ABSTRACT
Silicene, the silicon analogue and the bigger cousin of graphene, has recently attracted significant attention because of its one-atom-thick honeycomb structure and unique physical and chemical properties. The unique structural characteristics distinguished from graphene enhance the chemical reactivity on the silicene surface and allow tunable electronic states by chemical functionalization. Experimentally observable quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) and quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) were also predicted in silicene. A submonolayer deposition of silicon on Ag under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions at room temperature leads to the formation of silicene NRs. One of the key challenges for silicene applications is the fabrication of silicene on nonmetallic substrates, which could retain its intrinsic properties and avoid the strongly coupling effect between silicene and the metal substrate. Silicene is considered as a feasible 2D nanomaterial beyond graphene because of its better compatibility with ubiquitous silicon semiconductor technology.
