SiC7 siligraphene: a novel donor material with extraordinary sunlight absorption.

The SiC7 siligraphene (g-SiC7) is a novel 2D nanomaterial with a graphene-like structure. Based on theoretical calculations, we have systematically investigated the structure, stability, electronic and optical properties of g-SiC7 siligraphene. The calculated results reveal that g-SiC7 siligraphene is a semiconductor with a direct band gap of 1.13 eV, which can be easily tuned by applying biaxial strain or a perpendicular electric field. Such a g-SiC7 siligraphene shows superior sunlight optical absorbance and is better than g-SiC2 siligraphene and single-layer black phosphorus (phosphorene) in near infrared and visible photon ranges, thus holding great potential for photovoltaics applications as a light donor material.