Researchers make single-layer kagome material with flat electron bands

Researchers have produced a single-layer kagome material that retains electron states with nearly identical energies, creating a laboratory platform for studying collective electron behavior. The work, published in Nature Physics, uses a lattice of corner-sharing triangles that generates these flat electronic bands through its geometry. The team screened materials, synthesized promising candidates and peeled them into atomically thin layers. Measurements using focused light to release electrons revealed flat-band states near the energy level that determines electron occupancy. Senior author Mingu Kang reported electron densities of approximately 1 nm⁻², compared with approximately 0.01 nm⁻² in existing moiré superlattice systems. Superconductivity and fractional quantum states remain targets for future investigation.