First-principles calculations show the formation of a 2D spin polarized electron (hole) gas on the Li (CoO2) terminated surfaces of finite slabs down to a monolayer of LiCoO2 in remarkable contrast with the bulk band structure stabilized by Li donating its electron to the CoO2 layer forming a Co-d−t2g6 insulator. By mapping the first-principles computational results to a minimal tight-binding models corresponding to a non-chiral 3D generalization of the quadripartite Su-Schriefer-Heeger (SSH4) model, we show that these surface states have topological origin.
@article{arxiv.2003.00061,
title = {Spin-polarized two-dimensional electron/hole gases on LiCoO$_2$ layers},
author = {Santosh Kumar Radha and Walter R. L. Lambrecht},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.00061},
year = {2020}
}