Realization of large-area ultraflat chiral blue phosphorene.

Blue phosphorene (BlueP), a theoretically proposed phosphorous allotrope with buckled honeycomb lattice, has attracted considerable interest due to its intriguing properties. Introducing chirality into BlueP can further enrich its physical and chemical properties, expanding its potential for applications. However, the synthesis of chiral BlueP remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate the growth of large-area BlueP films on Cu(111), with lateral size limited by the wafer dimensions. Importantly, we discovered that the BlueP is characterized by an ultraflat honeycomb lattice, rather than the prevailing buckled structure, and develops highly ordered spatial chirality plausibly resulting from the rotational stacking with the substrate and interface strain release, as further confirmed by the geometric phase analysis. Moreover, spectroscopic measurements reveal its intrinsic metallic nature and different characteristic quantum oscillations in the image-potential states, which can be exploited for a range of potential applications including polarization optics, spintronics, and chiral catalysis.

Van der Waals Heteroepitaxial Growth of Monolayer Sb in a Puckered Honeycomb Structure.

Atomically thin 2D crystals have gained tremendous attention owing to their potential impact on future electronics technologies, as well as the exotic phenomena emerging in these materials. Monolayers of α-phase Sb (α-antimonene), which shares the same puckered structure as black phosphorous, are predicted to be stable with precious properties. However, the experimental realization still remains challenging. Here, high-quality monolayerα-antimonene is successfully grown, with the thickness finely controlled. The α-antimonene exhibits great stability upon exposure to air. Combining scanning tunneling microscopy, density functional theory calculations, and transport measurements, 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 α-antimonene promising for future electronic applications.

Observation of Coulomb gap in the quantum spin Hall candidate single-layer 1T'-WTe2.

The two-dimensional topological insulators host a full gap in the bulk band, induced by spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect, together with the topologically protected gapless edge states. However, it is usually challenging to suppress the bulk conductance and thus to realize the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect. In this study, we find a mechanism to effectively suppress the bulk conductance. By using the quasiparticle interference technique with scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the QSH candidate single-layer 1T'-WTe2 has a semimetal bulk band structure with no full SOC-induced gap. Surprisingly, in this two-dimensional system, we find the electron-electron interactions open a Coulomb gap which is always pinned at the Fermi energy (EF). The opening of the Coulomb gap can efficiently diminish the bulk state at the EF and supports the observation of the quantized conduction of topological edge states.

Unveiling the charge density wave inhomogeneity and pseudogap state in 1T-TiSe2.

By using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)/spectroscopy (STS), we systematically characterize the electronic structure of lightly doped 1T-TiSe2, and demonstrate the existence of the electronic inhomogeneity and the pseudogap state. It is found that the intercalation induced lattice distortion impacts the local band structure and reduce the size of the charge density wave (CDW) gap with the persisted 2 × 2 spatial modulation. On the other hand, the delocalized doping electrons promote the formation of pseudogap. Domination by either of the two effects results in the separation of two characteristic regions in real space, exhibiting rather different electronic structures. Further doping electrons to the surface confirms that the pseudogap may be the precursor for the superconducting gap. This study suggests that the competition of local lattice distortion and the delocalized doping effect contribute to the complicated relationship between charge density wave and superconductivity for intercalated 1T-TiSe2.

Identification of Lattice Oxygen in Few-Layer Black Phosphorous Exfoliated in Ultrahigh Vacuum and Largely Improved Ambipolar Field-Effect Mobilities by Hydrogenation and Phosphorization.

Black phosphorus (BP) has recently attracted considerable attention due to its unique structure and fascinating optical and electronic properties as well as possible applications in photothermal agents. However, its main drawback is rapid degradation in ambient environments of H2O and O2, which has led to much research on the improvement of its stability. Unfortunately, this research has not shown great improvement in carrier mobilities. Here, we perform scanning tunneling microscopy observations of few-layer BP (FLBP) sheets exfoliated in ultrahigh vacuum and reveal, for the first time, the existence of lattice oxygen introduced during crystal growth. As a proof-of-concept application, hydrogenation is conducted to remove the lattice oxygen atoms followed by phosphorization, which repairs the phosphorous vacancies caused by mechanical exfoliation and hydrogenation. The resulting FLBP sheets show high ambipolar field-effect mobilities of 1374 cm2 V-1 s-1 for holes and 607 cm2 V-1 s-1 for electrons at 2 K. After storage in air for 3 days, the hole and electron mobilities only decrease to 1181 and 518 cm2 V-1 s-1, respectively, and no structural degradation is observed. This work suggests an effective means to improve both the mobility and stability of BP sheets rendering practical application of FLBP sheets possible.