No Arabic abstract
The structure and mobility of dislocations in the layered semiconductor InSe is studied within a multiscale approach based on generalized Peierls--Nabarro model with material-specific parametrization derived from first principles. The plasticity of InSe turns out to be attributed to peculiarities of the generalized stacking fault relief for the interlayer dislocation slips such as existence of the stacking fault with a very low energy and low energy barriers. Our results give a consistent microscopic explanation of recently observed [Science {bf 369}, 542 (2020)] exceptional plasticity of InSe.
Experimental realization of single-layer MoSi2N4 is among the latest groundbreaking advances in the field of two-dimensional (2D) materials. Inspired by this accomplishment, herein we conduct first-principles calculations to explore the stability of MC2N4 (M= Cr, Mo, W, V, Nb, Ta, Ti, Zr, Hf) monolayers. Acquired results confirm the desirable thermal, dynamical and mechanical stability of MC2N4 (M= Cr, Mo, W, V) nanosheets. Interestingly, CrC2N4, MoC2N4 and WC2N4 monolayers are found to be semiconductors with band gaps of 2.32, 2.76 and 2.86 eV, respectively, using the HSE06 functional, whereas VC2N4 lattice shows a metallic nature. The direct gap semiconducting nature of CrC2N4 monolayer results in excellent absorption of visible light. The elastic modulus and tensile strength of CrC2N4 nanosheet are predicted to be remarkably high, 676 and 54.8 GPa, respectively. On the basis of iterative solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation, the room temperature lattice thermal conductivity of CrC2N4 monolayer is predicted to be 350 W/mK, among the highest in 2D semiconductors. CrC2N4 and WC2N4 lattices are also found to exhibit outstandingly high piezoelectric coefficients. This study introduces CrC2N4 nanosheet as a novel 2D semiconductor with outstandingly high mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, carrier mobility and piezoelectric coefficient.
By using first-principles calculations, we investigated the effects of graphene/boron nitride (BN) encapsulation, surface functionalization by metallic elements (K, Al, Mg and typical transition metals) and molecules (tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and tetracyanoethylene (TCNE)) on the electronic properties of layered indium selenide (InSe). It was found that an opposite trend of charge transfer is possible for graphene (donor) and BN (acceptor), which is dramatically different from phosphorene where both graphene and BN play the same role (donor). For InSe/BN heterostructure, a change of the interlayer distance due to an out-of-plane compression can effectively modulate the band gap. Strong acceptor abilities to InSe were found for the TCNE and TCNQ molecules. For K, Al and Mg-doped monolayer InSe, the charge transfer from K and Al atoms to the InSe surface was observed, causing an n-type conduction of InSe, while p-type conduction of InSe observed in case of the Mg-doping. The atomically thin structure of InSe enables the possible observation and utilization of the dopant-induced vertical electric field across the interface. A proper adoption of the n- or p-type dopants allows for the modulation of the work function, the Fermi level pinning, the band bending, and the photo-adsorbing efficiency near the InSe surface/interface. Investigation on the adsorption of transition metal atoms on InSe showed that Ti-, V-, Cr-, Mn-, Co-adsorbed InSe are spin-polarized, while Ni-, Cu-, Pd-, Ag- and Au-adsorbed InSe are non-spin-polarized. Our results shed lights on the possible ways to protect InSe structure and modulate its electronic properties for nanoelectronics and electrochemical device applications.
We have studied the electronic structure of CdS/ZnSe coupled quantum dot, a novel heterostructure at the nano-scale. Our calculations reveal CdS/ZnSe coupled quantum dots to be of type-II in nature where the anion-p states play an important role in deciding the band offset for the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO). We show that the offsets of HOMO as well as the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) can be tuned by changing the sizes of the components of the coupled quantum dot, thereby providing an additional control parameter to tune the band gap and the optical properties. Our investigations also suggest that formation of alloy near the interface has very little influence on the band offsets, although it affects the spatial localization of the quantum states from the individual components. Comparing the influence of strain on coupled quantum dots and core/shell nanowires, we find strain practically has no role in the electronic structure of coupled quantum dots as the small effective area of the interface in a coupled quantum dot helps a large part of the structure remain free from any substantial strain. We argue that in contrast to core-shell nanowires, quantum confinement is the key parameter that controls the electronic properties of coupled quantum dot and should therefore be an ideal candidate for the design of a quantum device.
We demonstrate the successive appearance of the exciton, biexciton, and P band of the exciton-exciton scattering with increasing excitation power in the photoluminescence of indium selenide layered crystals. The strict energy and momentum conservation rules of the P band are used to reexamine the exciton binding energy. The new value $geq 20$ meV is markedly higher than the currently accepted 14 meV, being however well consistent with the robustness of excitons up to room temperature. A peak controlled by the Sommerfeld factor is found near the bandgap ($sim 1.36$ eV), which puts the question on the pure three-dimensional character of the exciton in InSe, which has been assumed up to now. Our findings are of paramount importance for the successful application of InSe in nanophotonics.
In a latest experimental advance, graphene-like and insulating BeO monolayer was successfully grown over silver surface by molecular beam epitaxy (ACS Nano 15(2021), 2497). Inspired by this accomplishment, in this work we conduct first-principles based simulations to explore the electronic, mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of graphene-like BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers. The considered nanosheets are found to show desirable thermal and dynamical stability. BeO monolayer is found to show remarkably high elastic modulus and tensile strength of 408 and 53.3 GPa, respectively. The electronic band gap of BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers are predicted to be 6.72, 4.79, and 3.80 eV, respectively, using the HSE06 functional. On the basis of iterative solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation, the room temperature lattice thermal conductivity of BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers are predicted to be 385, 64 and 15 W/mK, respectively. Our results reveal substantial decline in the electronic band gap, mechanical strength and thermal conductivity by increasing the weight of metal atoms. This work highlights outstandingly high thermal conductivity, carrier mobility and mechanical strength of insulating BeO nanosheets and suggest them as promising candidates to design strong and insulating components with high thermal conductivities.