Does the Dirac Cone Exist in Silicene on Metal Substrates?

Abstract

Absence of the Dirac cone due to a strong band hybridization is revealed to be a common feature for epitaxial silicene on metal substrates according to our first-principles calculations for silicene on Ir, Cu, Mg, Au, Pt, Al, and Ag substrates. The destroyed Dirac cone of silicene, however, can be effectively restored with linear or parabolic dispersion by intercalating alkali metal atoms between silicene and the metal substrates, offering an opportunity to study the intriguing properties of silicene without further transfer of silicene from the metal substrates.