DOI

  • Conor Hogan
  • Kris Holtgrewe
  • Fabio Ronci
  • Stefano Colonna
  • Simone Sanna
  • Paolo Moras
  • Polina M. Sheverdyaeva
  • Sanjoy Mahatha
  • Marco Papagno
  • Ziya S. Aliev
  • Mahammad Babanly
  • Evgeni V. Chulkov
  • Carlo Carbone
  • Roberto Flammini

We report the discovery of a temperature-induced phase transition between the α and β structures of antimonene. When antimony is deposited at room temperature on bismuth selenide, it forms domains of α-antimonene having different orientations with respect to the substrate. During a mild annealing, the β phase grows and prevails over the α phase, eventually forming a single domain that perfectly matches the surface lattice structure of bismuth selenide. First-principles thermodynamics calculations of this van der Waals heterostructure explain the different temperature-dependent stability of the two phases and reveal a minimum energy transition path. Although the formation energies of freestanding α- and β-antimonene only slightly differ, the β phase is ultimately favored in the annealed heterostructure due to an increased interaction with the substrate mediated by the perfect lattice match.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10481-10489
Number of pages9
JournalACS Nano
Volume13
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2019

    Research areas

  • 2D materials, antimonene, bismuth selenide, first-principles thermodynamics, moiré pattern, scanning tunneling microscopy, van der Waals epitaxy, moire pattern, ARSENENE, RANGE

    Scopus subject areas

  • Engineering(all)
  • Physics and Astronomy(all)
  • Materials Science(all)

ID: 49495891