Van der Waals heteroepitaxial growth of monolayer Sb in puckered honeycomb structure

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful growth and characterization of high-quality monolayer { extalpha}-antimonene with puckered honeycomb structure, demonstrating its stability and promising electronic properties for future applications.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental realization of monolayer { extalpha}-antimonene via van der Waals heteroepitaxial growth, with detailed analysis of its stability and electronic properties.

Findings

Monolayer { extalpha}-antimonene can be grown with controlled thickness.

It exhibits high stability in air exposure.

Electronic measurements show linear dispersion near the Fermi level.

Abstract

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) crystals have gained tremendous attentions owing to their potential impacts to the future electronics technologies, as well as the exotic phenomena emerging in these materials. Monolayer of {\alpha} phase Sb ({\alpha}-antimonene) that shares the same puckered structure as black phosphorous, has been predicted to be stable with precious properties. However, the experimental realization still remains challenging. Here, we successfully grow high-quality monolayer {\alpha}-antimonene, with the thickness finely controlled. The {\alpha}-antimonene exhibits great stability upon exposure to air. Combining scanning tunneling microscope, density functional theory calculations and transport measurement, it is found that the electron band crossing the Fermi level exhibits a linear dispersion with a fairly small effective mass, and thus a good electrical conductivity. All of these properties make the {\alpha}-antimonene promising in the future electronic applications.