arXiv subjects

Chuanhong Jin

Publications and source records attributed to Chuanhong Jin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

High-Density Horizontal Arrays of Single-Chirality Carbon Nanotubes

Highly ordered high-density arrays of single-chirality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are greatly desired for exploring the intrinsic anisotropic properties and collective performance of such 1-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials. Here we present a Marangoni flow-induced self-assembly (MISA) strategy to fabricate monolayered SWCNT arrays achieving a packing density of ~200 ${μm}^{-1}$ and a 2-dimensional order parameter ($S_{2\mathrm{D}}$) of ~0.95. Relying on its general compatibility with both organic and aqueous dispersions, we prepare single-chirality and enantiomer-pure SWCNT arrays from organic and aqueous dispersions resulting from the sorting processes. The anisotropic optical and electrical properties of the arrays are demonstrated by the polarization-dependent Rabi splitting as well as polarized near-infrared light emission and detection. With the great tolerance to solutions, substrates, and materials, as well as the feasibility and controllability, MISA shows great potential in the assembly of 1D nanomaterials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Imaging mechanism and contrast separation in low-voltage scanning electron microscopy imaging of carbon nanotube arrays on SiO2/Si substrate

Polymer-sorted high-density carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays have shown great potential to extend the silicon-based Moore's law. Imaging the CNT arrays on insulators like SiO2/Si using low-voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) to acquire array information like the alignment, density, and distribution of residual polymers is necessary. Such a task remains challenging due to the nanoscale CNT body (1-2 nm in diameter), nanoscale tube-to-tube separation (1-10 nm), the broadening of the apparent diameter, and the complex image contrast caused by the insulating substrate and polymer residues. In this study, the imaging mechanism for this system is investigated. Two methods are developed to separate the three dominant contrasts, i.e. topographic contrast, charge contrast, and material contrast, by selecting the take-off angle and energy of the emitted electrons as enabled by changing the working distance or the deceleration voltage. The contrast formation and separation mechanism is further confirmed by the dynamic contrast evolution due to the electron-beam-induced deposition of amorphous carbon. The contrast separation method is further applied to an individual CNT, reducing its apparent diameter from 36 nm to 6 nm. This result hints at the potential for LVSEM to count the density exceeding 150 CNTs/um of CNT arrays. Finally, a comparative study of LVSEM and transmission electron microscopy confirms the failure of LVSEM to resolve CNTs in a bundle. The results suggest that the density of CNT arrays may be underestimated in reported SEM data. The proposed method can serve as a useful tool for further study and application of arrayed CNTs.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Niobium doping induced mirror twin boundaries in MBE grown WSe2 monolayers

Mirror twin boundary (MTB) brings unique 1D physics and properties into two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), but they were rarely observed in non-Mo-based TMDCs. Herein, by post-growth Nb doping, high density 4|4E-W and 4|4P-Se MTBs were introduced into molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown WSe2 monolayers. Of them, 4|4E-W MTB with a novel structure was discovered experimentally for the first time, while 4|4P-Se MTBs present a random permutations of W and Nb, forming a 1D alloy system. Comparison between the doped and non-doped WSe2 confirmed that Nb dopants are essential for MTB formation. Furthermore, quantitative statistics reveal the areal density of MTBs is directly proportional to the concentration of Nb dopants. To unravel the injection pathway of Nb dopants, first-principles calculations about a set of formation energies for excess Nb atoms with different configurations were conducted, based on which a model explaining the origin of MTBs introduced by excess metal was built. We conclude that the formation of MTBs is mainly driven by the collective evolution of excess Nb atoms introduced into the lattice of host WSe2 crystal and subsequent displacement of metal atoms (W or Nb). This study provides a novel way to tailor the MTBs in 2D TMDC materials via proper metal doping and presents a new opportunities for exploring the intriguing properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Atomic-Precision Fabrication of Quasi-Full-Space Grain Boundaries in Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Precise control and in-depth understanding of the interfaces is crucial for the functionality-oriented material design with desired properties. Herein, via modifying the long-standing bicrystal strategy, we proposed a novel nanowelding approach to build up interfaces between two-dimensional (2D) materials with atomic precision. This method enabled us, for the first time, to experimentally achieve the quasi-full-parameter-space grain boundaries (GBs) in 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). It further helps us unravel the long-term controversy and confusion on the registry of GBs in h-BN, including i) discriminate the relative contribution of the strain and chemical energy on the registry of GBs; ii) identify a new dislocation core- Frank partial dislocation and four new anti-phase boundaries; and iii) confirm the universal GB faceting. Our work provides a new paradigm to the exploiting of structural-property correlation of interfaces in 2D materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

