Tunable electrical and magnetic properties of 2D SiC via adsorption and doping of atmospheric elements (H, C, N, and O)

Abstract

The direct bandgap nonmagnetic semiconductor two-dimensional SiC has attracted extensive research attention recently due to its unique physical and chemical properties. The synthesis of materials is inevitably affected by atmospheric elements. In this paper, the effects of adsorption and doping of atmospheric elements (H, C, N, and O) on the structure, electronic, and magnetic properties of SiC were studied based on first-principles calculations. It was found that O-doped SiC is unstable. O-adsorbed SiC and C-doped SiC exhibit non-magnetic semiconductor properties with reduced bandgap. In contrast, a semi-metallic state emerges in H- and N-adsorbed, as well as H- and N-doped SiC. In addition, C-adsorbed SiC displays a magnetic semiconductor state, which may have significant potential for application in spintronics due to the high Curie temperature of 441 K. These findings demonstrate that the electronic and magnetic properties of SiC could be effectively tuned by doping or adsorbing atoms of atmospheric elements.