As the novel topological states, the higher-order topological insulators have attracted great attentions in the past years. However, their realizations in realistic materials, in particular in two dimensional systems, remains the big challenge due to the lack of adequate candidates. Here, based on the first-principle calculation and tight-binding model simulations, we identify the currently \emph{existing} bilayer α5-phase borophenes as the two-dimensional second-order topological insulators, protected by the C2-rotational symmetry. The formation of interlayer B-B covalent bonds, stabilizing the bilayer borophenes and opening the large direct bulk gaps (∼0.55−0.62 eV) at Fermi level, plays the key roles. The second-order topology is characterized by the bulk quantized quadrupole momentum. Our results enriches the candidates for the second-order topological insulators, and also provide a way to study topological states in borophenes.
@article{arxiv.2407.10432,
title = {Second-order topological insulator in Bilayer borophene},
author = {Licheng Wang and Ali Hamza Qureshi and Yi Sun and Xiaokang Xu and Xiaojing Yao and Xinli Zhao and Ai-Lei He and Yuan Zhou and Xiuyun Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.10432},
year = {2025}
}