Exotic Two-Dimensional Structure: The First Case of Hexagonal NaCl
Kseniya A. Tikhomirova, Christian Tantardini, Ekaterina V. Sukhanova, Захар И. Попов, Stanislav A. Evlashin, Mikhail Tarkhov, Vladislav L. Zhdanov, А. А. Дудин, Artem R. Oganov, Dmitry G. Kvashnin, Alexander G. Kvashnin
Abstract
NaCl is one of the simplest compounds and was thought to be well-understood, and yet, unexpected complexities related to it were uncovered at high pressure and in low-dimensional states. Here, exotic hexagonal NaCl thin films on the (110) diamond surface were crystallized in the experiment following a theoretical prediction based on ab initio evolutionary algorithm USPEX. State-of-the-art calculations and experiments showed the existence of a hexagonal NaCl thin film, which is due to the strong chemical interaction of the NaCl film with the diamond substrate.