Two dimensional monolayer rhombic silicene on the diamond (111) surface

Two-dimensional rhombic silicene (named r-silicene) bonded on the diamond (111) surface with a (1 × 1) configuration is predicted by density functional theory. The planar structure of r-silicene has P6/mmm symmetry, and it is dynamically and thermodynamically stable on the diamond surface. r-Silicene has a metallic character, which is different to both bulk cubic Si and hexagonal silicene. The hybrid structure of r-silicene/diamond consists of a metallic surface and a wide band gap semiconductor diamond substrate, providing a novel low-dimensional composite based on silicon–diamond to realize high performance nanodevices. Moreover, a similar rhombic configuration of monolayer germanene has been theoretically constructed on the diamond (111) substrate.