Adsorption and absorption of boron, nitrogen, aluminum, and phosphorus on silicene: Stability and electronic and phonon properties

Abstract

Ab initio calculations within the density-functional theory formalism are performed to investigate the chemical functionalization of a graphene-like monolayer of silicon---silicene---with B, N, Al, or P atoms. The structural, electronic, magnetic, and vibrational properties are reported. The most preferable adsorption sites are found to be valley, bridge, valley and hill sites for B, N, Al, and P adatoms, respectively. All the relaxed systems with adsorbed/substituted atoms exhibit metallic behavior with strongly bonded B, N, Al, and P atoms accompanied by an appreciable electron transfer from silicene to the B, N, and P adatom/substituent. The Al atoms exhibit opposite charge transfer, with $n$-type doping of silicene and weaker bonding. The adatoms/substituents induce characteristic branches in the phonon spectrum of silicene, which can be probed by Raman measurements. Using molecular dynamics, we found that the systems under study are stable up to at least $T=500$ K. Our results demonstrate that silicene has a very reactive and functionalizable surface.