First Principles Investigation of the Optoelectronic Properties of Molybdenum Dinitride for Optical Sensing Applications

Abstract

The electronic and optical properties of the newly synthesized molybdenum dinitride (MoN2) in the hypothetical 2H structure analogous to MoS2 is investigated using the density functional theory (DFT) full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method and the modified Becke–Johnson (mBJ) approximation. The aim is to investigate the optoelectronic properties of this compound for potential optical sensing applications and compare with the capabilities of MoS2 in this field. As compared to MoS2, which is a semiconductor, MoN2 is found to be a semi metal from the band structure plots. The dielectric function, optical conductivity and the optical constants, namely, the refractive index, the reflectivity, the extinction and absorption coefficients, are evaluated and compared with those of MoS2 and discussed with reference to the sensing performance.