Abstract
Obtaining a freestanding 2D graphene flake is relatively easy because it has a naturally occurring 3D layered parent material, graphite, made up of graphene layers weakly bound to each other by van der Waals interaction. In fact, graphite is energetically more favorable than diamond (one the most stable and hard materials on Earth) that is the sp 3 hybridized allotrope of carbon. To prepare freestanding graphene, it is enough to come up with a smart procedure for isolating the weakly bound layers of graphite. The same is also true for other layered materials like hexagonal boron nitride, black phosphorus, metal dichalcogenides and oxides. Silicene, on the other hand, doesn’t have a naturally occurring 3D parent material since silicon atoms prefer sp 3 hybridization over sp 2 hybridization. This makes the synthesis of freestanding silicene very hard, if not impossible. However, it is possible to epitaxially grow silicene on metal substrates and make use of its intrinsic properties by transferring it to an insulating substrate (Tao et al. Nat Nanotechnol 10: 227–231, 2015). In this Chapter, we focus on intrinsic properties of freestanding silicene in the absence of the metallic substrate.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abersfelder, K., White, A.J.P., Rzepa, H.S., Scheschkewitz, D.: A tricyclic aromatic isomer of hexasilabenzene. Science 327, 564–566 (2010)
Allen, P.B., Berlijn, T., Casavant, D.A., Soler, J.M.: Recovering hidden Bloch character: unfolding electrons, phonons, and slabs. Phys. Rev. B 87, 085322 (2013)
An, R.L., Wang, X.F., Vasilopoulos, P., Liu, Y.S., Chen, A.B., Dong, Y.J., Zhai, M.X.: Vacancy effects on electric and thermoelectric properties of zigzag silicene nanoribbons. J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 21339–21346 (2014)
Barton, T.J., Burns, G.T.: Unambiguous generation and trapping of a silabenzene. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 100, 5246–5246 (1978)
Bianco, E., Butler, S., Jiang, S., Restrepo, O.D., Windl, W., Goldberger, J.E.: Stability and exfoliation of germanane: a germanium graphane analogue. ACS Nano 7, 4414–4421 (2013)
Blöchl, P.E.: Projector augmented-wave method. Phys. Rev. B 50, 17953–17979 (1994)
Brumfiel, G.: Sticky problem snares wonder material. Nature 495, 152–153 (2013)
Cahangirov, S., Topsakal, M., Aktürk, E., Şahin, H., Ciraci, S.: Two- and one-dimensional honeycomb structures of silicon and germanium. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 236804 (2009)
Cahangirov, S., Topsakal, M., Ciraci, S.: Armchair nanoribbons of silicon and germanium honeycomb structures. Phys. Rev. B 81, 195120 (2010)
Cahangirov, S., Özçelik, V.O., Xian, L., Avila, J., Cho, S., Asensio, M.C., Ciraci, S., Rubio, A.: Atomic structure of the \(\sqrt{3}\phantom{ \times }\sqrt{3}\) phase of silicene on Ag(111). Phys. Rev. B 90, 035448 (2014)
Chen, L., Liu, C.C., Feng, B., He, X., Cheng, P., Ding, Z., Meng, S., Yao, Y., Wu, K.: Evidence for Dirac fermions in a honeycomb lattice based on silicon. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 056804 (2012)
Cudazzo, P., Attaccalite, C., Tokatly, I.V., Rubio, A.: Strong charge-transfer excitonic effects and the Bose-Einstein exciton condensate in graphane. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 226804 (2010)
Drummond, N.D., Zólyomi, V., Fal’ko, V.I.: Electrically tunable band gap in silicene. Phys. Rev. B 85, 075423 (2012)
Du, Y., Zhuang, J., Liu, H., Xu, X., Eilers, S., Wu, K., Cheng, P., Zhao, J., Pi, X., See, K.W., Peleckis, G., Wang, X., Dou, S.X.: Tuning the band gap in silicene by oxidation. ACS Nano 8, 10019–10025 (2014)
Elias, D.C., Nair, R.R., Mohiuddin, T.M.G., Morozov, S.V., Blake, P., Halsall, M.P., Ferrari, A.C., Boukhvalov, D.W., Katsnelson, M.I., Geim, A.K., Novoselov, K.S.: Control of graphene’s properties by reversible hydrogenation: evidence for graphane. Science 323, 610–613 (2009)
Ezawa, M.: Valley-polarized metals and quantum anomalous Hall effect in silicene. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 055502 (2012)
Feng, B., Ding, Z., Meng, S., Yao, Y., He, X., Cheng, P., Chen, L., Wu, K.: Evidence of silicene in honeycomb structures of silicon on Ag(111). Nano Lett. 12, 3507–3511 (2012)
Guzmán-Verri, G.G., Lew Yan Voon, L.C.: Electronic structure of silicon-based nanostructures. Phys. Rev. B 76, 075131 (2007)
Han, M.Y., Özyilmaz, B., Zhang, Y., Kim, P.: Energy band-gap engineering of graphene nanoribbons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 206805 (2007)
Hoffmann, R.: Small but strong lessons from chemistry for nanoscience. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 93–103 (2013)
Houssa, M., Scalise, E., Sankaran, K., Pourtois, G., Afanas’ev, V.V., Stesmans, A.: Electronic properties of hydrogenated silicene and germanene. Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 223107 (2011)
Hu, M., Zhang, X., Poulikakos, D.: Anomalous thermal response of silicene to uniaxial stretching. Phys. Rev. B 87, 195417 (2013)
Huang, B., Deng, H.X., Lee, H., Yoon, M., Sumpter, B.G., Liu, F., Smith, S.C., Wei, S.H.: Exceptional optoelectronic properties of hydrogenated bilayer silicene. Phys. Rev. X 4, 021029 (2014)
Jahn, H.A., Teller, E.: Stability of polyatomic molecules in degenerate electronic states. I. orbital degeneracy. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 161, 220–235 (1937)
Kaltsas, D., Tsetseris, L.: Stability and electronic properties of ultrathin films of silicon and germanium. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 15, 9710–9715 (2013)
Kresse, G., Joubert, D.: From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method. Phys. Rev. B 59, 1758–1775 (1999)
Krüger, P., Pollmann, J.: Dimer reconstruction of diamond, Si, and Ge (001) surfaces. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1155–1158 (1995)
Lander, J.J., Gobeli, G.W., Morrison, J.: Structural properties of cleaved silicon and germanium surfaces. J. Appl. Phys. 34 (1963)
Lew Yan Voon, L.C., Sandberg, E., Aga, R.S., Farajian, A.A.: Hydrogen compounds of group-iv nanosheets. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 163114 (2010)
Li, B., Zhou, L., Wu, D., Peng, H., Yan, K., Zhou, Y., Liu, Z.: Photochemical chlorination of graphene. ACS Nano 5, 5957–5961 (2011)
Liu, C.C., Feng, W., Yao, Y.: Quantum spin Hall effect in silicene and two-dimensional germanium. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 076802 (2011)
Liu, B., Baimova, J.A., Reddy, C.D., Law, A.W.K., Dmitriev, S.V., Wu, H., Zhou, K.: Interfacial thermal conductance of a silicene/graphene bilayer heterostructure and the effect of hydrogenation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 6, 18180–18188 (2014)
Meyer, J.C., Geim, A.K., Katsnelson, M.I., Novoselov, K.S., Booth, T.J., Roth, S.: The structure of suspended graphene sheets. Nature 446, 60–63 (2007)
