Dispersion-Corrected Density Functional Theory Investigations of Structural and Electronic Properties of Bulk MoS2: Effect of Uniaxial Strain

Strain-dependent structural and electronic properties of MoS2 materials are investigated using first principles calculations. The structural and electronic band structures of the MoS2 with relaxed unit cells are optimized and calculated by the dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D2). Calculations within the local density approximation (LDA) and GGA using PAW potentials were also performed for specific cases for the purpose of comparison. The effect of strain on the band gap and the dependence of formation energy on strain of MoS2 are also studied and discussed using the DFT-D2 method. In bulk MoS2, the orbitals shift towards the higher/lower energy area when strain is applied along the z/x direction, respectively. The energy splitting of Mo4d states is in the range from 0 to 2 eV, which is due to the reduction of the electronic band gap of MoS2.