Effect of BN dimers on the stability, electronic, and thermal properties of monolayer graphene

Abstract

We theoretically investigate structural stability, electronic and thermal characteristic of boron and nitrogen codoped monolayer graphene using density functional theory and Boltzmann transport equation. Three types of BN dimers, ortho, meta, and para dimers, are identified at different concentration ratios of B and N atoms. Our DFT calculations suggest that the BN ortho dimers are structurally favorable configurations due to the lowest required formation energy. At low doping ratio, large bandgap for BN para dimer is predicted leading to high Seebeck coefficient and figure of merit. In addition, a large deviation in the Wiedemann–Franz ratio is also seen, and a maximum value of the Lorenz number is thus found. In contrast, at high doping ratio, high Seebeck coefficient and figure of merit are found for BN ortho dimer and a low Seebeck coefficient for BN para dimer is noticed. Furthermore, a small deviation in Lorenz number is found for high doping ratio where the distance between BN pair is large.