title: SiC7 siligraphene: a novel donor material with extraordinary sunlight absorption.
abstract: The SiC7 siligraphene (g-SiC7) is a novel 2D nanomaterial with a graphene-like structure. Based on theoretical calculations, we have systematically investigated the structure, stability, electronic and optical properties of g-SiC7 siligraphene. The calculated results reveal that g-SiC7 siligraphene is a semiconductor with a direct band gap of 1.13 eV, which can be easily tuned by applying biaxial strain or a perpendicular electric field. Such a g-SiC7 siligraphene shows superior sunlight optical absorbance and is better than g-SiC2 siligraphene and single-layer black phosphorus (phosphorene) in near infrared and visible photon ranges, thus holding great potential for photovoltaics applications as a light donor material.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. yyli@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huilong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Bremen Center for Computational Material Science, Universität Bremen, Am Fallturm 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany. liujiang86@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Liujiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Bremen Center for Computational Material Science, Universität Bremen, Am Fallturm 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany. liujiang86@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frauenheim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. yyli@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Tingjun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. yyli@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuit-Tong
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. yyli@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Youyong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li