Vacancies and oxidation of two-dimensional group-IV monochalcogenides

Point defects in the binary group-IV monochalcogenide monolayers of SnS, SnSe, GeS, and GeSe are investigated using density functional theory calculations. Several stable configurations are found for oxygen defects, however, we give evidence that these materials are less prone to oxidation than phosphorene, with which monochalcogenides are isoelectronic and share the same orthorhombic structure. Concurrent oxygen defects are expected to be vacancies and substitutional oxygen. We show that it is energetically favorable for oxygen to be incorporated into the layers substituting for a chalcogen (OS/Se defects), and different from most of the other defects investigated, this defect preserves the electronic structure of the material. Thus, we suggest that annealing treatments can be useful for the treatment of functional materials where loss mechanisms due to the presence of defects are undesirable.