Silicene on Silver: fundamental physical properties and integration in Field-Effect Transistors

To date, Silicene encountered different bottlenecks as reliable option in the framework of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. Its physical properties are not completely unveiled and this, combined with its environmental instability, limits its possible integration into devices. Here we show a comprehensive characterization of Silicene by combining ab-initio calculations with optical spectroscopies. We elucidate the role of Ag in determining the electronic band structure and the optical response of differently oriented Silicene superstructures. We also show how these fundamental properties reflect in devices by presenting the experimental evidence of the ambipolar electrical transport in Silicene based field effect transistor.