Negative differential conductance effect and electrical anisotropy of 2D ZrB₂ monolayers

Two-dimensional (2D) metal-diboride ZrB₂ monolayers was predicted theoretically as a stable new electronic material (Lopez-Bezanilla 2018 Phys. Rev. Mater. 2 011002). Here, we investigate its electronic transport properties along the zigzag (z-ZrB₂) and armchair (a-ZrB₂) directions, using the density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function methods. Under low biases, the 2D ZrB₂ shows a similar electrical transport along zigzag and armchair directions as electric current propagates mostly via the metallic Zr-Zr bonds. However, it shows an electrical anistropy under high biases, and its I-V curves along zigzag and armchair directions diverge as the bias voltage is higher than 1.4 V, as more directional B-B transmission channels are opened. Importantly, both z-ZrB₂ and a-ZrB₂ show a pronounced negative differential conductance (NDC) effect and hence they can be promising for the use in NDC-based nanodevices.