Pseudo-spin model of argentophilicity in honeycomb bilayered materials

TL;DR

This paper develops a pseudo-spin model to describe argentophilic bonds in honeycomb bilayered materials, highlighting how external fields can tune their electronic properties, potentially enabling control over their conductive states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pseudo-spin framework for argentophilic interactions in bilayered materials, linking magnetic fields to electronic property modulation.

Findings

Pseudo-spin model captures argentophilic bonding behavior.

External fields can tune material's electronic phase.

Potential for controlling conductor-semiconductor-insulator transitions.

Abstract

We introduce a pseudo-spin model for the argentophilic bond expected in silver-based bilayered materials arising from a spontaneous pseudo-magnetic field interacting with pseudo-spins of two unconventional Ag ions, namely $\rm Ag^{2+}$ and $\rm Ag^{1-}$ electronically distinct from (albeit energetically degenerate to) the conventional $\rm Ag^{1+}$ cation typically observed in monolayered materials. This model suggests the possibility of tuning the dimensionality and hence the conductor-semiconductor-insulator properties of honeycomb bilayered materials by application of external fields, analogous to driving a superconducting or Coulomb blockade system to the normal regime by critical magnetic or electric fields respectively.