Issue 42, 2024

Gentle tension stabilizes atomically thin metallenes

Abstract

Metallenes are atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials lacking a layered structure in the bulk form. They can be stabilized by nanoscale constrictions like pores in 2D covalent templates, but the isotropic metallic bonding makes stabilization difficult. A few metallenes have been stabilized but comparison with theory predictions has not always been clear. Here, we use density-functional theory calculations to explore the energetics and dynamic stabilities of 45 metallenes at six lattices (honeycomb, square, hexagonal, and their buckled counterparts) and varying atomic densities. We found that of the 270 different crystalline lattices, 128 were dynamically stable at sporadic densities, mostly under tensile strain. At the energy minima, lattices were often dynamically unstable against amorphization and the breaking down of metallene planarity. Consequently, the results imply that crystalline metallenes should be seen through a novel paradigm: they should be considered not as membranes with fixed structures and lattice constants but as yielding membranes that can be stabilized better under tensile strain and low atomic density. Following this paradigm, we rank the most promising metallenes for 2D stability and hope that the paradigm will help develop new strategies to synthesize larger and more stable metallene samples for plasmonic, optical, and catalytic applications.

Graphical abstract: Gentle tension stabilizes atomically thin metallenes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
08 Aug 2024
Accepted
28 Sep 2024
First published
01 Oct 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 19649-19655

Gentle tension stabilizes atomically thin metallenes

K. R. Abidi and P. Koskinen, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 19649 DOI: 10.1039/D4NR03266G

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