Effect of compression on the electronic, optical and transport properties of MoS₂/graphene-based junctions

Electronic, optical and transport properties of the MoS₂/graphene heterostructure have been investigated as function of applied uniaxial compression normal to the interface plane using first principles calculations and a non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The results show that a small compressive load (∼1 GPa) can open up the band gap (∼12 meV), reduce the optical absorption coefficient (∼7%), redshift the absorption spectrum, and create non-Ohmic I-V characteristics that depend on the magnitude of applied bias. This suggests that graphene/MoS₂ heterostructure can be suitable for electromechanical and photomechanical devices where the electronic, optical and transport properties can be tuned by an appropriate application of bias and mechanical deformations.