Issue 40, 2019

Serendipity of a topological nontrivial band gap in the 2D borophene subunit lattice with broken mirror symmetry

Abstract

The exotic electronic band structures featured by Dirac cones and topological phases in two-dimensional (2D) materials are regarded as the holy grail of the next-generation electronic devices. Here we propose a 2D tungsten boride (WB4) lattice to concurrently host these interesting properties. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that in the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the mirror symmetry protects the WB4 lattice to spawn multiple Dirac bands around the Fermi level with high velocities. However, the broken mirror symmetry induces one cone to be opened with a small band gap, and gives rise to a nontrivially topological phase characterized by the non-zero Z2 topological invariant. Interestingly, topologically nontrivial states of the lattice without mirror symmetry are robust within external biaxial tension, which is confirmed from the appearance of gapless edge states in their nanoribbon structure. Our results provide a versatile platform for hosting nontrivial topological states usable for important nanoelectronic device applications.

Graphical abstract: Serendipity of a topological nontrivial band gap in the 2D borophene subunit lattice with broken mirror symmetry

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Apr 2019
Accepted
16 Sep 2019
First published
28 Sep 2019

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019,21, 22526-22530

Serendipity of a topological nontrivial band gap in the 2D borophene subunit lattice with broken mirror symmetry

A. Wang, L. Shen, M. Zhao, X. Zhang, T. He, W. Li, Y. Feng and H. Liu, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 22526 DOI: 10.1039/C9CP01931F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements