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At least 19 records

Effect of Time and Deposition Method on Quality of Phosphonic Acid Modifier Self-Assembled Monolayers on Indium Zinc Oxide

Phosphonic acid (PA) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are utilized at critical interfaces between transparent conductive oxides (TCO) and organic active layers in organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs). The effects of PA deposition method and time on the formation of close-packed, high-quality monolayers is investigated here for SAMs fabricated by solution deposition, micro-contact printing, and spray coating. The solution deposition isotherm for pentafluorinated benzylphosphonic acid (F5BnPA) on indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO) is studied using polarization modulation-infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) at room temperature as a model PA/IZO system. Fast surface adsorption occurs within the first min; however, well-oriented high-quality SAMs are reached only after -48 h, presumably through a continual process of molecular adsorption/desorption and monolayer filling accompanied by molecular reorientation. Two other rapid, soak-free deposition techniques, micro-contact printing and spray coating, are also explored. SAM quality is compared for deposition of phenyl phosphonic acid (PPA), F13-octylphosphonic acid (F13OPA), and pentafluorinated benzyl phosphonic acid (F5BnPA) by solution deposition, micro-contact printing and spray coating using PM-IRRAS. In contrast to micro-contact printing and spray coating techniques, 48-168 h solution deposition at both room temperature and 70 degrees C result in contamination- and surface etch-free close-packed monolayers with good reproducibility. SAMs fabricated by micro-contact printing and spray coating are much less well ordered.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Selenium capped monolayer NbSe 2 for two-dimensional superconductivity studies

Superconductivity in monolayer niobium diselenide (NbSe 2 ) on bilayer graphene is studied by electrical transport. Monolayer NbSe 2 is grown on bilayer graphene by molecular beam epitaxy and capped with a selenium film to avoid degradation in air. The selenium capped samples have T C = 1.9 K. In situ measurements down to 4 K in ultrahigh vacuum show that the effect of the selenium layer on the transport is negligible. Lastly, the superconducting transition and upper critical fields in air exposed and selenium capped samples are compared. Schematic of monolayer NbSe 2 /bilayer graphene with selenium capping layer and electrical contacts.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Thermal Ripples in Model Molybdenum Disulfide Monolayers

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) monolayers have the potential to revolutionize nanotechnology. To reach this potential, it will be necessary to understand the behavior of this two‐dimensional (2D) material on large length scales and under thermal conditions. Herein, we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the nature of the rippling induced by thermal fluctuations in monolayers of the 2H and 1T phases of MoS 2 . The 1T phase is found to be more rigid than the 2H phase. Both monolayer phases are predicted to follow long wavelength scaling behavior typical of systems with anharmonic coupling between vibrational modes as predicted by classic theories of membrane‐like systems.

Remsing, Richard C.↗

Disassembling 2D van der Waals crystals into macroscopic monolayers and reassembling into artificial lattices

Two-dimensional materials from layered van der Waals (vdW) crystals hold great promise for electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum devices, but technological implementation will be hampered by the lack of high-throughput techniques for exfoliating single-crystal monolayers with sufficient size and high quality. Here, we report a facile method to disassemble vdW single crystals layer by layer into monolayers with near-unity yield and with dimensions limited only by bulk crystal sizes. The macroscopic monolayers are comparable in quality to microscopic monolayers from conventional Scotch tape exfoliation. The monolayers can be assembled into macroscopic artificial structures, including transition metal dichalcogenide multilayers with broken inversion symmetry and substantially enhanced nonlinear optical response. This approach takes us one step closer to mass production of macroscopic monolayers and bulk-like artificial materials with controllable properties.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Interfacial binding of divalent cations to calixarene-based Langmuir monolayers

The interactions of Langmuir monolayers produced through the self-assembly of an amphiphilic p-carboxycalix[4]arene with a series of divalent, fourth-period transition metals, at the air-water interface, were investigated. Changes in the interfacial behavior of 1 in response to the presence of CuCl 2 , CoCl 2 , MnCl 2 , and NiCl 2 were studied by means of Langmuir compression isotherms and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). The measurements revealed that the self-assembly properties of 1 are significantly affected by Cu 2+ ions. The interactions of 1-based monolayers with Co 2+ and Cu 2+ ions were further investigated by means of synchrotron radiation-based X-ray reflectivity (XRR), X-ray near-total-reflection fluorescence (XNTRF), and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). XNTRF and XRR analyses revealed that the monolayer of 1 binds more strongly to Cu 2+ than Co 2+ ions. In the presence of relatively high concentrations of Cu 2+ ions in the subphase (1.4 × 10 -3 M), XNTRF exhibited anomalous depth profile behavior and GIXD measurements showed considerably strong diffuse scattering. Furthermore, both measurements suggest the formation of Cu 2+ clusters contiguous to the monolayer of 1.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Silicon-nitride photonic circuits interfaced with monolayer MoS 2

