Effects of adatom species on the structure, stability, and work function of adatom-α-borophene nanocomposites

Work function-tunable borophene-based electrode materials are of significant importance because they promote efficient carrier extraction/injection, thereby enabling electronic devices to achieve maximum energy conversion efficiency. Accordingly, determining the work function of adatom-borophene nanocomposites within a series wherein the adatom is systematically changed will facilitate the design of such materials. In this study, we theoretically determined that the M–B bond length, binding energy, electron transfer between adatoms and BBP, and work function (ϕ) are linearly dependent on the ionization potential (IP) and electronegativity for thermodynamically and kinetically stable adatom-α-borophene (M/BBP) systems involving a series of alkali (earth) metal/BBP (M = Li–Cs; Be–Ba) and halogen/BBP (M = F–I), respectively. However, the binding energies of Li/BBP and Be/BBP deviate from these dependencies owing to their super small adatoms and the resulting significantly enhanced effective M–B bonding areas. By interpreting the electron transfer picture among the different parts of M/BBP, we confirmed that metallic M/BBP possesses ionic sp–p and dsp–p M–B bonds in alkali (earth) metal/BBP but covalent-featured ionic p–p interactions in halogen/BBP. In particular, the direct proportionality between IP and ϕ for alkali (earth) metal/BBP originates from the synergistic effect of charge rearrangement and the increased induced dipole moment; however, the inverse proportionality between electronegativity and ϕ for halogen/BBP arises from the adsorption induced charge redistribution. Our results provide guidance for experimental efforts toward the realization of work function-tunable borophene-based electrodes as well as insight into the bonding rules between various adatoms and α-borophene.