Two-dimensional penta-SnH monolayer for nanoelectronics and photocatalytic water splitting: a first-principles study.

Exploring two-dimensional materials with novel properties is becoming particularly important due to their potential applications in future electronics and optoelectronics. In the current work, the electronic and optical properties of penta-SnH are investigated by density-functional theory. By assessing the phonon spectrum, we find that penta-SnH monolayer is energetically more favorable compared with pristine penta-stanene due to hydrogenation transforming the sp-sp hybrid orbitals into sp hybridization. Our calculations revealed that penta-SnH is a semiconductor with indirect band gaps of 1.48 eV according to the GGA functional (2.44 eV according to the HSE06 functional). Moreover, the electronic structures of penta-SnH can be effectively modulated by biaxial tensile strain. Meanwhile, our calculations reveal that the indirect to direct band gap transition can be achieved in this monolayer sheet by >4% biaxial strain. On the other hand, the well-located band edge and visible light absorption make penta-SnH a potentially promising optoelectronic material for photocatalytic water splitting.