Rectifying Performance of Heterojunction Based on α-Borophene Nanoribbons with Edge Passivation

We propose a planar model heterojunction based on α-borophene nanoribbons and study its electronic transport properties. We respectively consider three types of heterojunctions. Each type consists of two zigzag-edge α-borophene nanoribbons (Z αBNR), one is metallic with unpassivated or passivated edges by a hydrogen atom (1H-Z αBNR) and the other is semiconducting with the edge passivated by two hydrogen atoms (2H-Z αBNR) or a single nitrogen atom (N-Z αBNR). Using the first-principles calculations combined with the nonequilibrium Green's function, we observe that the rectifying performance depends strongly on the atomic structural details of a junction. Specifically, the rectification ratio of the junction is almost unchanged when its left metallic ribbon changes from ZBNR to 1H-Z αBNR. However, its ratio increases from 120 to 240 when the right semiconducting one varies from 2H-Z αBNR to N-Z αBNR. This rectification effect can be explained microscopically by the matching degree the electronic bands between two parts of a junction. Our findings imply that the borophene-based heterojunctions may have potential applications in rectification nano-devices.