Stabilizing an atomically thin quantum spin Hall insulator at ambient conditions: Graphene-intercalation of indenene
arXiv:2305.07807 · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45816-9
Abstract
Atomic monolayers on semiconductor surfaces represent a new class of functional quantum materials at the ultimate two-dimensional limit, ranging from superconductors [1, 2] to Mott insulators [3, 4] and ferroelectrics [5] to quantum spin Hall insulators (QSHI) [6, 7]. A case in point is the recently discovered QSHI indenene [7, 8], a triangular monolayer of indium epitaxially grown on SiC(0001), exhibiting a 120meV gap and substrate-matched monodomain growth on the technologically relevant m scale [9]. Its suitability for room-temperature spintronics is countered, however, by the instability of pristine indenene in air, which destroys the system along with its topological character, nullifying hopes of ex-situ processing and device fabrication. Here we show how indenene intercalation into epitaxial graphene offers effective protection from the oxidizing environment, while it leaves the topological character fully intact. This opens an unprecedented realm of ex-situ experimental opportunities, bringing this monolayer QSHI within realistic reach of actual device fabrication and edge channel transport.
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- 2024 roadmap on 2D topological insulators
- Stabilizing an atomically thin quantum spin Hall insulator at ambient conditions: Graphene-intercalation of indenene
- Intercalated structures formed by platinum on epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)
- Reversible Switching of the Environment-Protected Quantum Spin Hall Insulator Bismuthene at the Graphene/SiC Interface
- Pb-intercalated epitaxial graphene on SiC: Full insight into band structure and orbital character of interlayer Pb, and charge transfer into graphene
- Electronic correlations in epitaxial graphene: Mott states proximitized to a relativistic electron gas
- Novel structures of Gallenene intercalated in epitaxial Graphene
- Point defects and their dynamic behaviors in silver monolayer intercalated between graphene and SiC
- Mass-transport-limited reaction rates and molecular diffusion in the van der Waals gap beneath graphene