Fig. 1. Schematic illustrations of structural models of germanenes grown on Al (111) along with the configuration of the Al (111) itself. Only two top layers of substrate are shown. Black rhombuses are periodic units used in calculations. Grey, blue, and green spheres represent Al atoms in substrate, Ge atoms in basal plane of the 2D sheet, and Ge atoms protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 1. Doping configurations of a single Al atom in 2D germanene models supported on Al (111) corresponding to (a) HL, (b) KL, (c) TRP-1T, (d) BHS-2T, (e) BHS-1H, (f) SRT19-3T, and (g) SRT7-1T structures. Grey, blue, green, and red spheres denote Al atoms in substrate, Ge atoms in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Ge atoms protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, and Al atoms doped in basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 2. Ground state configurations of two Al atoms doped in 2D germanenes supported on Al (111) corresponding to (a) HL, (b) KL, (c) TRP-1T, (d) BHS-2T, (e) SRT19-3T, and (f) SRT7-1T structures. Grey, blue, green, and red spheres denote Al atoms in substrate, Ge atoms in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Ge atoms protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, and Al atoms doped in basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 2. Plots of relative energy release ΔEeralloy, step wise formation energy Eswf, and the second-order finite difference of the total energy Δ2versus doping concentration, with solid green down triangle, empty blue square, empty red circle, and solid black square denoting the alloying of BHS-2T, TRP-1T, SRT7-1T, and SRT19-3T germanenes supported on Al (111), respectively.
Fig. 3. Alloy configurations with negative formation energy Eswf corresponding to (a) SRT19-3T, (b) SRT7-1T, (c) TRP-1T, and (d) BHS-2T germananes supported on Al (111). Number ratio of Al and Ge atoms in unit Al:Ge is also provided. Black rhombuses represent periodic units used in calculations, and grey, blue, purple, green, and red spheres denote Al atoms in substrate, Ge atoms in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Al atoms protruded upward in the 2D sheet, protruded Ge atoms in the 2D sheet, and Al atoms doped in the basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 3. Alloy configurations with positive formation energy Eswf corresponding to (a) SRT19-3T, (b) SRT7-1T, (c) TRP-1T, and (d) BHS-2T germananes supported on Al (111). The Al:Ge ratio of numbers of Al and Ge atoms in unit is also provided. The black rhombuses are the periodic units used in calculation. Grey, blue, green, and red sphere denote Al atom in substrate, Ge atom in the basal plane of the 2D sheet, Ge atom protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, and Al atoms doped in basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 4. STM images simulated at +1.3-V bias of pure germanenes TRP-1T, BHS-2T, SRT19-3T, and SRT7-1T and the corresponding stable alloy species Al3Ge5 TRP-2T, Al3Ge5 BHS-2T, Al9Ge9 SRT19-1T, and Al3Ge3 SRT7-1T supported on Al (111), with yellow rhombuses representing periodic units used in calculation.
Fig. 4. Alloy configurations with negative formation energy Eswf corresponding to (a) SRT7-(3 × 3)-9H, (b) TRP-1T, and (c) BHS-2T germananes supported on Al2Ge. Number ratio of Al and Ge atoms in unit Al:Ge is also provided. Black rhombuses represent the periodic units used in the calculations. The grey, blue, purple, green, and red spheres denote Al atoms in Al2Ge substrate, Ge atoms in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Al atoms protruded upward in the 2D sheet, protruded Ge atoms in the 2D sheet, and Al atoms doped in the basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 5. Schematic illustrations of structural models of germanenes grown on Al2Ge surface alloy along with the configuration of Al2Ge itself. Only two top layers of substrate are shown. Black rhombuses are periodic units used in calculation. Grey, blue, green, and yellow spheres are Al atom in substrate, Ge atom in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Ge atom protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, and Ge atoms doped in Al2Ge surface alloy, respectively.
