Toward the ultimate limit: elemental metals in one dimension

Abstract

Low-dimensional materials exhibit extraordinary properties that make them promising candidates for advanced technologies. Although they have been investigated extensively, most of the research has focused on layered two-dimensional materials. Here, inspired by recent advances in atomically thin metallenes, we further reduce dimensionality and use density-functional theory simulations to study the geometry, energetics, elasticity, and electronic structure of 40 non-magnetic one-dimensional (1D) atomic chains of elemental metals. We find that nearly all chains have a buckled ground state, nine chains are distorted, and three chains—Cd, Hg, and Sr—are semiconducting with an electronic gap. We also find that transition metals retain a substantial fraction of their three-dimensional bulk cohesive energy even in 1D chains. We assessed chains’ dynamical stabilities by molecular dynamics simulations and found that 26 of them are thermodynamically stable at 100 K. Finally, we performed chain pulling simulations to investigate the straightening dynamics of selected stable chains. Given that experimental techniques have recently reached the 1D-chain limit, our systematic study provides a foundation and timely guide to accelerating synthesis and characterization of these materials.