High Van Hove singularity extension and Fermi velocity increase in epitaxial graphene functionalized by gold clusters intercalation

Gold intercalation between the buffer layer and a graphene monolayer of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) leads to the formation of quasi free standing small aggregates of clusters. Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy measurements reveal that these clusters preserve the linear dispersion of the graphene quasiparticles and surprisingly increase their Fermi velocity. They also strongly modify the band structure of graphene around the Van Hove singularities (VHs) by a strong extension without charge transfer. This result gives a new insight on the role of the intercalant in the renormalization of the bare electronic band structure of graphene usually observed in Graphite and Graphene Intercalation Compounds.