Freestanding perovskite oxide monolayers as two-dimensional semiconductors

It is highly desirable to search for promising two-dimensional (2D) monolayer materials for obtaining deep insight of 2D materials and developing device applications. We use first-principles method to investigate tetragonal perovskite oxide monolayers as 2D materials, and find three stable freestanding 2D monolayer materials from important perovskite oxides (ABO3), namely SrTiO3, LaAlO3, and KTaO3, denoting them as STO-ML, LAO-ML, and KTO-ML. Such an oxide monolayer consists of one AO and one BO2 atomic layers. Further study shows that the three monolayers are 2D wide-gap semiconducotors, and there is a large electrostatic potential energy difference between the two sides, reflecting a large out-of-plane dipole, in each of the monolayers. We also investigate optical properties of the three monolayer semiconductors and compare them with graphene and MoS2 monolayer. These make a series of 2D monolayer materials, and should be useful in novel electronic and optoelectronic devices considering emerging phenomena in perovskite oxide heterostructures.