A continuous germanene layer grown on the Al (111) surface has recently been achieved in experiment. In this work, we investigate its structural, electronic, and hydrogenation-induced properties through first-principles calculations. We find that despite having a different lattice structure from its free-standing form, germanene on Al (111) still possesses Dirac points at high-symmetry K and K' points. More importantly, there exist another three pairs of Dirac points on the K(K')-M high-symmetry lines, which have highly anisotropic dispersions due to the reduced symmetry. These massless Dirac Fermions become massive when spin-orbit coupling is included. Hydrogenation of the germanene layer strongly affects its structural and electronic properties. Particularly, when not fully hydrogenated, ferromagnetism can be induced due to unpaired local orbitals from the unsaturated Ge atoms. Remarkably, we discover that the one-side semihydrogenated germanene turns out to be a two-dimensional half-semimetal, representing a novel state of matter that is simultaneously a half-metal and a semimetal.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.