Journal
ACS NANO
Volume 10, Issue 12, Pages 11163-11171Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b06198
Keywords
silicene; 2D nanomaterials; scanning tunneling microscopy; density functional theory; ab initio molecular dynamics simulations; electronic density of states measurement and calculations; silicon growth
Categories
Funding
- European Community [CoExAN GA644076]
- HPC center IDRIS [i2014-090642]
- Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development
- French government
- French embassy in Korea
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The extraordinary properties of graphene have spurred huge interest in the experimental realization of a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of silicon, namely, silicene. However, its synthesis on supporting substrates remains a challenging issue. Recently, strong doubts against the possibility of synthesizing silicene on metallic substrates have been brought forward because of the non -negligible interaction between silicon and metal atoms. To solve the growth problems, we directly deposited silicon on a chemically inert graphite substrate at room temperature. Based on atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we reveal the growth of silicon nanosheets where the substrate silicon interaction is minimized. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements clearly display the atomically resolved unit cell and the small buckling of the silicene honeycomb structure. Similar to the carbon atoms in graphene, each of the silicon atoms has three nearest and six second nearest neighbors, thus demonstrating its dominant sp(2) configuration. Our scanning tunneling spectroscopy investigations confirm the metallic character of the deposited silicene, in excellent agreement with our band structure calculations that also exhibit the presence of a Dirac cone.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available