Effects of Interfacial Distance and Electric Field on Graphene-Silicene Hybrid Structures

TL;DR

This study explores how interfacial distance and electric fields influence the electronic properties of graphene-silicene hybrid structures, revealing tunable bandgaps essential for electronic device applications.

Contribution

It provides first-principles analysis of band structure and density of states in graphene-silicene hybrids under varying interfacial distances and electric fields.

Findings

Bandgap can be tuned by adjusting interfacial distance.

External electric fields significantly affect electronic properties.

Hybrid structures show potential for electronic device integration.

Abstract

Graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) semimetal with high mobility in charge carriers due to the existence of Dirac points. Silicene is another promising material, with properties analog to graphene. Many silicon (Si) based electronic devices can be integrated via graphene-silicene (Gra/si) hybrid structures. These electronic applications are mostly based on the ability to tune the bandgap via electronic structure deformation that is expected to be achieved by multilayer stacking, applying a transverse external electric field (EF), and altering interfacial distance. In this work, we investigate the band structure, density of states (DOS) distribution, and the bandgap with respect to interfacial distance and transverse external EF for the unit cells of bilayer graphene, monolayer silicene, and hybrid Si2C6. First principle calculations were carried using Quantum espresso software based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT).