Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Silicene Materials

Silicene, a monolayer of silicon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, exhibits a rich tapestry of electronic behaviours that bridge the characteristics of traditional semiconductors and emerging quantum materials. Its intrinsic buckling, arising from partial sp2–sp3 hybridisation, gives rise to a tunable band structure, allowing manipulation of bandgap through external perturbations such as strain, chemical functionalisation or substrate interaction. The presence of Dirac-like carriers with linear dispersion near the Fermi level, coupled with a pronounced spin–orbit coupling, enables topologically non-trivial electronic phases. Charge transport in silicene can be modulated by lattice distortion, interlayer stacking, heterostructure formation and selective doping, opening pathways for flexible electronics, spintronics and thermoelectric devices. Advances in epitaxial growth methods have further illuminated the interplay between substrate coupling and two-dimensional electron gas formation, emphasising the potential of silicene as a silicon-compatible platform for next-generation nanoelectronic applications.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated that decorating silicene with specific transition-metal atoms induces a robust quantum anomalous Hall effect, harnessing strong spin–orbit interactions to generate topologically protected edge states. The ability to invert band ordering electrically establishes silicene as a controllable topological insulator, promising for low-dissipation spintronic circuits. In parallel, work on bilayer silicene allotropes has revealed novel atomic arrangements with mixed ring structures, where interlayer bonding reduces unsaturated sites and opens an indirect bandgap of around 1 eV. These findings highlight the influence of structural transformation on electronic properties, offering design strategies for bandgap engineering in silicon-based two-dimensional materials.

Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Silicene Materials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in electronic properties of two-dimensional silicene materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Dirac fermions: Quasiparticles exhibiting linear energy–momentum dispersion, analogous to relativistic particles in graphene-like lattices.

Bandgap: Energy difference between the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum, determining semiconductor behaviour.

Spin–orbit coupling: Interaction of an electron’s spin with its orbital motion, leading to splitting of electronic bands.

Epitaxial growth: Ordered deposition of a crystalline layer on a substrate, critical for controlling two-dimensional lattice quality.

Buckling: Out-of-plane distortion of a two-dimensional lattice, altering hybridisation and electronic band structure.

Strain: Deformation imposed on a lattice, used to modulate electronic properties such as bandgap and carrier mobility.

References

1. Bendable Silicene Membranes. Advanced Materials (2023).
2. p-block doped semi-metallic xenes as highly selective and efficient transition-metal free single atom catalysts for electrochemical CO reduction. Journal of Materials Chemistry A (2024).
3. Emergent Dirac Fermions in Epitaxial Planar Silicene Heterostructure. Nano Letters (2024).
4. Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect and Tunable Topological States in 3d Transition Metals Doped Silicene. Scientific Reports (2013).
5. First-principles calculations of mechanical and electronic properties of silicene under strain. AIP Advances (2012).
6. Monolayer-to-bilayer transformation of silicenes and their structural analysis. Nature Communications (2016).