Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity in SiPGaS/arsenene-based van der Waals heterostructures
Anwar Ali,
Ismail Shahid,
Iqtidar Ahmad,
Bin Lu,
Haitao Zhang,
Wen Zhang,
Ping Kwan Johnny Wong
Affiliations
Anwar Ali
ARTIST Lab for Artificial Electronic Materials & Technologies, School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, P.R. China; Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Taicang 215400, P.R. China
Ismail Shahid
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Centre (ReCast), Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, P.R. China
Iqtidar Ahmad
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, P.R. China
Bin Lu
ARTIST Lab for Artificial Electronic Materials & Technologies, School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, P.R. China; Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Taicang 215400, P.R. China; NPU Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, P.R. China
Haitao Zhang
ARTIST Lab for Artificial Electronic Materials & Technologies, School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, P.R. China; Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Taicang 215400, P.R. China
Wen Zhang
ARTIST Lab for Artificial Electronic Materials & Technologies, School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, P.R. China; Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Taicang 215400, P.R. China; Corresponding author
Ping Kwan Johnny Wong
ARTIST Lab for Artificial Electronic Materials & Technologies, School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, Shaanxi, P.R. China; Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Taicang 215400, P.R. China; NPU Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, P.R. China; Corresponding author
Summary: Van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) showcase robust and tunable light-matter interactions, establishing an intriguing realm for investigating atomic-scale photocatalytic properties. Here, we employ ab initio methods to study the photocatalytic and optical properties of semiconducting SiPGaS/arsenene-based vdWHs with a type-II band alignment. Across the heterointerfaces, there exists significant built-in electric fields and large potential drop, in turn facilitating the spatial separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. These vdWHs further possess high carrier mobility in the order of 102 cm2V⁻1S⁻1, which combining with appropriate band edge positions, endow the vdWHs an absorption coefficient of ∼10⁵ cm⁻1 to harvest a maximal portion of the solar spectrum for visible-light-driven photocatalytic applications. Our findings also reveal transition of the type-II band alignment in a type-III configuration via compressive strain for tunneling field-effect transistor application. Furthermore, both types of vdWHs exhibit enhanced suitability for photocatalysis under conditions with a pH of 2.
