Band splitting in bilayer stanene electronic structure scrutinized via first principle DFT calculations

Abstract The recent work on stanene as quantum spin Hall insulators made us investigate bilayer stanene using first principle calculations. With an aim of improving and developing new properties, via modulating the stacking order (and angle) of the bilayers. This stacking of layers has been proven technique for modulating the properties of monolayer materials. Here we design multiple bilayer systems, with different stacking angles and AA and AB configurations. Rather observing an improvement in bandgap due to spin-orbit coupling (SOC), we witness a splitting of the band due to SOC, a characteristic behavior of stacked MoS2 sheets. This splitting of the bands gives rise to different, independent and distinct spin-up and spin-down channels, manifesting a valley dependent spin polarization. Also, as a contrast to stacked MoS2 system we notice in our system the stacking angle and order, does effect electronic states.