Structural and electronic properties of Li-intercalated graphene on SiC(0001)

Abstract

We investigate the structural and electronic properties of Li-intercalated monolayer graphene on SiC(0001) using combined angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory. Li intercalates at room temperature both at the interface between the buffer layer and SiC and between the two carbon layers. The graphene is strongly n-doped due to charge transfer from the Li atoms and two π bands are visible at the K̄ point. After heating the sample to 300°C, these π bands become sharp and have a distinctly different dispersion to that of Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene. We suggest that the Li atoms intercalate between the two carbon layers with an ordered structure, similar to that of bulk LiC6. An AA stacking of these two layers becomes energetically favourable. The π bands around the K̄ point closely resemble the calculated band structure of a C6LiC6 system, where the intercalated Li atoms impose a superpotential on the graphene electronic structure that opens gaps at the Dirac points of the two π cones.