Morishita, T., Spencer, M.J.S.: How silicene on Ag(111) oxidizes: microscopic mechanism of the reaction of O2 with silicene. Sci. Rep. 5, 17570 (2015)
Nair, R.R., Ren, W., Jalil, R., Riaz, I., Kravets, V.G., Britnell, L., Blake, P., Schedin, F., Mayorov, A.S., Yuan, S., Katsnelson, M.I., Cheng, H.M., Strupinski, W., Bulusheva, L.G., Okotrub, A.V., Grigorieva, I.V., Grigorenko, A.N., Novoselov, K.S., Geim, A.K.: Fluorographene: a two-dimensional counterpart of teflon. Small 6, 2877–2884 (2010)
Novoselov, K.S., Geim, A.K., Morozov, S.V., Jiang, D., Katsnelson, M.I., Grigorieva, I.V., Dubonos, S.V., Firsov, A.A.: Two-dimensional gas of massless Dirac fermions in graphene. Nature 438, 197–200 (2005)
Özçelik, V.O., Ciraci, S.: Local reconstructions of silicene induced by adatoms. J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 26305–26315 (2013)
Özçelik, V.O., Gurel, H.H., Ciraci, S.: Self-healing of vacancy defects in single-layer graphene and silicene. Phys. Rev. B 88, 045440 (2013)
Özçelik, V.O., Cahangirov, S., Ciraci, S.: Stable single-layer honeycomblike structure of silica. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 246803 (2014)
Pandey, K.C.: New π-bonded chain model for si(111)-(2×1) surface. Phys. Rev. Lett. 47, 1913–1917 (1981)
Perdew, J.P., Burke, K., Ernzerhof, M.: Generalized gradient approximation made simple. Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3865–3868 (1996)
Phillips, J.: Excitonic instabilities, vacancies, and reconstruction of covalent surfaces. Surf. Sci. 40, 459–469 (1973)
Poppendieck, T.D., Ngoc, T.C., Webb, M.B.: An electron diffraction study of the structure of silicon (100). Surf. Sci. 75, 287–315 (1978)
Qiu, J., Fu, H., Xu, Y., Oreshkin, A.I., Shao, T., Li, H., Meng, S., Chen, L., Wu, K.: Ordered and reversible hydrogenation of silicene. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 126101 (2015)
Sahin, H., Peeters, F.M.: Adsorption of alkali, alkaline-earth, and 3d transition metal atoms on silicene. Phys. Rev. B 87, 085423 (2013)
Sahin, H., Sivek, J., Li, S., Partoens, B., Peeters, F.M.: Stone-Wales defects in silicene: Formation, stability, and reactivity of defect sites. Phys. Rev. B 88, 045434 (2013)
Sahin, H., Leenaerts, O., Singh, S.K., Peeters, F.M.: Graphane. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Comput. Mol. Sci. 5, 255–272 (2015)
Schlier, R.E., Farnsworth, H.E.: Structure and adsorption characteristics of clean surfaces of germanium and silicon. J. Chem. Phys. 30, 917 (1959)
Si, C., Liu, J., Xu, Y., Wu, J., Gu, B.L., Duan, W.: Functionalized germanene as a prototype of large-gap two-dimensional topological insulators. Phys. Rev. B 89, 115429 (2014)
Sivek, J., Sahin, H., Partoens, B., Peeters, F.M.: Adsorption and absorption of boron, nitrogen, aluminum, and phosphorus on silicene: Stability and electronic and phonon properties. Phys. Rev. B 87, 085444 (2013)
Sofo, J.O., Chaudhari, A.S., Barber, G.D.: Graphane: a two-dimensional hydrocarbon. Phys. Rev. B 75, 153401 (2007)
Son, Y.W., Cohen, M.L., Louie, S.G.: Energy gaps in graphene nanoribbons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 216803 (2006a)
Son, Y.W., Cohen, M.L., Louie, S.G.: Half-metallic graphene nanoribbons. Nature 444, 347–349 (2006b)
Takayanagi, K., Tanishiro, Y., Takahashi, S., Takahashi, M.: Structure analysis of Si(111)-7×7 reconstructed surface by transmission electron diffraction. Surf. Sci. 164, 367–392 (1985)
Takeda, K., Shiraishi, K.: Theoretical possibility of stage corrugation in Si and Ge analogs of graphite. Phys. Rev. B 50, 14916–14922 (1994)
