Electronic structures and theoretical modelling of two-dimensional group-VIB transition metal dichalcogenides

TL;DR

This paper reviews the electronic structures and theoretical models of two-dimensional group-VIB transition metal dichalcogenides, highlighting their unique properties and potential for device applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the electronic structures and theoretical understanding of 2D TMDs, integrating various models and insights into their physical properties.

Findings

Complex electronic structures underlie their physical properties

Theoretical models explain origins of observed and predicted phenomena

Insights into potential device applications

Abstract

Atomically thin group-VIB transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have recently emerged as a new class of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors with extraordinary properties including the direct band gap in the visible frequency range, the pronounced spin-orbit coupling, the ultra-strong Coulomb interaction, and the rich physics associated with the valley degree of freedom. These 2D TMDs exhibit great potentials for device applications and have attracted vast interest for the exploration of new physics. 2D TMDs have complex electronic structures which underlie their physical properties. Here we review the bulk electronic structures in these new 2D materials as well as the theoretical models developed at different levels, along which we sort out the understandings on the origins of a variety of properties observed or predicted.