Electronic properties of a graphene/periodic porous graphene heterostructure

Recently, two-dimensional van der Waals materials such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride have attracted interest as research topics. The two-dimensional material of polyphenylene superhoneycomb network (PSN) is similarly interesting because it is a type of periodic porous graphene. In this paper, we report a first-principles study of the geometric and electronic properties of vertical heterostructures comprising graphene and PSN. AA, AA′, and AB stacking configurations of a graphene sheet on a PSN sheet produce band gaps of 63, 16, and 3 meV, respectively. We also determine the relationships between the band gap and the interlayer distance between the graphene and PSN sheets. Finally, we present computationally simulated scanning tunneling microscopy images, which indicate the local electronic structures of the surfaces of the graphene and PSN sides.

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