Tao, L., Cinquanta, E., Chiappe, D., Grazianetti, C., Fanciulli, M., Dubey, M., Molle, A., Akinwande, D.: Silicene field-effect transistors operating at room temperature. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 227–231 (2015)
Vogt, P., Capiod, P., Berthe, M., Resta, A., De Padova, P., Bruhn, T., Le Lay, G., Grandidier, B.: Synthesis and electrical conductivity of multilayer silicene. Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 021602 (2014)
Wang, R., Pi, X., Ni, Z., Liu, Y., Lin, S., Xu, M., Yang, D.: Silicene oxides: formation, structures and electronic properties. Sci. Rep. 3 (2013)
Wang, X., Liu, H., Tu, S.T.: First-principles study of half-fluorinated silicene sheets. RSC Adv. 5, 6238–6245 (2015)
Wei, W., Jacob, T.: Strong many-body effects in silicene-based structures. Phys. Rev. B 88, 045203 (2013)
Wierzbicki, M., Barnaś, J., Swirkowicz, R.: Thermoelectric properties of silicene in the topological- and band-insulator states. Phys. Rev. B 91, 165417 (2015)
Xu, X., Zhuang, J., Du, Y., Feng, H., Zhang, N., Liu, C., Lei, T., Wang, J., Spencer, M., Morishita, T., Wang, X., Dou, S.X.: Effects of oxygen adsorption on the surface state of epitaxial silicene on Ag(111). Sci. Rep. 4, 7543 (2014)
Yang, K., Cahangirov, S., Cantarero, A., Rubio, A., D’Agosta, R.: Thermoelectric properties of atomically thin silicene and germanene nanostructures. Phys. Rev. B 89, 125403 (2014)
Zberecki, K., Wierzbicki, M., Barnaś, J., Swirkowicz, R.: Thermoelectric effects in silicene nanoribbons. Phys. Rev. B 88, 115404 (2013)
Zberecki, K., Swirkowicz, R., Barnaś, J.: Spin effects in thermoelectric properties of Al- and P-doped zigzag silicene nanoribbons. Phys. Rev. B 89, 165419 (2014a)
Zberecki, K., Swirkowicz, R., Wierzbicki, M., Barnas, J.: Enhanced thermoelectric efficiency in ferromagnetic silicene nanoribbons terminated with hydrogen atoms. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 12900–12908 (2014b)
Zhang, C.W., Yan, S.S.: First-principles study of ferromagnetism in two-dimensional silicene with hydrogenation. J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 4163–4166 (2012)
Zhang, R.Q., Chu, T.S., Cheung, H.F., Wang, N., Lee, S.T.: High reactivity of silicon suboxide clusters. Phys. Rev. B 64, 113304 (2001)
Zhang, P., Li, X., Hu, C., Wu, S., Zhu, Z.: First-principles studies of the hydrogenation effects in silicene sheets. Phys. Lett. A 376, 1230–1233 (2012)
Zheng, F.B., Zhang, C.W., Yan, S.S., Li, F.: Novel electronic and magnetic properties in N or B doped silicene nanoribbons. J. Mater. Chem. C 1, 2735–2743 (2013)
Zhang, W.B., Song, Z.B., Dou, L.M.: The tunable electronic structure and mechanical properties of halogenated silicene: a first-principles study. J. Mater. Chem. C 3, 3087–3094 (2015)
Zólyomi, V.Z., Wallbank, J.R., Fal’ko, V.I.: Silicane and germanane: tight-binding and first-principles studies. 2D Materials 1, 011005 (2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cahangirov, S., Sahin, H., Le Lay, G., Rubio, A. (2017). Freestanding Silicene. In: Introduction to the Physics of Silicene and other 2D Materials. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 930. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46572-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46572-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46570-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46572-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)