Origin of band gaps in graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
arXiv:1403.0496 · doi:10.1038/ncomms7308
Abstract
Recent progress in preparing well controlled 2D van der Waals heterojunctions has opened up a new frontier in materials physics. In this paper we address the intriguing energy gaps that are sometimes observed when a graphene sheet is placed on a hexagonal boron nitride substrate, demonstrating that they are produced by an interesting interplay between structural and electronic properties, including electronic many-body exchange interactions. Our theory is able to explain the observed gap behavior by accounting first for the structural relaxation of graphene's carbon atoms when placed on a boron nitride substrate and then for the influence of the substrate on low-energy -electrons located at relaxed carbon atom sites. The methods we employ can be applied to many other van der Waals heterojunctions.
16 pages 15 figures. This version corrects minor numerical errors
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- Observation of an intrinsic bandgap and Landau level renormalization in graphene/boron-nitride heterostructures
- All-optical band engineering of gapped Dirac materials
- Moiré band model and band gaps of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
- Moiré pattern interlayer potentials in van der Waals materials from random-phase approximation calculations
- Transport and particle-hole asymmetry in graphene on boron nitride
- Stacking in incommensurate graphene/hexagonal-boron-nitride heterostructures based on ab initio study of interlayer interaction
- Midgap states and band gap modification in defective graphene/h-BN heterostructures
- Valley Order and Loop Currents in Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride
- Fractional Hofstadter States in Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride
- Interlayer Transport through a Graphene / Rotated-Boron-Nitride / Graphene Heterostructure
- Interaction-induced metallic state in graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
- Moiré Assisted Fractional Quantum Hall State Spectroscopy