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At least 1,513 records · Page 84

Lateral Integration of SnS and GeSe van der Waals Semiconductors: Interface Formation, Electronic Structure, and Nanoscale Optoelectronics

The emergence of atomically thin crystals has allowed extending materials integration to lateral heterostructures where different 2D materials are covalently connected in the plane. The concept of lateral heterostructures can be generalized to thicker layered crystals, provided that a suitably faceted seed crystal presents edges to which a compatible second van der Waals material can be attached layer by layer. Here, we examine the possibility of integrating multilayer crystals of the group IV monochalcogenides SnS and GeSe, which have the same crystal structure, small lattice mismatch, and similar bandgaps. In a two-step growth process, lateral epitaxy of GeSe on the sidewalls of multilayer SnS flakes (obtained by vapor transport of a SnS 2 precursor on graphite) yields heterostructures of laterally stitched crystalline GeSe and SnS without any detectable vertical overgrowth of the SnS seeds and with sharp lateral interfaces. Combined cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and ab initio calculations show the effects of small band offsets on carrier transport and radiative recombination near the interface. Further, the results demonstrate the possibility of forming atomically connected lateral interfaces across many van der Waals layers, which is promising for manipulating optoelectronics, photonics, and for managing charge- and thermal transport.

2D layered crystals↗

Role of Interligand Coupling in Determining the Interfacial Electronic Structure of Colloidal CdS Quantum Dots

Displacement of cadmium oleate (Cd(oleate) 2 ) ligands for the exciton-delocalizing ligand 4-hexylphenyldithiocarbamate (C6-PTC) on the surfaces of CdS quantum dots (QDs) causes a decrease in the band gap (E g ) of the QD of ~100 meV for QDs with a radius of 1.9 nm and ~50 meV for QDs with a radius of 2.5 nm. The primary mechanism of this decrease in band gap, deduced in previous work, is a decrease in the confinement barrier for the excitonic hole. The increase in apparent excitonic radius of the QD that corresponds to this decrease in E g is denoted ΔR. The dependence of ΔR on the surface coverage of C6-PTC, measured by 1 H NMR spectroscopy, appears to be nonlinear. Calculations of the excitonic energy of a CdS QD upon displacement of native insulating ligands with exciton-delocalizing ligands using a 3D spherical potential well model show that this response includes the contributions to ΔR from both isolated, bound C6-PTC ligands and groups of adjacent C6-PTC ligands. Fits to the experimental plots of ΔRvs surface coverage of C6-PTC with a statistical model that includes the probability of formation of clusters of bound C6-PTC on the QD surface allow for the extraction of the height of the confinement barrier presented by a single, isolated C6-PTC molecule to the excitonic hole. Furthermore, this barrier height is less than 0.6 eV for QDs with a radius of 1.9 nm and between 0.6 and 1.2 eV for QDs with a radius of 2.5 nm.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Synthesis, Crystal and Electronic Structure of the Quaternary Magnetic EuTAl4Si2 (T = Rh and Ir) Compounds

Single crystals of the quaternary europium compounds EuRhAl4Si2 and EuIrAl4Si2 were synthesized by using the Al–Si binary eutectic as a flux. The structure of the two quaternary compounds has been refined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Both compounds are stoichiometric and adopt an ordered derivative of the ternary KCu4S3 structure type (tetragonal tP8, P4/mmm). The two compounds reported here represent the first example of a quaternary and truly stoichiometric 1:1:4:2 phase crystallizing with this structure type. In light of our present results, the structure of the BaMg4Si3 compound given in literature as representing a new prototype is actually isotypic with the KCu4S3 structure. Local spin density approximation including the Hubbard U parameter (LSDA + U) calculations show that Eu ions are in the divalent state, with a significant hybridization between the Eu 5d, Rh (Ir) 4d (5d), Si 3p and Al 3p states. Magnetic susceptibility measured along the [001] direction confirms the divalent nature of the Eu ions in EuRhAl4Si2 and EuIrAl4Si2, which order magnetically near 11 and 15 K, respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Dicopper Nitrenoid by Oxidation of a Cu'Cu' Core: Synthesis, Electronic Structure, and Reactivity

A dicopper nitrenoid complex was prepared by formal oxidative addition of the nitrenoid fragment to a dicopper(I) center by reaction with the iminoiodinane PhINTs (Ts = tosylate). This nitrenoid complex, (DPFN)Cu 2 (μ-NTs)[NTf 2 ] 2 (DPFN = 2,7-bis(fluorodi(2-pyridyl)methyl)-1,8-naphthyridine), is a powerful H atom abstractor that reacts with a range of strong C–H bonds to form a mixed-valence Cu(I)/Cu(II) μ-NHTs amido complex in the first example of a clean H atom transfer to a dicopper nitrenoid core. In line with this reactivity, DFT calculations reveal that the nitrenoid is best described as an iminyl (NR radical anion) complex. The nitrenoid was trapped by the addition of water to form a mixed-donor hydroxo/amido dicopper(II) complex, which was independently obtained by reaction of a Cu 2 (μ-OH) 2 complex with an amine through a protonolysis pathway. Furthermore, this mixed-donor complex is an analogue for the proposed intermediate in copper-catalyzed Chan–Evans–Lam coupling, which proceeds via C–X (X = N or O) bond formation. Treatment of the dicopper(II) mixed donor complex with MgPh 2 (THF) 2 resulted in generation of a mixture that includes both phenol and a previously reported dicopper(I) bridging phenyl complex, illustrating that both reduction of dicopper(II) to dicopper(I) and concomitant C–X bond formation are feasible.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Spectroscopic and Electronic Structure Study of ETHE1: Elucidating the Factors Influencing Sulfur Oxidation and Oxygenation in Mononuclear Nonheme Iron Enzymes

ETHE1 is a member of a growing subclass of nonheme Fe enzymes that catalyzes transformations of sulfur-containing substrates without a cofactor. ETHE1 dioxygenates glutathione persulfide (GSSH) to glutathione (GSH) and sulfite in a reaction which is similar to that of cysteine dioxygenase (CDO), but with monodentate (vs bidentate) substrate coordination and a 2-His/1-Asp (vs 3-His) ligand set. In this study, we demonstrate that GSS– binds directly to the iron active site, causing coordination unsaturation to prime the site for O 2 activation. Nitrosyl complexes without and with GSSH were generated and spectroscopically characterized as unreactive analogues for the invoked ferric superoxide intermediate. New spectral features from persulfide binding to the Fe III include the appearance of a low-energy Fe III ligand field transition, an energy shift of a NO– to Fe III CT transition, and two new GSS– to Fe III CT transitions. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations were used to simulate the experimental spectra to determine the persulfide orientation. Correlation of these spectral features with those of monodentate cysteine binding in isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) shows that the persulfide is a poorer donor but still results in an equivalent frontier molecular orbital for reactivity. The ETHE1 persulfide dioxygenation reaction coordinate was calculated, and while the initial steps are similar to the reaction coordinate of CDO, an additional hydrolysis step is required in ETHE1 to break the S–S bond. Unlike ETHE1 and CDO, which both oxygenate sulfur, IPNS oxidizes sulfur through an initial H atom abstraction. Thus, factors that determine oxygenase vs oxidase reactivity were evaluated. In general, sulfur oxygenation is thermodynamically favored and has a lower barrier for reactivity. Furthermore, in IPNS, second-sphere residues in the active site pocket constrain the substrate, raising the barrier for sulfur oxygenation relative to oxidation via H atom abstraction.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