Observation of the unconventional optoelectronic properties of silicon conjugated graphene nanosheets

Graphene has been realized for its significant physico-chemical properties. The extraordinary surface area and high electronical conductivity of graphene makes it a potential candidate in the field of nanoelectronics and sensors. In this study, graphene has been conjugated with silicon and its different physical and chemical properties were evaluated. The total energy of the composite system came out to be -6111.62 eV. Chemical potential of the composite system exhibits ~ 5.64 eV. DOS calculations for composite of silicon and graphene came out to be ~ 17 eV
^-1
for the applied bias voltage of 40 eV, as when compared to higher values of DOS for monolayer silicon and graphene nanosheets. Silicon is widely known to exhibit semiconducting behavior and has already been used in fabricating various CMOS devices. In this present work, we try to study the outcome of the conjugation of graphene nanosheets with silicon nanosheets in different combinations. Understanding the interactions between two semiconducting materials could shed some light in the underlying physical and chemical interaction which would help in devising novel optoelectronic systems.