Topological Flat Bands in Two-Dimensional Breathing-Kagome Lattice Nb 3 TeCl 7 .
Hongrun ZhangZhijian ShiZhicheng JiangMing YangJingwei ZhangZiyuan MengTonghua HuFucai LiuLong ChengYong XieJincheng ZhuangHaifeng FengWeichang HaoDawei ShenYi DuPublished in: Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) (2023)
Flat bands (FBs) can appear in two-dimensional (2D) geometrically frustrated systems caused by quantum destructive interference (QDI). However, the scarcity of pure 2D frustrated crystal structures in natural materials makes FBs hard to be identified, let alone modulate FBs relating to electronic properties. Here, the experimental evidence of the complete electronic QDI induced FB contributed by the 2D breathing-kagome layers of Nb atoms in Nb 3 TeCl 7 (NTC) is reported. An identical chemical state and 2D localization characteristics of the Nb breathing-kagome layers are experimentally confirmed, based on which NTC is demonstrated to be a superior concrete candidate for the breathing-kagome tight-binding model. Furthermore, it theoretically establishes the tunable roles of the on-site energy over Nb sites on bandwidth, energy position, and topology of FBs in NTC. This work opens an avenue to manipulate FBs characteristics in these 4d transition-metal-based breathing-kagome materials. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.