Evidence of flat bands and correlated states in buckled graphene superlattices

Two-dimensional atomic crystals can radically change their properties in response to external influences, such as substrate orientation or strain, forming materials with novel electronic structure 1 – 5 . An example is the creation of weakly dispersive, ‘flat’ bands in bilayer graphene for certain ‘magic’ angles of twist between the orientations of the two layers 6 . The quenched kinetic energy in these flat bands promotes electron–electron interactions and facilitates the emergence of strongly correlated phases, such as superconductivity and correlated insulators. However, the very accurate fine-tuning required to obtain the magic angle in twisted-bilayer graphene poses challenges to fabrication and scalability. Here we present an alternative route to creating flat bands that does not involve fine-tuning. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, together with numerical simulations, we demonstrate that graphene monolayers placed on an atomically flat substrate can be forced to undergo a buckling transition 7 – 9 , resulting in a periodically modulated pseudo-magnetic field 10 – 14 , which in turn creates a ‘post-graphene’ material with flat electronic bands. When we introduce the Fermi level into these flat bands using electrostatic doping, we observe a pseudogap-like depletion in the density of states, which signals the emergence of a correlated state 15 – 17 . This buckling of two-dimensional crystals offers a strategy for creating other superlattice systems and, in particular, for exploring interaction phenomena characteristic of flat bands.