Solid argon as a possible substrate for quasi-freestanding silicene

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of solid argon as a substrate for silicene, showing weak interaction allows quasi-freestanding silicene with a small band gap and spin-orbit effects, suggesting easy separation.

Contribution

It introduces solid argon as a novel substrate for silicene and demonstrates its weak interaction enabling quasi-freestanding silicene with specific electronic properties.

Findings

Weak interaction with solid Ar(111) substrate.

Small binding energy of -32 meV per Si atom.

Observed band gap of 11 meV and spin-orbit splitting.

Abstract

We study the structural and electronic properties of silicene on solid Ar(111) substrate using ab-initio calculations. We demonstrate that due to weak interaction quasi-freestanding silicene is realized in this system. The small binding energy of only $-32$ meV per Si atom also indicates the possibility to separate silicene from the solid Ar(111) substrate. In addition, a band gap of $11$ meV and a significant splitting of the energy levels due to spin-orbit coupling are observed.