Anisotropy in colossal piezoelectricity, giant Rashba effect and ultrahigh carrier mobility in Janus structures of quintuple Bi2X3 (X = S, Se) monolayers

Abstract

Due to the asymmetric structures, two-dimensional Janus materials have gained significant attention in research for their intriguing piezoelectric and spintronic properties. In the present work, quintuple Bi2X3 (X = S, Se) monolayers (MLs) have been modified to create stable Janus Bi2X2Y (X ≠ Y = S, Se) MLs that display piezoelectricity in both the planes along with Rashba effect. The out-of-plane piezoelectric constant (d 33) is 41.18 (−173.14) pm V−1, while the in-plane piezoelectric constant (d 22) is 5.23 (6.21) pm V−1 for Janus Bi2S2Se (Bi2Se2S) ML. Including spin–orbit coupling in the Janus MLs results in anisotropic giant Rashba spin splitting (RSS) at the Γ point in the valence band, with RSS proportional to d 33. The Rashba constant along the Γ–K path, , is 3.30 (2.27) eV Å, whereas along Γ–M, is 3.58 (3.60) eV Å for Janus Bi2S2Se (Bi2Se2S) ML. The MLs exhibit ultrahigh electron mobility (∼5442 cm2V−1s−1) and have electron to hole mobility ratio of more than 2 due to their tiny electron-effective masses. The flexibility of the MLs allows for a signification alteration in its properties, like band gap, piezoelectric coefficient, and Rashba constant, via mechanical (biaxial) strain. For the MLs, band gap and d 33 value are enhanced with compressive strain. The d33 value of Janus Bi2Se2S reaches 4886.51 pm V−1 under compressive strain. The coexistence of anisotropic colossal out-of-plane piezoelectricity, giant RSS, and ultrahigh carrier mobilities in Janus Bi2S2Se and Bi2Se2S MLs showcase their tremendous prospects in nanoelectronic, piezotronics, and spintronics devices.