title: Two-dimensional carbon topological insulators superior to graphene.
abstract: Graphene was the first material predicted to realize a topological insulator (TI), but unfortunately the gap is unobservably small due to carbon's weak spin-orbital coupling (SOC). Based on first-principles calculations, we propose a stable sp-sp(2) hybrid carbon network as a graphene analog whose electronic band structures in proximity of the Fermi level are characterized by Dirac cones. We demonstrate that this unique carbon framework has topologically nontrivial electronic structures with the Z2 topological invariant of v = 1 which is quite promising for hosting the quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) in an experimentally accessible low temperature regime (<7 K). This provides a viable approach for searching for new TIs in 2D carbon allotropes.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics & State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
authors.forename: Mingwen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Physics & State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
authors.forename: Wenzheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: School of Physics & State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
authors.forename: Aizhu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang