Direct Observation of the Zigzag Edge States of a Supramolecular Diatomic Kagome Lattice
Abstract
Lattice geometry plays a fundamental role in the behavior of Bloch electrons in a crystal. The diatomic Kagome lattice, an extension of the honeycomb and Kagome lattices, is predicted to give rise to emergent and topological phenomena, but its experimental investigation has been limited thus far. Here, we fabricate a diatomic Kagome lattice through self-assembly of a triptycene derivative with phenazine moieties (Trip-Phz)---a C3-symmetric, non-planar π-conjugated molecule. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations show that Trip-Phz forms a highly ordered diatomic Kagome lattice terminated by zigzag-type edges on the Pb(111) surface. Combined STM measurements and tight-binding calculations provide direct evidence for the existence of the edge states that correspond to those of graphene. These states are topological edge states dictated by the quantization of the Zak phase and the bulk-edge correspondence.This work reveals an ideal platform for exploring quantum materials with unique lattice geometries using supramolecular technology.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{nemoto2026direct,
title = {{Direct Observation of the Zigzag Edge States of a Supramolecular Diatomic Kagome Lattice}},
author = {Ryohei Nemoto and Xiangzhi Meng and Behzad Mortezapour and Alexander Weismann and Saya Nakano and Masahisa Tsuchiizu and Ryuichi Arafune and Noriaki Takagi and Sho Nakamura and Katsunori Wakabayashi and Rie Suizu and Richard Berndt and Takashi Uchihashi and Kunio Awaga},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.02567},
eprint = {2609.02567},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02567},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Direct Observation of the Zigzag Edge States of a Supramolecular Diatomic Kagome Lattice
AU - Ryohei Nemoto
AU - Xiangzhi Meng
AU - Behzad Mortezapour
AU - Alexander Weismann
AU - Saya Nakano
AU - Masahisa Tsuchiizu
AU - Ryuichi Arafune
AU - Noriaki Takagi
AU - Sho Nakamura
AU - Katsunori Wakabayashi
AU - Rie Suizu
AU - Richard Berndt
AU - Takashi Uchihashi
AU - Kunio Awaga
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.02567
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02567
AB - Lattice geometry plays a fundamental role in the behavior of Bloch electrons in a crystal. The diatomic Kagome lattice, an extension of the honeycomb and Kagome lattices, is predicted to give rise to emergent and topological phenomena, but its experimental investigation has been limited thus far. Here, we fabricate a diatomic Kagome lattice through self-assembly of a triptycene derivative with phenazine moieties (Trip-Phz)---a C_3-symmetric, non-planar π-conjugated molecule. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations show that Trip-Phz forms a highly ordered diatomic Kagome lattice terminated by zigzag-type edges on the Pb(111) surface. Combined STM measurements and tight-binding calculations provide direct evidence for the existence of the edge states that correspond to those of graphene. These states are topological edge states dictated by the quantization of the Zak phase and the bulk-edge correspondence.This work reveals an ideal platform for exploring quantum materials with unique lattice geometries using supramolecular technology.
ER -