Synthesis of Van der Waals stretched antimonene via remote epitaxy

Abstract

Two-dimensional antimonene with a honeycomb structure has attracted significant attention in recent years due to its novel properties and tunable electronic structure as varying applied in-plane strain. Yet, applying epitaxially strained antimonene is greatly limited by the strong coupling with the metal substrates. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of the van der Waals stretched antimonene on graphene/Cu(111) substrate via remote epitaxy. It is found that, as corroborated by atomic force microscopy and reflection high-energy electron diffraction, the lattice of the antimonene can be remotely stretched by the underlying Cu(111). The graphene layer prevents antimonene from forming the surface alloy with Cu(111), which is also confirmed by Raman spectroscopy results. Our study not only provides a way to regulate the lattice of the epitaxial layers remotely but also provides a new idea for developing new potential topological materials.