First Principles Study on the Electronic Structure and Interface Stability of Hybrid Silicene/Fluorosilicene Nanoribbons

The interface stability of hybrid silicene/fluorosilicene nanoribbons (SFNRs) has been investigated by using density functional theory calculations, where fluorosilicene is the fully fluorinated silicene. It is found that the diffusion of F atoms at the zigzag and armchair interfaces of SFNRs is endothermic, and the corresponding minimum energy barriers are respectively 1.66 and 1.56 eV, which are remarkably higher than the minimum diffusion energy barrier of one F atom and two F atoms on pristine silicene 1.00 and 1.29 eV, respectively. Therefore, the thermal stability of SFNRs can be significantly enhanced by increasing the F diffusion barriers through silicene/fluorosilicene interface engineering. In addition, the electronic and magnetic properties of SFNRs are also investigated. It is found that the armchair SFNRs are nonmagnetic semiconductors, and the band gap of armchair SFNRs presents oscillatory behavior when the width of silicene part changing. For the zigzag SFNRs, the antiferromagnetic semiconducting state is the most stable one. This work provides fundamental insights for the applications of SFNRs in electronic devices.