Two-Dimensional GeC2 with Tunable Electronic and Carrier Transport Properties and a High Current ON/OFF Ratio.

In this study, we present that 2D tetrahex-GeC2 materials possess novel electronic and carrier transport properties based on density functional theory computations combined with the nonequilibrium Green's function method. We show that under the 4% (-4%) in-plane expansion (compression) along the a-direction (b-direction) of the tetrahex-GeC2 monolayer, the bandgap can be enlarged to a desirable 1.26 eV (1.32 eV), close to that of silicon. The carrier transport properties of both the sub-10 nm tetrahex-GeC2 monolayer and the bilayer show strong anisotropy within the bias from -1 to 1 V. The current ON (a-direction)/OFF (b-direction) ratio amounts to 105 for the tetrahex-GeC2 monolayer. A striking negative differential conductance arises with the maximum Ipeak/Ivalley on the order of 104 under the 4% uniaxial expansion along the b-direction of the tetrahex-GeC2 monolayer. Overall, the 2D tetrahex-GeC2 monolayer and bilayer possess highly tunable electronic and carrier transport properties under uniaxial strain, which can be exploited for potential applications in nanoelectronics.