Control of band structure of van der Waals heterostructures: Silicene on ultrathin silicon nanosheets

The geometric and electronic properties of silicene on doping ultrathin silicon nanosheet were performed using dispersion-corrected density-functional theory. The results show that the substrates modify the electronic properties of silicene due to the difference of charge population between the two sublattices. A sizable band gap is created at the Dirac point, which could be widened by bias voltage. It is theorized that the hetero-structures could provide a viable route to silicene-based electronic devices.