Spin Hall effect in the monolayer Janus compound MoSSe enhanced by Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Sizable Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is of critical importance in potential applications of two-dimensional materials in spintronics devices. However, due to the presence of vertical mirror symmetry, Rashba SOC is absent in 2H transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayers and the spin Hall conductivities are attributed only to Zeeman splitting. We study theoretically the electronic structures and intrinsic spin Hall conductivity of two-dimensional monolayer Janus MoSSe by performing first-principles calculations as well as by using the Kubo formula with Wannier interpolations. We find out that monolayer Janus MoSSe possesses considerable spin Hall conductivities both in conduction and valence bands. In valence bands, the spin Hall conductivity of Janus MoSSe is comparable to that in MoS₂ and MoSe₂. Moreover, in the conduction bands, the spin Hall conductivities are enhanced up to two orders of magnitude because of strong Rashba SOC. The spin Hall conductivity can be tuned significantly by adjusting the Fermi level or external strains. Our results show that monolayer Janus MoSSe could be a potential candidate to realize two-dimensional flexible spintronics devices.