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Direct evidence of two-dimensional electron gas-like band structures in hafnene

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb-like materials have been widely studied due to their fascinating properties. In particular, 2D honeycomb-like transition metal monolayers, which are good 2D ferromagnet candidates, have attracted intense research interest. The honeycomb-like structure of hafnium, hafnene, has been successfully fabricated on the Ir(111) substrate. However, its electronic structure has not yet been directly elucidated. Here, we report the electronic structure of hafnene grown on the Ir(111) substrate using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our results indicate that the presence of spin-orbit coupling and Hubbard interaction suppresses the earlier predicted Dirac cones at the K points of the Brillouin zone. The observed band structure of hafnene near the Fermi level is very simple: an electron pocket centered at the Γ point of the Brillouin zone. This electron pocket shows typical parabolic dispersion, and its estimated electron effective mass and electron density are approximately 1.8 me and 7 × 1014 cm−2, respectively. Our results demonstrate the existence of 2D electron gas in hafnene grown on the Ir(111) substrate and therefore provide key information for potential hafnene-based device applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Nos. 2017YFA0303600 and 2020YFA0308800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11974364, 11674367, U2032207, 92163206, 11974045, and 61725107), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang, China (No. LZ18A040002), and the Ningbo Science and Technology Bureau (No. 2018B10060). S. L. H. would like also to acknowledge the Ningbo 3315 program.

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  1. Shaozhu Xiao, Meng Liu, and Linfei Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, China

    Shaozhu Xiao & Shaolong He

  2. MIIT Key Laboratory for Low-Dimensional Quantum Structure and Devices, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Meng Liu, Jiatao Sun & Yeliang Wang

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60607, USA

    Linfei Li

  4. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Shaolong He

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  1. Shaozhu Xiao
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  2. Meng Liu
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  3. Linfei Li
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  4. Jiatao Sun
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  5. Yeliang Wang
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Correspondence to Jiatao Sun, Yeliang Wang or Shaolong He.

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Xiao, S., Liu, M., Li, L. et al. Direct evidence of two-dimensional electron gas-like band structures in hafnene. Nano Res. 15, 3770–3774 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3920-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3920-z

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