First-Principles Study for Gas Sensing of Defective SnSe2 Monolayers

We report the interaction between gas molecules (NO2 and NH3) and the SnSe2 monolayers with vacancy and dopants (O and N) for potential applications as gas sensors. Compared with the gas molecular adsorbed on pristine SnSe2 monolayer, the Se-vacancy SnSe2 monolayer obviously enhances sensitivity to NO2 adsorption. The O-doped SnSe2 monolayer shows similar sensitivity to the pristine SnSe2 monolayer when adsorbing NO2 molecule. However, only the N-doped SnSe2 monolayer represents a visible enhancement for NO2 and NH3 adsorption. This work reveals that the selectivity and sensitivity of SnSe2-based gas sensors could be improved by introducing the vacancy or dopants.