A systematic study of 32 honeycomb monolayer II-VI semiconductors is carried out by first-principles methods. While none of the two-dimensional (2D) structures can be energetically stable, it appears that BeO, MgO, CaO, ZnO, CdO, CaS, SrS, SrSe, BaTe, and HgTe honeycomb monolayers have a good dynamic stability. The stability of the five oxides is consistent with the work published by Zhuang et al. [ Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 212102 (2013)]. The rest of the compounds in the form of honeycomb are dynamically unstable, revealed by phonon calculations. In addition, according to the molecular dynamic (MD) simulation evolution from these unstable candidates, we also find two extra monolayers dynamically stable, which are tetragonal BaS $\left[P4/nmm\left(129\right)\right]$ and orthorhombic HgS $[P{2}_1/m\left(11\right)]$. The honeycomb monolayers exist in the form of either a planar perfect honeycomb or a low-buckled 2D layer, all of which possess a band gap and most of them are in the ultraviolet region. Interestingly, the dynamically stable SrSe has a gap near visible light, and displays exotic electronic properties with a flat top of the valence band, and hence has a strong spin polarization upon hole doping. The honeycomb HgTe has recently been reported to achieve a topological nontrivial phase under appropriate in-plane tensile strain and spin-orbital coupling (SOC) [J. Li et al., arXiv:1412.2528]. Some II-VI partners with less than $5\%$ lattice mismatch may be used to design novel 2D heterojunction devices. If synthesized, potential applications of these 2D II-VI families could include optoelectronics, spintronics, and strong correlated electronics.

To date, slow Set operation speed and high Reset operation power remain to be important limitations for substituting dynamic random access memory by phase change memory. Here, we demonstrate phase change memory cell based on Ti_0.4Sb₂Te₃ alloy, showing one order of magnitude faster Set operation speed and as low as one-fifth Reset operation power, compared with Ge₂Sb₂Te₅-based phase change memory cell at the same size. The enhancements may be rooted in the common presence of titanium-centred octahedral motifs in both amorphous and crystalline Ti_0.4Sb₂Te₃ phases. The essentially unchanged local structures around the titanium atoms may be responsible for the significantly improved performance, as these structures could act as nucleation centres to facilitate a swift, low-energy order-disorder transition for the rest of the Sb-centred octahedrons. Our study may provide an alternative to the development of high-speed, low-power dynamic random access memory-like phase change memory technology.

In emerging optoelectronic applications, such as water photolysis, exciton fission and novel photovoltaics involving low-dimensional nanomaterials, hot-carrier relaxation and extraction mechanisms play an indispensable and intriguing role in their photo-electron conversion processes. Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted much attention in above fields recently; however, insight into the relaxation mechanism of hot electron-hole pairs in the band nesting region denoted as C-excitons, remains elusive. Using MoS₂ monolayers as a model two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide system, here we report a slower hot-carrier cooling for C-excitons, in comparison with band-edge excitons. We deduce that this effect arises from the favourable band alignment and transient excited-state Coulomb environment, rather than solely on quantum confinement in two-dimension systems. We identify the screening-sensitive bandgap renormalization for MoS₂ monolayer/graphene heterostructures, and confirm the initial hot-carrier extraction for the C-exciton state with an unprecedented efficiency of 80%, accompanied by a twofold reduction in the exciton binding energy.