2012/03/15 by Pengfei Zhang, PengFei Zhang, Zheng Liu +8
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1203.3379
4 pages, 4 figures
openalex publication_date 2012/03/15 · arxiv created 2012/04/03 · arxiv updated 2012/04/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
When the dimension of a solid structure is reduced, there will be two emerging effects, quantum confinement and surface effect, which dominate at nanoscale. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that due to an intriguing interplay between these two dominating effects, the topological and electronic (topo-electronic) properties of Sb (111) nanofilms undergo a series of transitions as a function of the reducing film thickness: transforming from a topological semimetal to a topological insulator at 7.8 nm (22 bilayer), then to a quantum spin hall (QSH) phase at 2.7 nm (8 bilayer), and finally to a normal (topological trivial) semiconductor at 1.0 nm (3 bilayer). Our theoretical findings for the first time identify the existence of the QSH in the Sb (111) nanofilms within a narrow range of thickness and suggest that the Sb (111) nanofilms provide an ideal test bed for experimental study of topo-electronic phase transitions.