Electron-phonon coupling, spin-polarized Zeeman field, and exchange field effects on the electronic properties of monolayer h-BP

Abstract

In this work, we propose the electron-phonon coupling (EPC), a spin-polarized Zeeman field, and an exchange field to tune the electronic phase of single-layer hexagonal boron phosphide (h-BP). In doing so, the tight-binding model and Green’s function approach are employed by focusing on the electronic density of states (DOS) quantity. A semiconductor-to-insulator (from 1.297 to 6.45 eV) and a semiconductor-to-semimetal-to-insulator (from 1.297 to 0 eV and then to 3.9 eV) are achieved by the exchange/Zeeman field induced to h-BP. Then, based on the DOS behaviors in the presence of EPC, the weak and strong coupling regimes are derived. The analysis of the EPC effect on DOS shows that the scattered modes from the coupling are formed in the valence and conduction bands in both weak and strong coupling regimes. Furthermore, it is found that EPC does not significantly affect the phase of the system. The results presented here are expected to be helpful to control the electronic phase of low-dimensional materials in practical applications in both nanoelectronics and optoelectronics communities.