Molecules (Jun 2022)

Structure of χ<sub>3</sub>-Borophene Studied by Total-Reflection High-Energy Positron Diffraction (TRHEPD)

  • Yuki Tsujikawa,
  • Makoto Shoji,
  • Masashi Hamada,
  • Tomoya Takeda,
  • Izumi Mochizuki,
  • Toshio Hyodo,
  • Iwao Matsuda,
  • Akari Takayama

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27134219
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 13
p. 4219

Abstract

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We have investigated the structure of χ3-borophene on Ag(111), a monolayer material of boron atoms, via total-reflection high-energy positron diffraction (TRHEPD). By comparing the experimental rocking-curves with ones for several structures calculated by using dynamical diffraction theory, we confirmed that the χ3-borophene layer has a flat structure. The distance from the topmost layer of the metal crystal is 2.4 Å, which is consistent with results reported by X-ray standing wave-excited X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We also demonstrated that the in-plane structure of χ3-borophene is compatible with the theoretical predictions. These structural properties indicate that χ3-borophene belongs to a group of epitaxial monolayer sheets, such as graphene, which have weak interactions with the substrates.

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