A structurally stable crystalline carbon allotrope is predicted by means of the first-principles calculations. This allotrope can be derived by substituting each atom in diamond with a carbon tetrahedron, and possesses the same space group $Fd\overline{3}m$ as diamond, which is thus coined as T-carbon. The calculations on geometrical, vibrational, and electronic properties reveal that T-carbon, with a considerable structural stability and a much lower density $1.50\mathrm{g}/{\mathrm{cm}}^3$, is a semiconductor with a direct band gap about 3.0 eV, and has a Vickers hardness 61.1 GPa lower than diamond but comparable with cubic boron nitride. Such a form of carbon, once obtained, would have wide applications in photocatalysis, adsoption, hydrogen storage, and aerospace materials.

Phosphorene, the single layer counterpart of black phosphorus, is a novel two-dimensional semiconductor with high carrier mobility and a large fundamental direct band gap, which has attracted tremendous interest recently. Its potential applications in nano-electronics and thermoelectrics call for fundamental study of the phonon transport. Here, we calculate the intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity of phosphorene by solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) based on first-principles calculations. The thermal conductivity of phosphorene at 300 K is 30.15 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ (zigzag) and 13.65 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ (armchair), showing an obvious anisotropy along different directions. The calculated thermal conductivity fits perfectly to the inverse relationship with temperature when the temperature is higher than Debye temperature (Θ_D = 278.66 K). In comparison to graphene, the minor contribution around 5% of the ZA mode is responsible for the low thermal conductivity of phosphorene. In addition, the representative mean free path (MFP), a critical size for phonon transport, is also obtained.

New classes of two-dimensional (2D) materials beyond graphene, including layered and non-layered, and their heterostructures, are currently attracting increasing interest due to their promising applications in nanoelectronics, optoelectronics and clean energy, where thermal transport is a fundamental physical parameter. In this paper, we systematically investigated the phonon transport properties of the 2D orthorhombic group IV–VI compounds of GeS, GeSe, SnS and SnSe by solving the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) based on first-principles calculations. Despite their similar puckered (hinge-like) structure along the armchair direction as phosphorene, the four monolayer compounds possess diverse anisotropic properties in many aspects, such as phonon group velocity, Young's modulus and lattice thermal conductivity (κ), etc. Especially, the κ along the zigzag and armchair directions of monolayer GeS shows the strongest anisotropy while monolayer SnS and SnSe show almost isotropy in phonon transport. The origin of the diverse anisotropy is fully studied and the underlying mechanism is discussed in details. With limited size, the κ could be effectively lowered, and the anisotropy could be effectively modulated by nanostructuring, which would extend the applications to nanoscale thermoelectrics and thermal management. Our study offers fundamental understanding of the anisotropic phonon transport properties of 2D materials, and would be of significance for further study, modulation and applications in emerging technologies.

We systematically investigated the geometric, electronic and thermoelectric (TE) properties of bulk black phosphorus (BP) under strain. The hinge-like structure of BP brings unusual mechanical responses such as anisotropic Young's modulus and negative Poisson's ratio. A sensitive electronic structure of BP makes it transform among metal, direct and indirect semiconductors under strain. The maximal figure of merit ZT of BP is found to be 0.72 at 800[emsp14]K that could be enhanced to 0.87 by exerting an appropriate strain, revealing BP could be a potential medium-high temperature TE material. Such strain-induced enhancements of TE performance are often observed to occur at the boundary of the direct-indirect band gap transition, which can be attributed to the increase of degeneracy of energy valleys at the transition point. By comparing the structure of BP with SnSe, a family of potential TE materials with hinge-like structure are suggested. This study not only exposes various novel properties of BP under strain, but also proposes effective strategies to seek for better TE materials.

By means of extensive ab initio calculations, a new two-dimensional (2D) atomic material tin selenide monolayer (coined as tinselenidene) is predicted to be a semiconductor with an indirect gap (~1.45 eV) and a high hole mobility (of order 10000 cm²V⁻¹S⁻¹) and will bear an indirect-direct gap transition under a rather low strain (<0.5 GPa). Tinselenidene has a very small Young’s modulus (20–40 GPa) and an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (<3 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹ at 300 K), making it probably the most flexible and most heat-insulating material in known 2D atomic materials. In addition, tinseleniden has a large negative Poisson’s ratio of −0.17, thus could act as a 2D auxetic material. With these intriguing properties, tinselenidene could have wide potential applications in thermoelectrics, nanomechanics and optoelectronics.

We study a versatile structurally favorable periodic sp²-bonded carbon atomic planar sheet with C_4v symmetry by means of the first-principles calculations. This carbon allotrope is composed of carbon octagons and squares with two bond lengths and is thus dubbed as octagraphene. It is a semimetal with the Fermi surface consisting of one hole and one electron pocket, whose low-energy physics can be well described by a tight-binding model of π-electrons. Its Young's modulus, breaking strength, and Poisson's ratio are obtained to be 306 N/m, 34.4 N/m, and 0.13, respectively, which are close to those of graphene. The novel sawtooth and armchair carbon nanotubes as well as unconventional fullerenes can also be constructed from octagraphene. It is found that the Ti-absorbed octagraphene can be allowed for hydrogen storage with capacity around 7.76 wt. %.