Because of its unique physical properties, graphene, a 2D honeycomb arrangement of carbon atoms, has attracted tremendous attention. Silicene, the graphene equivalent for silicon, could follow this trend, opening new perspectives for applications, especially due to its compatibility with Si-based electronics. Silicene has been theoretically predicted as a buckled honeycomb arrangement of Si atoms and having an electronic dispersion resembling that of relativistic Dirac fermions. Here we provide compelling evidence, from both structural and electronic properties, for the synthesis of epitaxial silicene sheets on a silver (111) substrate, through the combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in conjunction with calculations based on density functional theory.

Science and engineering research studies are currently concentrating on synthesizing, designing, producing, and consuming ecologically benign chemical species to replace harmful chemicals. This is due to the increasing demands of conservation knowledge and strict ecological regulations. Numerous environmentally friendly substitutes produced from natural resources, including biopolymers, plant extracts, chemical pharmaceuticals (drugs), and so on, are now frequently used as inhibitors to replace dangerous corrosion inhibitors. Many compounds have been extensively used. A range of methods, including physisorption, chemisorption, barrier protection, thin-film growth, and electrochemical procedures, will be used to provide corrosion resistance. The various kinds of corrosion inhibitors (CIs), the mechanisms underlying inhibition, and the evaluation procedures have all been covered in-depth. This review provides an overview of the relevant literature in which researchers and scientists used different types of CIs, the effect of CIs on metals, and information about designs and mechanisms used to minimize corrosion in a variety of equipment composed of alloys or metals, along with electrochemical evaluation studies. This review will provide scholars with fresh insights to advance the discipline.

Through this review we can follow the various phases that have led to the discovery of the new allotrope form of silicon: silicene. This is a one-atom thick silicon sheet arranged in a honeycomb lattice, similar to graphene. For silicon, which usually is sp3 hybridized, it represents an unusual and rare structure. First, silicene was theoretically hypothesized and subsequently its structure calculated as a possible candidate for nano-ribbons of Si grown on the anisotropic Ag(110) surface. It was only later, when the physical and chemical properties of this peculiar form of silicon, demonstrating the presence of π and π* bands giving the so-called Dirac cones at the K corners of the Brillouin zone, the sp2-like nature of the valence orbitals of the Si-Si bonds and its strong resistance towards oxygen were reported, that the real existence of silicene became recognized in the scientific community. This review is essentially focused on the experimental work performed on 1D isolated silicene nano-ribbons and their 1D dense array grown on Ag(110) surfaces.