Unveiling the Electric-current-limiting and Photodetection Effect in Two-dimensional Hydrogenated Borophene

TL;DR

This study investigates hydrogenated borophene B4H4's electronic and photoelectric properties, revealing its potential as a current limiter and photodetector due to its anisotropic transport and strong photoresponse.

Contribution

The paper provides a systematic theoretical analysis of B4H4's transport and photoelectric properties, highlighting its anisotropic behavior and application potential.

Findings

B4H4 exhibits perfect current-limiting effect.

High and low electrical conductance directions due to anisotropy.

Strong photoresponse to blue/green light along specific directions.

Abstract

The electronic transport and photoelectric properties of hydrogenated borophene B4H4, which was realized in a recent experiment by Nishino [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 13761 (2017)], are systematically investigated using the density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function methods. We find that B4H4 exhibits a perfect current-limiting effect and has high (along the zigzag direction) and low (along the armchair one) optional levels due to its strong electrical anisotropy. Moreover, B4H4 can generate sizable photocurrents under illumination, with strong photoelectronic response to blue/green light along the zigzag/armchair direction. Our work demonstrates that B4H4 is promising for the applications of current limiter and photodetectors.