The study of intrinsic defect state of FeSe with scanning tunneling microscopy

We apply high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy to study intrinsic defect states of bulk FeSe. Four types of intrinsic defects including the type I dumbbell, type II dumbbell, top-layer Se vacancy and inner-layer Se-site defect are extensively analyzed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. From characterized depression and enhancement of density of states measured in a large energy range, the type I dumbbell and type II dumbbell are determined to be the Fe vacancy and Se$_\mathrm{Fe}$ defect, respectively. The top-layer Se vacancy and possible inner-layer Se-site vacancy are also determined by spectroscopy analysis. The determination of defects are compared and largely confirmed in the annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy measurement of the exfoliated FeSe. The detailed mapping of defect states in our experiment lays the foundation for a comparison with complex theoretical calculations in the future.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Grain Boundaries in Chemical Vapor Deposited Atomically Thin Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Large-area two-dimensional (2D) materials for technical applications can now be produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Unfortunately, grain boundaries (GBs) are ubiquitously introduced as a result of the coalescence of grains with different crystallographic orientations. It is well known that the properties of materials largely depend on GB structures. Here, we carried out a systematic study on the GB structures in CVD-grown polycrystalline h-BN monolayer films by transmission electron microscope. Interestingly, most of these GBs are revealed to be formed via overlapping between neighboring grains, which are distinct from the covalently bonded GBs as commonly observed in other 2D materials. Further density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the hydrogen plays an essential role in overlapping GB formation. This work provides an in-depth understanding of the microstructures and formation mechanisms of GBs in CVD-grown h-BN films, which should be informative in guiding the precisely controlled synthesis of large area single crystalline h-BN and other 2D materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Atomic process of oxidative etching in monolayer molybdenum disulfide

The microscopic process of oxidative etching of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (2D MoS2) at an atomic scale is investigated using a correlative TEM-etching study. MoS2 flakes on graphene TEM grids are precisely tracked and characterized by TEM before and after the oxidative etching. This allows us to determine the structural change with an atomic resolution on the edges of the domains, of well-oriented triangular pits and along the grain boundaries. We observe that the etching mostly starts from the open edges, grain boundaries and pre-existing atomic defects. A zigzag Mo edge is assigned as the dominant termination of the triangular pits, and profound terraces and grooves are observed on the etched edges. Based on the statistical TEM analysis, we reveal possible routes for the kinetics of the oxidative etching in 2D MoS2, which should also be applicable for other 2D transition metal dichalcogenide materials like MoSe2 and WS2.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

In-situ fabrication of Mo6S6 nanowire terminated edges in monolayer molybdenum disulfide

Edge structures are highly relevant to the electronic, magnetic and catalytic properties of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and their one dimensional (1D) counterpart, i.e., nanoribbons, which should be precisely tailored for the desirable applications. In this work, we report the formation of novel Mo6S6 nanowire (NW) terminated edges in a monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) via an e-beam irradiation process combined with high temperature heating in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). Atomic structures of NW terminated edges and the dynamic formation process were observed experimentally. Further analysis shows that NW terminated edge could form on both Mo-zigzag (ZZ) edge and S-ZZ edge which can exhibit even higher stability superior to the pristine zigzag (ZZ) and armchair (AC) edge. In addition, the analogous edge structures can be also formed in MoS2 nanoribbon and other TMDs material such as MoxW1-xSe2. We believe that the presence of these novel edge structures in 2D and 1D TMD materials may provide novel properties and new opportunities for their versatile applications including catalytic, spintronic and electronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Three-Leaf Dart-Shaped Single-Crystal BN Formation Promoted by Surface Oxygen

