Tunable band gaps in graphene/GaN van der Waals heterostructures

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures consisting of graphene and other two-dimensional materials provide good opportunities for achieving desired electronic and optoelectronic properties. Here, we focus on vdW heterostructures composed of graphene and gallium nitride (GaN). Using density functional theory, we perform a systematic study on the structural and electronic properties of heterostructures consisting of graphene and GaN. Small band gaps are opened up at or near the Γ point of the Brillouin zone for all of the heterostructures. We also investigate the effect of the stacking sequence and electric fields on their electronic properties. Our results show that the tunability of the band gap is sensitive to the stacking sequence in bilayer-graphene-based heterostructures. In particular, in the case of graphene/graphene/GaN, a band gap of up to 334 meV is obtained under a perpendicular electric field. The band gap of bilayer graphene between GaN sheets (GaN/graphene/graphene/GaN) shows similar tunability, and increases to 217 meV with the perpendicular electric field reaching 0.8 V Å(-1).