2D van der Waals heavy-fermion candidate CeSiI

In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnetic and ferroelectric materials have received significant attention. Furthermore, twisted vdW materials have become a new platform to realize exotic matter, such as unconventional superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene. Therefore, the discovery of new 2D vdW materials can provide an interesting route to explore novel phenomena. One of the missing components in 2D vdW materials is the intrinsic heavy-fermion systems. Here, we investigate 2D vdW heavy-fermion candidates based on the experimentally known compounds by using dynamical mean-field theory calculation combined with density functional theory (DFT+DMFT). Our study reveals that CeSiI is the most promising 2D vdW heavy-fermion candidate. The Kondo resonance state of CeSiI does not change upon exfoliation and can be easily controlled by external perturbation, such as strain and surface doping. Therefore, it can provide an additional degree of freedom to study quantum critical point (QCP), unconventional superconductivity, and emergent phenomena in vdW heterostructures.