Photogalvanic Effect in Different 2D Materials

Abstract

Spintronics is based on the control of electron spin properties. Spin-polarized currents and pure spin currents are vital to spintronics. As a method to generate current only by illumination without imposing the bias voltage, the Photogalvanic effect now is used to realize spin-polarized current or pure spin current. In order to continuously reduce the size, it is particularly important to build spintronic devices at low-dimensional scales. Because of their outstanding optical and electronic properties, 2 dimensional materials have received extensive concern and research these years. In this review, we review the photoresponse of different materials under different illuminations and the use of Photogalvanic effect to generate spin-polarized currents and even pure spin currents. The materials studied in this article include two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides, Zigzag silicon-carbide nanoribbons and graphene nanoribbons at the edges of armchairs. This review article provides possible directions for material selection for new spintronic devices.