Mechanical and electronic properties of Janus monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

The mechanical and electronic properties of Janus monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides MXY (M = Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W; X/Y = S, Se, Te) were investigated using density functional theory. Results show that breaking the out-of-plane structural symmetry can be used to tune the electronic and mechanical behavior of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides. The band gaps of monolayer WXY and MoXY are in the ranges of 0.16-1.91 and 0.94-1.69 eV, respectively. A semiconductor to metallic phase transition occurred in Janus monolayer MXY (M = Ti, Zr and Hf). The monolayers MXY (M = V, Nb, Ta and Cr) show metallic characteristics, which show no dependence on the structural symmetry breaking. The mechanical properties of MXY depended on the composition. Monolayer MXY (M = Mo, Ti, Zr, Hf and W) showed brittle characteristic, whereas monolayer CrXY and VXY are with ductile characteristic. The in-plane stiffness of pristine and Janus monolayer MXY are in the range between 22 and 158N m(-1). The tunable electronic and mechanical properties of these 2D materials would advance the development of ultra-sensitive detectors, nanogenerators, low-power electronics, and energy harvesting and electromechanical systems.