Experimental evidence of monolayer arsenene: an exotic 2D semiconducting material

Group V element analogues of graphene have attracted a lot of attention recently due to their semiconducting band structures and several other interesting properties predicted by theoretical investigations in the literature. In this study, we present atomic and electronic structure data of an arsenic (As) layer on Ag(1 1 1). Low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy data provide evidence for an ordered layer with a lattice constant of 3.6 angstrom. This value fits with the theoretical range of 3.54-3.64 degrees for buckled arsenene, which is the structure consistently predicted by various theoretical studies. The electronic structure obtained by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy shows the existence of three 2D electron bands within 4 eV below the Fermi level. The number of bands and the agreement between experimental band dispersions and the theoretical band structure provide further evidence for the formation of monolayer buckled arsenene on Ag(1 1 1).