Twisted bilayer blue phosphorene: A direct band gap semiconductor

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that twisted bilayer blue phosphorene acts as a tunable direct band gap semiconductor with potential applications in solar cells and photodetectors, based on ab initio calculations.

Contribution

It reveals that rotated bilayer blue phosphorene exhibits tunable optical properties and direct band gap behavior, a novel finding for this material.

Findings

Absorption peaks in the visible spectrum

Optical properties tunable by rotational angle

Potential for solar cell and photodetector applications

Abstract

We report that two rotated layers of blue phosphorene behave as a direct band gap semiconductor. The optical spectrum shows absorption peaks in the visible region of the spectrum and in addition the energy of these peaks can be tuned with the rotational angle. These findings makes twisted bilayer blue phosphorene a strong candidate as a solar cell or photodetection device. Our results are based on ab initio calculations of several rotated blue phosphorene layers.