Herein we report integration of monolayer molybdenum disulphide with silicon nitride microresonators assembled by visco-elastic layer transfer techniques. Evanescent coupling from the resonator mode to the monolayer is confirmed through measurements of cavity transmission. The absorption of the monolayer semiconductor flakes in this geometry is determined to be 850 dB/cm, which is larger than that of graphene and black phosphorus with the same thickness. This technique can be applied to diverse monolayer semiconductors for assembling hybrid optoelectronic devices such as photodetectors and modulators operating over a wide spectrum range.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Unsupported single-atom-thick copper oxide monolayers

Oxide monolayers may present unique opportunities because of the great diversity of properties of these materials in bulk form. However, reports on oxide monolayers are still limited. Here we report the formation of single-atom-thick copper oxide layers with a square lattice both in graphene pores and on graphene substrates using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. First-principles calculations find that CuO is energetically stable and its calculated lattice spacing matches well with the measured value. Furthermore, free-standing copper oxide monolayers are predicted to be semiconductors with band gaps ~3 eV. The new wide-bandgap single-atom-thick copper oxide monolayers usher a new frontier to study the highly diverse family of two-dimensional oxides and explore their properties and their potential for new applications.

2D materials↗

Defect-Mediated Charge-Carrier Trapping and Nonradiative Recombination in WSe 2 Monolayers

Nonradiative charge-carrier recombination in transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers severely limits their use in solar energy conversion technologies. Because defects serve as recombination sites, developing a quantitative description of charge-carrier dynamics in defective TMD monolayers can shed light on recombination mechanisms. Herein we report a first-principles investigation of charge-carrier dynamics in pristine and defective WSe 2 monolayers with three of the most probable defects, namely, Se vacancies, W vacancies, and SeW antisites. We predict that Se vacancies slow down recombination by nearly an order of magnitude relative to defect-free samples by breaking the monolayer’s symmetry and thereby reducing the spectral intensity of the A 1g phonon mode that promotes recombination in the pristine monolayer. By contrast, we find W vacancies accelerate recombination by more than an order of magnitude, with half of the recombination events bypassing charge traps. The subsequent dynamics feature both charge trapping and charge-trap-assisted recombination. Although SeW antisites also slightly accelerate recombination, the predicted mechanism is different from the W vacancy case. First, a shallow energy level traps a photoexcited electron. Then, both shallow- and deep-trap-assisted recombination can occur simultaneously. Accelerated recombination arises for W vacancies and SeW antisites because they introduce new phonon modes that strongly couple to electron and hole dynamics. This work thus provides a detailed understanding of the mechanisms behind charge-carrier recombination in WSe 2 monolayers with distinct defects. Furthermore, materials engineering, particularly to avoid W vacancies, could advance this technology. The insights derived are important for future design of high-performance photoactive devices based on WSe 2 monolayers.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Exchange-driven intravalley mixing of excitons in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors for application in optoelectronics. Their optical properties are dominated by two series of photo-excited exciton states—A (XA) and B (XB) 1,2 —that are derived from direct interband transitions near the band extrema. These exciton states have large binding energies and strong optical absorption 3–6 , and form an ideal system to investigate many-body effects in low dimensions. Because spin–orbit coupling causes a large splitting between bands of opposite spins, XA and XB are usually treated as spin-polarized Ising excitons, each arising from interactions within a specific set of states induced by interband transitions between pairs of either spin-up or spin-down bands (TA or TB). Here, by using monolayer MoS 2 as a prototypical system and solving the first-principles Bethe–Salpeter equations, we demonstrate a strong intravalley exchange interaction between TA and TB, indicating that XA and XB are mixed states instead of pure Ising excitons. Using 2D electronic spectroscopy, we observe that an optical excitation of the lower-energy TA induces a population of the higher-energy TB, manifesting the intravalley exchange interaction. This work elucidates the dynamics of exciton formation in monolayer TMDCs, and sheds light on many-body effects in 2D materials.

Guo, Liang↗

Novel comparison of microscopy and diffraction techniques on the structure of iron oxide nanoparticle monolayers transferred by Langmuir-Schaefer method

Iron oxide nanoparticles undergo self-assembly into well-ordered monolayer films of macroscopic size at the air-water interface. This self-assembly process is the result of the van der Waals forces between the constituent particles. For roughly spherical particles, this monolayer is a 2D hexagonal close packed lattice. With Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction (GID), one can obtain global statistical information about the film’s spacing and correlation length. Herein, we demonstrate that comparable structural information can be obtained by a novel Fourier transform analysis method applied to Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images taken of the film after it has been transferred to a silicon substrate. This consists of using numerical methods to isolate the lattice structure of the monolayer in the SEM image to which a 2D discrete Fourier Transform is applied and the result integrated. This results in Bragg peak information akin to that obtained from GID, whose structure shows the same hexagonal close packed lattice with similar spacing and of greater peak contrast. Furthermore, this analysis technique may prove to be a suitable alternative or compliment to GID for many applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Bonding between graphene and MoS{sub 2} monolayers without and with Li intercalation

We performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations for a bi-layered heterostructure combining a graphene layer with a MoS{sub 2} layer with and without intercalated Li atoms. Our calculations demonstrate the importance of the van der Waals (vdW) interaction, which is crucial for forming stable bonding between the layers. Our DFT calculation correctly reproduces the linear dispersion, or Dirac cone, feature at the Fermi energy for the isolated graphene monolayer and the band gap for the MoS{sub 2} monolayer. For the combined graphene/MoS{sub 2} bi-layer, we observe interesting electronic structure and density of states (DOS) characteristics near the Fermi energy, showing both the gap like features of the MoS{sub 2} layer and in-gap states with linear dispersion contributed mostly by the graphene layer. Our calculated total DOS in this vdW heterostructure reveals that the graphene layer significantly contributes to pinning the Fermi energy at the center of the band gap of MoS{sub 2}. We also find that intercalating Li ions in between the layers of the graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure enhances the binding energy through orbital hybridizations between cations (Li adatoms) and anions (graphene and MoS{sub 2} monolayers). Moreover, we calculate the dielectric function of the Li intercalated graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure, the imaginary component of which can be directly compared with experimental measurements of optical conductivity in order to validate our theoretical prediction. We observe sharp features in the imaginary component of the dielectric function, which shows the presence of a Drude peak in the optical conductivity, and therefore metallicity in the lithiated graphene/MoS{sub 2} heterostructure.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Observation of the quantum spin Hall effect up to 100 kelvin in a monolayer crystal

A variety of monolayer crystals have been proposed to be two-dimensional topological insulators exhibiting the quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE), possibly even at high temperatures. Here we report the observation of the QSHE in monolayer tungsten ditelluride (WTe 2 ) at temperatures up to 100 kelvin. In the short-edge limit, the monolayer exhibits the hallmark transport conductance, ~ e 2 / h per edge, where e is the electron charge and h is Planck’s constant. Moreover, a magnetic field suppresses the conductance, and the observed Zeeman-type gap indicates the existence of a Kramers degenerate point and the importance of time-reversal symmetry for protection from elastic backscattering. Our results establish the QSHE at temperatures much higher than in semiconductor heterostructures and allow for exploring topological phases in atomically thin crystals.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Electrically tunable low-density superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator

Turning on superconductivity in a topologically nontrivial insulator may provide a route to search for non-Abelian topological states. However, existing demonstrations of superconductor-insulator switches have involved only topologically trivial systems. Here we report reversible, in situ electrostatic on-off switching of superconductivity in the recently established quantum spin Hall insulator monolayer tungsten ditelluride (WTe 2 ). Fabricated into a van der Waals field-effect transistor, the monolayer’s ground state can be continuously gate-tuned from the topological insulating to the superconducting state, with critical temperatures T c up to ~1 kelvin. Our results establish monolayer WTe 2 as a material platform for engineering nanodevices that combine superconducting and topological phases of matter.

solar (photovoltaic), solid state lighting, photos↗

Pd 2 Se 3 Monolayer: A Promising Two-Dimensional Thermoelectric Material with Ultralow Lattice Thermal Conductivity and High Power Factor

A high power factor and low lattice thermal conductivity are two essential ingredients of highly efficient thermoelectric materials. Although monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides possess high power factors, high lattice thermal conductivities significantly impede their practical applications. Our first-principles calculations show that these two ingredients are well fulfilled in the recently synthesized Pd 2 Se 3 monolayer, whose crystal structure is composed of [Se 2 ] 2- dimers, Se 2- anions, and Pd 2+ cations coordinated in a square-planar manner. Our detailed analysis of third-order interatomic force constants reveals that the anharmonicity and soft phonon modes associated with covalently bonded [Se 2 ] 2- dimers lead to ultralow lattice thermal conductivities in Pd 2 Se 3 monolayers (1.5 and 2.9 W m -1 K -1 along the a- and b-axes at 300 K, respectively), which are comparable to those of high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials such as PbTe. Moreover, the “pudding-mold” type band structure, caused by Pd 2+ (d 8 ) cations coordinated in a square-planar crystal field, leads to high power factors in Pd 2 Se 3 monolayers. Consequently, both electron- and hole-doped thermoelectric materials with a considerably high zT can be achieved at moderate carrier concentrations, suggesting that Pd 2 Se 3 is a promising two-dimensional thermoelectric material. Our results suggest that hierarchical chemical bonds, that is, coexistence of different types of chemical bonds, combined with a square-planar crystal field is a promising route for designing high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