EurekAlert  May 23, 2019 Plumbene is a lead-based 2D honeycomb material that has the largest spin-orbit interaction, due to lead’s orbital electron structure and therefore the largest energy band gap, potentially making it a robust 2D topological insulator in which the Quantum Spin Hall Effect might occur even above room temperature. An international team of researchers (Japan, France) created plumbene by annealing an ultrathin lead (Pb) film on palladium Pd(111). The resulting surface material has the signature honeycomb structure of a 2D monolayer. Beneath the plumbene, a palladium-lead (Pd-Pb) alloy thin film forms with a bubble structure. Atomic‐scale STM images […]