We use first-principles density functional theory based calculations to determine the stability and properties of silicene, a graphene-like structure made from silicon, and explore the possibilities of modifying its structure and properties through incorporation of transition metal ions (M: Ti, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo and W) in its lattice, forming MSi(2). While pure silicene is stable in a distorted honeycomb lattice structure obtained by opposite out-of-plane displacements of the two Si sub-lattices, its electronic structure still exhibits linear dispersion with the Dirac conical feature similar to graphene. We show that incorporation of transition metal ions in its lattice results in a rich set of properties with a clear dependence on the structural changes, and that CrSi(2) forms a two-dimensional magnet exhibiting a strong piezomagnetic coupling.

We investigate the structural, electronic and optical properties of transition metal doped triclinic monolayered rhenium disulfide and diselenide (ReS and ReSe) by means of quantum mechanical calculations. The calculated electronic band gaps for ReS and ReSe monolayers are 1.43 eV and 1.23 eV, respectively, with both having a non-magnetic ground state. The calculated dopant substitutional energies under both Re-rich and X(S or Se)-rich conditions show that it is possible to experimentally synthesize transition metal doped ReX (where X is S or Se) monolayer systems. We found that the presence of dopant ions (such as V, Cr, Mn, Fe Co, Nb, Mo, Ta and W) in the ReS and ReSe monolayers significantly modifies their electronic ground states with consequent introduction of defect levels and modification of the density of states profile. However, it was found that Mn doped structures show a very minute reduction of the electronic band gap. We found that a ferro- or a non-magnetic ground state configuration was obtained depending on the choice of dopant ions in ReS and ReSe monolayers. Cr, Fe and Co doping result in a ferro-magnetic ground state configuration of the ReX structures. The calculated absorption and reflectivity spectra show that this class of dopants causes a general increase in the absorption spectral peaks but only a minute influence on the reflectivity. Optical anisotropy was observed depending on whether the direction of polarization in the xy-plane is either parallel or perpendicular.

Density functional theory with the Hubbard U parameter calculations were carried out to investigate the structural, electronic and optical properties of lanthanide dopant atoms in the HfS2 mono-layer..

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We study the spin polarized transport through Mn-decorated 8-5-5-8 topological line defects in graphene using the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. Strong preferential bonding overcomes the high mobility of transition metal atoms on graphene and results in stable structures. Despite a large distance between the magnetic centers, we find a high magnetoresistance and attribute this unexpected property to very strong induced π magnetism, in particular for full coverage of all octagonal hollow sites by Mn atoms. In contrast to the magnetoresistance of graphene nanoribbon edges, the proposed system is well controlled and therefore suitable for applications.