Two-dimensional hexagonal Zn3Si2 monolayer: Dirac cone material and Dirac half-metallic manipulation.

The fascinating Dirac cone in honeycomb graphene, which underlies many unique electronic properties, has inspired the vast endeavors on pursuing new two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials. Based on the density functional theory method, a 2D material Zn3Si2 of honeycomb transition-metal silicide with intrinsic Dirac cones has been predicted. The Zn3Si2 monolayer is dynamically and thermodynamically stable under ambient conditions. Importantly, the Zn3Si2 monolayer is a room-temperature 2D Dirac material with a spin–orbit coupling energy gap of 1.2 meV, which has an intrinsic Dirac cone arising from the special hexagonal lattice structure. Hole doping leads to the spin polarization of the electron, which results in a Dirac half-metal feature with single-spin Dirac fermion. This novel stable 2D transition-metal-silicon-framework material holds promises for electronic device applications in spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]