Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of S sites vacancy defects graphene/MoS2 van der Waals heterostructures: First-principles study

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the geometrical structures, electronic and magnetic properties of S sites vacancy defects in heterostructure graphene/molybdenum disulphide ((HS)G/MoS[Formula: see text] material by performing first-principles calculations based on spin polarized Density Functional Theory (DFT) method within van der Waals (vdW) corrections (DFT-D2) approach. All the structures are optimized and relaxed by BFGS method using computational tool Quantum ESPRESSO (QE) package. We found that both (HS)G/MoS2 and S sites vacancy defects in (HS)G/MoS2 (D1S–(HS)G/MoS2, U1S–(HS)G/MoS2, 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS[Formula: see text] are stable materials, and atoms in defects structures are more compact than in pristine (HS)G/MoS2 structure. From band structure calculations, we found that (HS)G/MoS2, (D1S–(HS)G/MoS2, U1S–(HS)G/MoS2, 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS[Formula: see text] materials have [Formula: see text]-type Schottky contact. The Dirac cone is formed in conduction band of the materials mentioned above. The barrier height of Dirac cones from Fermi energy level of (HS)G/MoS2, (D1S–(HS)G/MoS2, U1S–(HS)G/MoS2, 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS[Formula: see text] materials have values 0.56[Formula: see text]eV, 0.62[Formula: see text]eV, 0.62[Formula: see text]eV, 0.64[Formula: see text]eV and 0.65[Formula: see text]eV, respectively, which means they have metallic properties. To study the magnetic properties of materials, we have carried out DoS and PDoS calculations. We found that (HS)G/MoS2, D1S–(HS)G/MoS2 and U1S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials have non-magnetic properties, and 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials have magnetic properties. Therefore, the non-magnetic (HS)G/MoS2 changes to magnetic 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials due to 2S and 3S atoms vacancy defects, respectively, in (HS)G/MoS2 material. Magnetic moment obtained in 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials due to the unequal distribution of up and down spin states of electrons in 2s and 2p orbitals of C atoms; 4p, 4d and 5s orbitals of Mo atoms; and 3s and 3p orbitals of S atoms in structures. Magnetic moment of 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials is −0.11[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]/cell and [Formula: see text]/cell, respectively, and spins of 2p orbital of C atoms, 3p orbital of S atoms and 4d orbital of Mo atoms have dominant role to create magnetism in 2S–(HS)G/MoS2 and 3S–(HS)G/MoS2 materials.