Variability of structural and electronic properties of bulk and monolayer Si2Te3

Abstract

Silicon telluride has diverse properties for potential applications in Si-based devices ranging from fully integrated thermoelectrics to optoelectronics to chemical sensors. This material has a unique layered structure: it has a hexagonal closed-packed Te sublattice, with Si dimers occupying octahedral intercalation sites. Here, we report a theoretical study of this material in both bulk and monolayer form, unveiling an array of diverse properties arising from reorientations of the silicon dimers between planes of Te atoms. The band gap varies up to 30% depending on dimer orientations. The variation of dimer orientations gives rise to thermal contraction, arising from more dimers aligning out of the plane as the material is heated. Strain also affects the dimer orientations and provides a degree of control of the materials properties, making Si2Te3 a promising candidate for nanoscale mechanical, optical, and memristive devices.