipulation of spin-polarized electronic states of two-dimensional (2D) materials under ambient conditions is necessary for developing new quantum devices with small physical dimensions. Here, we explore spin-dependent electronic structures of ultra-thin films of recently introduced 2D synthetic materials MSi$_2$Z$_4$ (M = Mo or W and Z = N or As) using first-principles modeling. Stacking of MSi$_2$Z$_4$ monolayers is found to generate dynamically stable bilayer and bulk materials with thickness-dependent properties. When spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is included in the computations, MSi$_2$N$_4$…
Thin membranes, such as monolayer graphene of monoatomic thickness, are bound to exhibit lateral buckling under uniaxial tensile loading that impairs its mechanical behaviour. In this work, we have developed an experimental device to subject 2D materials to controlled equibiaxial strain on supported beams that can be flexed up or down to subject the material to either compression or tension, respectively. Using strain gauges in tandem with Raman spectroscopy measurements, we monitor the G and 2D phonon properties of graphene under biaxial strain and thus extract important information about the…
Mechanical control of electronic and magnetic properties of 2D Van-der-Waals heterostructures gives new possibilities for further development of spintronics and information-related technologies. Using the density functional theory, we investigate the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of silicene monolayer with substituted Chromium atoms and under a small biaxial strain ($-6\%< ε< 8\%$). Our results indicate that the Cr-doped silicene nanosheets without strain have magnetic metallic, half-metallic or semiconducting properties depending on the type of substitution. We also show tha…
Low-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) exhibit great photocatalytic performance and tunability. In this work, using first-principles simulations based on density functional theory (DFT), we demonstrate that external electric bias can be employed to further improve the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency of the six AB$_{2}$ (A=Mo, W and B=S, Se, Te) TMDC monolayers by exploiting their piezoelectric response. In particular, when subjected to a proper amount of electrically induced tensile biaxial strain, most TMDC monolayers turn into potentially ideal photocatalyst to…
The valley degrees of freedom of carriers in crystals is useful to process information and perform logic operations, and it is a key factor for valley application to realize the valley polarization. Here, we propose a model that the valley polarization transition at different valley points (-K and K points) is produced by biaxial strain. By the first-principle calculations, we illustrate our idea with a concrete example of Janus $\mathrm{GdClF}$ monolayer. The predicted $\mathrm{GdClF}$ monolayer is dynamically, mechanically and thermally stable, and is a ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor with …
First-principles calculations are used to probe the effects of mechanical strain on the magnetic and optical properties of monolayer (ML) 2H-TaSe$_2$. A complex dependence of these physical properties on strain results in unexpected behavior, such as ferromagnetism under uniaxial, in-plane, tensile strain and a lifting of the Raman-active E' phonon degeneracy. While ferromagnetism is observed under compression along x-axis and expansion along y-axis, no magnetic order occurs when interchanging the strain direction. The calculations show that the magnetic behavior of the system depends on the e…
MA2Z4 monolayers form a new class of hexagonal non-centrosymmetric materials hosting extraordinary spin-valley physics. While only two compounds (MoSi2N4 and WSi2N4) were recently synthesized, theory predicts interesting (opto)electronic properties of a whole new family of such two-dimensional materials. Here, the chemical trends of band gaps and spin-orbit splittings of bands in selected MSi2Z4 (M = Mo, W; Z = N, P, As, Sb) compounds are studied from first-principles. Effective Bethe-Salpeter-equation-based calculations reveal high exciton binding energies. Evolution of excitonic energies und…
The septuple-atomic-layer $\mathrm{VSi_2P_4}$ with the same structure of experimentally synthesized $\mathrm{MoSi_2N_4}$ is predicted to be a spin-gapless semiconductor (SGS). In this work, the biaxial strain is applied to tune electronic properties of $\mathrm{VSi_2P_4}$, and it spans a wide range of properties upon the increasing strain from ferromagnetic metal (FMM) to SGS to ferromagnetic semiconductor (FMS) to SGS to ferromagnetic half-metal (FMHM). Due to broken inversion symmetry, the coexistence of ferromagnetism and piezoelectricity can be achieved in FMS $\mathrm{VSi_2P_4}$ with stra…
