Band Gap Control in Bilayer Graphene by Co-Doping with B-N Pairs

The electronic band structure of bilayer graphene is studied systematically in the presence of substitutional B and/or N doping, using density functional theory with van der Waals correction. We show that introduction of B-N pairs into bilayer graphene can be used to create a substantial band gap, stable against thermal fluctuations at room temperature, but otherwise leaves the electronic band structure in the vicinity of the Fermi energy largely unaffected. Introduction of B-N pairs into B and/or N doped bilayer graphene likewise hardly modifies the band dispersions. In semiconducting systems (same amount of B and N dopants), however, the size of the band gap is effectively tuned in the presence of B-N pairs.