Collective electronic behaviors of laterally heterostructured armchair MoS2-NbS2 nanoribbons

Based on density functional theory, we have investigated the electronic properties of molybdenum disulfide-niobium disulfide hybrid nanoribbons (MoS2-NbS2 NRs). It is found that the MoS2 edge, MoS2 center, NbS2 edge, and NbS2 center have distinct contributions to the collective electronic behaviors of MoS2-NbS2 NRs. Its behavior, metallic or semiconductor, depends on whether the central area of NR contains NbS2 chain or not. This dependence has been also revealed in the electronic structures of NbS2-MoS2-NbS2 NR and MoS2-NbS2-MoS2 NR, of which the former is semiconductor and the latter is metal. In comparison with MoS2 NR of the same width, the hybrid has a different bandgap that was caused by the coupled effects between NbS2 edge and MoS2 edge. This fact makes MoS2-NbS2 NRs a possible candidate for nanoelectronic devices based on heterostructured transition-metal dichalcogenide. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.