Topological phase transition is a hot topic in condensed matter physics and computational material science. Here, we investigate the electronic structure and phonon dispersion of the two-dimensional (2D) platinum ditelluride ($PtTe_2$) using the density functional theory. It is found that the $PtTe_2$ monolayer is a trivial insulator with an indirect band gap of 0.347eV. Based on parity analysis, the biaxial tensile strain can drive the topological phase transition. As the strain reaches 19.3%, $PtTe_2$ undergoes a topological phase transition, which changes from a trivial band insulator to a …
The electronic structures and magnetic properties of strained monolayer MnPSe3 are investigated systematically by first-principles calculations. It is found that the magnetic ground state (GS) of monolayer MnPSe3 can be significantly affected by biaxial strain engineering, while the semiconducting characteristics are well preserved. Owing to the sensitivity of the magnetic coupling towards the structural deformation, a biaxial tensile strain about 13% can lead to an antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic (AFM-FM) transition. The underlying physical mechanism of strain-dependent magnetic stability is …
Al2O3 is a potential dielectric material for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. Al2O3 films deposited on semiconductors usually exhibit amorphous due to lattice mismatch. Compared to two-dimensional graphene, MoS2 is a typical semiconductor, therefore, it has more extensive application. The amorphous-Al2O3/MoS2 (a-Al2O3/MoS2) interface has attracted people's attention because of its unique properties. In this paper, the interface behaviors of a-Al2O3/MoS2 under non-strain and biaxial strain are investigated by first principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). First …
In our previous study, we have predicted the novel two-dimensional honeycomb monolayers of pnictogen. In particular, the structure and properties of the honeycomb monolayer of nitrogen, which we call nitrogene, are very unusual. In this paper, we make an in-depth investigation of its electronic structure. We find that the band structure of nitrogene can be engineered in several ways: controlling the stacking of monolayers, application of biaxial tensile strain, and application of perpendicular electric field. The band gap of nitrogene is found to decrease with the increasing number of layers. …
We investigate the effects of the in-plane biaxial strain and charge doping on the charge density wave (CDW) order of monolayer $1T$-TiSe$_2$ by using the first-principles calculations. Our results show that the tensile strain can significantly enhance the CDW order, while both compressive strain and charge doping (electrons and holes) suppress the CDW instability. The tensile strain may provide an effective method for obtaining higher CDW transition temperature on the basis of monolayer $1T$-TiSe$_2$. We also discuss the potential superconductivity in charge-doped monolayer $1T$-TiSe$_2$. Con…
The combination of piezoelectricity with nontrivial topological insulating phase in two-dimensional (2D) systems, namely piezoelectric quantum spin Hall insulator (PQSHI), is intriguing for exploring novel topological states toward the development of high-speed and dissipationless electronic devices. In this work, we predict a PQSHI Janus monolayer VCClBr constructed from $\mathrm{VCCl_2}$, which is dynamically, mechanically and thermally stable. In the absence of spin orbital coupling (SOC), VCClBr is a narrow gap semiconductor with gap value of 57 meV, which is different from Dirac semimetal…
The recent experimental synthesis of 2D graphitic C3N5 has attracted lot of interests in its electronic and optical properties and its comparison with other graphitic C3N4 and C3N3. To this end, we performed DFT calculations using more accurate HSE06 functional and estimated the corresponding electronic properties. From a comparative study of the band structures of C3N3, C3N4, and C3N5, we found that, the electronic band-gap decreases as 3.24 eV (C3N3) > 2.81 eV (C3N4) > 2.19 eV (C3N5) with increase in the number of nitrogen atoms in the unit cell of these graphitic carbon nitrides. Further, t…
Two-dimensional (2D) Janus materials hold a great importance in spintronic and valleytronic applications due to their unique lattice structures and emergent properties. They intrinsically exhibit both an in-plane inversion and out-of-plane mirror symmetry breakings, which offer a new degree of freedom to electrons in the material. One of the main limitations in the multifunctional applications of these materials is, however, that, they are usually non-magnetic in nature. Here, using first-principles calculations, we propose to induce magnetic degree of freedom in non-magnetic WSTe via doping w…
We characterize the electronic structure and elasticity of monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides MX2 (M=Mo, W, Sn, Hf and X=S, Se, Te) with 2H and 1T structures using fully relativistic first principles calculations based on density functional theory. We focus on the role of strain on the band structure and band alignment across the series 2D materials. We find that strain has a significant effect on the band gap; a biaxial strain of 1% decreases the band gap in the 2H structures, by as a much 0.2 eV in MoS2 and WS2, while increasing it for the 1T materials. These results indicate that st…