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Is silicene the next graphene?

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Abstract

This article reviews silicene, a relatively new allotrope of silicon, which can also be viewed as the silicon version of graphene. Graphene is a two-dimensional material with unique electronic properties qualitatively different from those of standard semiconductors such as silicon. While many other two-dimensional materials are now being studied, our focus here is solely on silicene. We first discuss its synthesis and the challenges presented. Next, a survey of some of its physical properties is provided. Silicene shares many of the fascinating properties of graphene, such as the so-called Dirac electronic dispersion. The slightly different structure, however, leads to a few major differences compared to graphene, such as the ability to open a bandgap in the presence of an electric field or on a substrate, a key property for digital electronics applications. We conclude with a brief survey of some of the potential applications of silicene.

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Acknowledgments

Our early research on silicene was partially funded by the National Science Foundation. Writing of this article was facilitated by funds from The Citadel Foundation, the Traubert Endowed Funds, and the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Mathematics, The Citadel, USA

    L. C. Lew Yan Voon

  2. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, USA

    G. G. Guzmán-Verri

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  1. L. C. Lew Yan Voon
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Correspondence to L. C. Lew Yan Voon.

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Yan Voon, L.C.L., Guzmán-Verri, G.G. Is silicene the next graphene?. MRS Bulletin 39, 366–373 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2014.60

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