Fig. 5. Isosurfaces at 0.015 e/Å3 for charge accumulation colored in cyan in the left panel and the charge depletion colored in orange in the right one indicating (a) HL, (b) KL, (c) BHS-1H, (d) BHS-2T, (e) TRP-1T, (f) SRT19-3T, and (g) SRT7-1T pure germanane structures supported on Al (111), respectively relatively stable alloy species (h) Al3Ge5 BHS-2T, (i) Al3Ge5 TRP-2T, (j) Al3Ge3 SRT7-1T, (k) SRT7-1T, and (k) Al9Ge9 SRT19-1T structures, respectively.
Fig. 6. Calculated PDOSs of Ge atom in Al9Ge45 SRT7-(3 × 3) sheet. The green line is for protruded Ge atom that can be seen in the simulated STM image, and grey line is for protruded Ge atom that could not be seen in the simulated STM image.
Fig. 6. Plots of relative energy release ΔEeralloy, step wise formation energy Eswf, and second order finite difference of total energy Δ2versus doping concentration, with empty yellow up triangle, solid green down triangle, empty blue square, and empty red circle denoting alloying of the BHS-1H, BHS-2T, TRP-1T, and SRT7-1T germanenes supported on Al2Ge, respectively.
Fig. 7. Alloy configurations with positive formation energy Eswf corresponding to (a) TRP-1T, (b) SRT7-(3×3)-9H, (c) BHS-2T, and (d) BHS-1H germananes supported on Al2Ge. The Al:Ge ratio between the numbers of Al and Ge atoms in the unit is also provided. Black rhombuses represent periodic units used in calculation. Grey, blue, green, yellow, and red sphere denote Al atom in substrate, Ge atom in basal plane of the 2D sheet, Ge atom protruded upward which can be seen in STM image of the 2D sheet, Ge atoms doped in the Al2Ge surface alloy, and Al atoms doped in basal plane of the 2D sheet, respectively.
Fig. 7. Isosurfaces at 0.015 e/Å3 for charge accumulation colored in cyan in the left panel and the charge depletion colored in orange in the right one indicating (a) HL, (b) KL, (c) BHS-1H, (d) BHS-2T, (e) TRP-1T, and (f) SRT7-(3 × 3)-9H pure germanane structures supported on Al2Ge, respectively relatively stable alloy species (g) Al4Ge4 BHS-1T, (h) Al3Ge5 TRP-2T, and (i) Al27Ge27 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9T structures, respectively.
Fig. 8. STM images simulating +1.3-V bias for Ge8 TRP-1T and its alloy sheet Al3Ge5 TRP-2T, Ge8 BHS-2T, and Al4Ge4 BHS-1T, Ge8 BHS-1H and Al2Ge6 BHS-1H, and Ge54 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9H, and Al27Ge27 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9T supported on Al2Ge. In image of Al27Ge27 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9T, red rhombus corresponds to the smallest repeated unit of the bright-spot pattern. The yellow rhombuses denote periodic units used in calculation.
Fig. 9. Isosurfaces at 0.015 e/Å3 for charge accumulation (cyan) in left panel and the charge depletion (orange) in right panel. Panels (a) and (b) are for pure germanane structure HL and stable Al3Ge5 BHS-2T supported on Al (111). Panels (c) and (d) are for pure germanene structure BHS-1H and the stable Al4Ge4 BHS-1T supported on Al2Ge surface alloy.
Structure | Al (111) | Al2Ge | Structure | Al (111) | Al2Ge |
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Ge6 HL | 114 | 101 | Ge8 BHS-2T | 92 | 85 | Ge27 KL | 107 | 92 | Al3Ge5 TRP-2T | 121 | 107 | Ge8 BHS-1H | 83 | 81 | Al3Ge5 BHS-2T | 104 | − | Ge8 TRP-1T | 99 | 9 | Al4Ge4 BHS-1T | − | − 101 | Ge6 SRT7-1T | 9 | − | Al3Ge3 SRT7-1T | 113 | − | Ge54 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9H | − | 78 | Al27Ge27 SRT7-(3 × 3)-9T | − | 104 |
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Table 1. Calculated adhesive energy (in units of meV/Å2) between 2D sheet and substrate with Gen and AlmGen corresponding to unit of pure and alloyed 2D sheet, respectively.