Semiconductor to metal transition in bilayer phosphorene under normal compressive strain

Phosphorene, a two-dimensional analog of black phosphorous, has been a subject of immense interest recently, due to its high carrier mobilities and a tunable bandgap. So far, tunability has been predicted to be obtained with very high compressive/tensile in-plane strains, and vertical electric field, which are difficult to achieve experimentally. Here, we show using density functional theory based calculations the possibility of tuning electronic properties by applying normal compressive strain in bilayer phosphorene. A complete and fully reversible semiconductor to metal transition has been observed at ##IMG## [http://ift.tt/15dTGeF] {$\sim 13.35\%$} strain, which can be easily realized experimentally. Furthermore, a direct to indirect bandgap transition has also been observed at ##IMG## [http://ift.tt/1BJQJAL] {$\sim 3\%$} strain, which is a sign...

Aaditya Manjanath, Atanu Samanta, Tribhuwan Pandey and Abhishek K Singh

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