Engineering two-dimensional nodal semimetals in functionalized biphenylene by fluorine adatoms

Abstract: We propose a new band engineering scheme on the biphenylene network, a newly synthesized carbon allotrope. First, we investigate the mechanism for the appearance of type II Dirac fermion in a pristine biphenylene network. We show that the essential ingredients are mirror symmetries and the stabilization of the compact localized eigenstates via destructive interference. While the former is used for the band-crossing point along high symmetry lines, the latter makes the obtained Dirac dispersion highly inclined. Then, we demonstrate that many other different kinds of Dirac fermions, such as type-I Dirac, gapped type-II Dirac, and nodal line semimetals, can be developed by fluorinating the biphenylene network periodically in various ways. In this program, the key role of the fluorine atoms is manipulating the condition of the destructive interference and mirror symmetries.