Strain-modulated Intercalated Phases of Pb Monolayer with Dual Periodicity in SiC(0001)-Graphene Interface

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Auteurs principaux: Wang, Lin-Lin, Chen, Shen, Kolmer, Marek, Han, Yong, Tringides, Michael C.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Wang, Lin-Lin
Chen, Shen
Kolmer, Marek
Han, Yong
Tringides, Michael C.
author_facet Wang, Lin-Lin
Chen, Shen
Kolmer, Marek
Han, Yong
Tringides, Michael C.
contents Intercalation of metal atoms at the SiC(0001)-graphene (Gr) interface can provide confined 2D metal layers with interesting properties. The intercalated Pb monolayer (ML) has shown the coexistence of the Gr(10x10)-moire and a stripe phase, which still lacks understanding. Using density functional theory calculation and thermal annealing with ab initio molecular dynamics, we have studied the formation energy of SiC(0001)/Pb/Gr for different coverages of intercalated Pb. Near the coverage of a Pb(111)-like ML mimicking the (10x10)-moire, we find a slightly more stable stripe structure, where one half of the structure has compressive strain with Pb occupying the Si-top sites and the other half has tensile strain with Pb off the Si-top sites. This stripe structure along the Gr zigzag direction has a periodicity of 2.3 nm across the [1-210] direction agreeing with the previous observations using scanning tunneling microscopy. Analysis with electron density difference and density of states show the tensile region has a more metallic character than the compressive region, while both are dominated by the charge transfer from the Pb ML to SiC(0001). The small energy difference between the stripe and Pb(111)-like structures means the two phases are almost degenerate and can coexist, which explains the experimental observations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_02886
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strain-modulated Intercalated Phases of Pb Monolayer with Dual Periodicity in SiC(0001)-Graphene Interface
Wang, Lin-Lin
Chen, Shen
Kolmer, Marek
Han, Yong
Tringides, Michael C.
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Intercalation of metal atoms at the SiC(0001)-graphene (Gr) interface can provide confined 2D metal layers with interesting properties. The intercalated Pb monolayer (ML) has shown the coexistence of the Gr(10x10)-moire and a stripe phase, which still lacks understanding. Using density functional theory calculation and thermal annealing with ab initio molecular dynamics, we have studied the formation energy of SiC(0001)/Pb/Gr for different coverages of intercalated Pb. Near the coverage of a Pb(111)-like ML mimicking the (10x10)-moire, we find a slightly more stable stripe structure, where one half of the structure has compressive strain with Pb occupying the Si-top sites and the other half has tensile strain with Pb off the Si-top sites. This stripe structure along the Gr zigzag direction has a periodicity of 2.3 nm across the [1-210] direction agreeing with the previous observations using scanning tunneling microscopy. Analysis with electron density difference and density of states show the tensile region has a more metallic character than the compressive region, while both are dominated by the charge transfer from the Pb ML to SiC(0001). The small energy difference between the stripe and Pb(111)-like structures means the two phases are almost degenerate and can coexist, which explains the experimental observations.
title Strain-modulated Intercalated Phases of Pb Monolayer with Dual Periodicity in SiC(0001)-Graphene Interface
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.02886