Silicon Nanosheets

What is it about?

Silicon, differs dramatically from carbon in its preference for 2D-nanosheets. unlike carbon which prefers conjugation, delocalization and aromaticity, Silicon prefers localized sp3 hybridized bonding. Hence, Energetically, Silicon prefers non-classical trigonal bi-pyramid that has tetrahedral and inverted tetrahedral silicon atoms as primary structural motif. Exploring the different isomeric possibilities, we report that they all are narrow band-gap semiconductors,

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Why is it important?

The characterization of Graphene couple and its remarkable properties has led to intense research in characterizing its heavier analogs, Though, It is well known that chemistry of silicon differs dramatically from carbon, both experimental and theoretical investigations were mostly focused on the hexagonal motif for the heavier elements like silicon, Germaium etc. With the example of silicon, here we show that hexagonal sheets of graphane are not preferable for their heavier cousins.