Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy of Lithium‐Decorated Graphene

Lithium decoration of graphene on SiC(0001) is achieved in a surface science approach by intercalation and adsorption of the alkali metal. Spectroscopy of the differential conductance with a scanning tunneling microscope at the Li‐decorated graphene surfaces does not give rise to a pairing gap at the Fermi energy, which may be expected because of the previously predicted superconducting phase [Profeta et al., Nat. Phys . 2012 , 8 , 131]. Rather, pronounced gaps in the spectroscopic data of intercalated samples reflect the excitation of graphene phonons. Rationales that possibly explain this discrepancy between experimental findings and theoretical predictions are suggested.