Inertness and degradation of (0001) surface of Bi2Se3 topological insulator

et al.Inertness of the cleaved (0001) surface of theBi 2 Se 3 single crystal, grown by modified Bridgman method, to oxidation has been demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and by ab initio DFT calculations. No intrinsic bismuth and selenium oxides are formed on the low-defect, atomically flatBi 2 Se 3 (0001)−(1×1) surface after a long-time air exposure. The inertness ofBi 2 Se 3 (0001) toO 2 andNO 2 , as well as bismuth-oxygen bonding formation under molecular adsorption in the Se vacancy was supported by DFT calculations. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.The present work was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (12-02-00226) and Russian Science Support Foundation. We acknowledge partial support by the University of the Basque Country (Project GVUPV/EHU, Grant IT-366-07) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación (Grant FIS2010-19609-C02-00).Peer Reviewe