Experimental Synthesis of Strained Monolayer Silver Arsenide on Ag(111) Substrates

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are playing more and more important roles in both basic sciences and industrial applications. For 2D materials, strain could tune the properties and enlarge applications. Since the growth of 2D materials on substrates is often accompanied by strain, the interaction between 2D materials and substrates is worthy of careful attention. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of strained monolayer silver arsenide (AgAs) on Ag(111) by molecular beam epitaxy, which shows one-dimensional stripe structures arising from uniaxial strain. The atomic geometric structure and electronic band structure are investigated by low energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principle calculations. Monolayer AgAs synthesized on Ag(111) provides a platform to study the physical properties of strained 2D materials.