Biaxial strain effects on electronic, transport, and thermoelectric properties of SnX2 (X = Se, Te) and Janus SnSeTe 1T-monolayers

Biaxial strain in two-dimensional materials plays a crucial role in degenerating the valence and conduction bands, leading to energy dispersion in the band structure and causing changes in transport properties, such as carrier mobility, Seebeck coefficient, and electrical conductivity. Herein, we investigated the effects of biaxial strain on SnX2 (X = Se, Te) and the Janus SnSeTe 1T-monolayer using density functional theory, deformation potential, and semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. Our findings reveal that the studied 1T-monolayers exhibit high and directionally isotropic electron mobility. Biaxial tensile strain has the effect of increasing the bandgap, predominantly reducing the effective mass of electrons while increasing that of holes. This results in an enhanced electron mobility along with a simultaneous reduction or increase in the concentration of electron carriers or holes, respectively. Especifically, in the case of the Janus SnSeTe 1T-monolayer, we observed a remarkable 68% increase in electron mobility, reaching a value of 1588 cm2V−1s−1. This increase contributes to higher thermoelectric performance due to elevated electrical conductivity and a simultaneous rise in the Seebeck coefficient when subjected to biaxial strain. Our study underscores that strain engineering is an effective strategy for achieving improved thermoelectric properties, particularly exemplified by the SnSeTe 1T-monolayer, which achieved a maximum value of 2.25 for n-type due the ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.359 Wm−1K−1 as result of strong phonon anharmonicity on acoustical and optical modes.