Control the electronic and optical properties of AlN nanosheet by the electric field

Abstract

Using ab initio simulations, we investigate the electronic and optical properties of aluminum nitride (AlN) nanosheet under the electric field according to perpendicular direction. It is shown that an electric field can be used to tune the electronic and optical properties of an AlN nanosheet, such as the energy gap, total density of states, absorption coefficient, refractive index, dielectric function, and the nonlinear optical response. As a result, the system will exhibit a transition from semiconductor to metal by the applied electric field. Moreover, the electric field induced a broadening, the increased intensity at <6 V/Å, and a noticeable redshift of the absorption peaks, which implies that this material has the potential to be a significant component of numerous optoelectronic devices.

Keywords

• Aluminum nitride nanosheet
• Density functional theory
• Ab initio simulations
• Electronic structure
• Optical properties
• Electric field