Proposing a new family of piezoelectric quantum spin Hall insulators (PQSHIs), which has the biggest topological band gap so far and large in-plane piezoelectrical coefficients.

Multifunctional two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials play an increasingly dominant role in academic researches and practical applications. In this work, the coexistence of the piezoelectricity and intrinsic quantum-spin Hall (QSH) effect is predicted in MTeS (M = Ga and In) monolayers (d 11 = 3.988 pm V–1 for GaTeS and 8.687 pm V–1 for InTeS). When the Janus structure InGaTe2S2 is designed, the in-plane piezoelectric coefficient d 11 is enhanced to 10.512 pm V–1, with QSH state remaining. Meanwhile, an intriguing vertical piezoelectric polarization appears, which is attributed to breaking of the reflection symmetry. Moreover, their topological phases are robust and can exist in a wide range of uniaxial strains. In brief, coupling of the topology and piezoelectricity in MTeS (M = Ga and In) monolayers is promising to produce potential applications in piezoelectric quantum and nano spintronic devices.

Correction for ‘Realization of a piezoelectric quantum spin Hall phase with a large band gap in MBiH (M = Ga and In) monolayers’ by Y. H. Wang et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 25683–25691, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2TA04206A.

PbGe(CN)2 and PbGe(C2H)2 (PQSHI) are predicted to realize the piezoelectricity, quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator, and Rashba effects simultaneously.