Tuning the metal–semiconductor contact nature in MXene-based van der Waals heterostructures

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides (MXenes) have emerged as promising ultrathin materials for nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. However, the contact barrier at metal–semiconductor (MS) junctions still significantly limits the device's performance. Here, we propose a novel strategy—functionalizing accompanied with external electric fields—to tune the MS contact nature in MXene-based van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, taking 2D Ti2C as an example, by means of first-principles calculations. Different Ti2CO2/Ti2CX2 (X = OH or S) vdW heterostructures are designed via functionalizing Ti2C metals to contact with 2D Ti2CO2. We reveal that OH functionalized vdW MS heterostructure (Ti2CO2/Ti2C(OH)2) can be tuned to the Ohmic contact owing to the strong interlayer interaction inducing a large number of interlayer transferred electrons; while for the sulfurized vdW MS heterostructure (Ti2CO2/Ti2CS2), its Schottky barrier height and contact type can be effectively tuned by external electric field due to the rather weak interlayer interaction. Our work paves a new way for the construction of 2D MXene-based vdW MS heterostructures and demonstrates the great potential of 2D MXenes in future nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.