Two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) single crystals with various shapes have been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition over the past several years. Here we report the formation of three-leaf dart (3LD)-shaped single crystals of h-BN on Cu foil by atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The leaves of the 3LD-shaped h-BN are as long as 18 μm and their edges are smooth armchair on one side and stepped armchair on the other. Careful analysis revealed that surface oxygen plays an important role in the formation of the 3LD shape. Oxygen suppressed h-BN nucleation by passivating Cu surface active sites and lowered the edge attachment energy, which caused the growth kinetics to change to a diffusion-controlled mode.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Inversion Domain Boundary Induced Stacking and Bandstructure Diversity in Bilayer MoSe2

Interlayer rotation and stacking were recently demonstrated as effective strategies for tuning physical properties of various two-dimensional materials. The latter strategy was mostly realized in hetero-structures with continuously varied stacking orders, which obscure the revelation of the intrinsic role of a certain stacking order in its physical properties. Here, we introduce inversion-domain-boundaries into molecular-beam-epitaxy grown MoSe2 homo-bilayers, which induce unusual-fractional lattice translations to their surrounding domains, accounting for the observed diversity of large-area and uniform stacking sequences. Unusual low-symmetric stacking orders were observed using transmission electron microscopy and detailed geometries were identified by density functional theory. A linear relation was also revealed between interlayer distance and stacking energy. These stacking sequences yield various energy alignments between the valence states at Γ and K, showing stacking dependent bandgaps and valence band tail states in the measured scanning tunneling spectroscopy. These results may benefit the design of two-dimensional multilayers with manipulable stacking orders.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Direct identification of monolayer rhenium diselenide by an individual diffraction pattern

In the current extensive studies of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), compared to hexagonal layered materials, like graphene, hBN and MoS2, low symmetry layered 2D crystals showed great potential for applications in anisotropic devices. Rhenium diselenide (ReSe2) has the bulk space group P1 and belongs to triclinic crystal system with a deformed cadmium iodide type structure. Here we unambiguously determined monolayer and its vertical orientation of rhenium diselenide membrane with an individual electron diffraction pattern, which could be applicable to low symmetry crystal systems, including both triclinic and monoclinic lattices, as long as their third unit-cell basis vector is not perpendicular to basal plane. Atomically resolved image from probe corrected annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscope (ADF-STEM) was employed to validate layer number. Finally, experimental results were well explained by kinematical electron diffraction theory and corresponding simulations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Capture the growth kinetics of CVD growth of two-dimensional MoS2

Understanding the microscopic mechanism of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (2D MoS2) is a fundamental issue towards the function-oriented controlled growth. In this work, we report results on revealing the growth kinetics of 2D MoS2 via capturing the nucleation seed, evolution morphology, edge structure and terminations at the atomic scale during CVD growth using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) studies. The direct growth of few- and mono-layer MoS2 onto graphene based TEM grids allow us to perform the subsequent TEM characterization without any solution-based transfer. Two forms of seeding centers are observed during characterizations: (i) Mo-oxysulfide (MoOxS2-y) nanoparticles either in multi-shelled fullerene-like structures or in compact nanocrystals for the growth of fewer-layer MoS2; (ii) Mo-S atomic clusters in case of monolayer MoS2. In particular, for the monolayer case, at the early stage growth, the morphology appears in irregular polygon shape comprised with two primary edge terminations: S-Mo Klein edge and Mo zigzag edge, approximately in equal numbers, while as the growth proceeds, the morphology further evolves into near-triangle shape in which Mo zigzag edge predominates. Results from density-functional theory calculations are also consistent with the inferred growth kinetics, and thus supportive to the growth mechanism we proposed. In general, the growth mechanisms found here should also be applicable in other 2D materials, such as MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2 etc.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Deriving phosphorus atomic chain from few-layer black phosphorus

Phosphorus atomic chains, the utmost-narrow nanostructures of black phosphorus (BP), are highly relevant to the in-depth development of BP into one-dimensional (1D) regime. In this contribution, we report a top-down route to prepare atomic chains of BP via electron beam sculpting inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The growth and dynamics (i.e. rupture and edge migration) of 1D phosphorus chains are experimentally captured for the first time. Furthermore, the dynamic behaviors and associated energetics of the as-formed phosphorus chains are further corroborated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The 1D counterpart of BP will serve as a novel platform and inspire further exploration of the versatile properties of BP.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Probing the anisotropic behaviors of black phosphorus by transmission electron microscope, angular-dependent Raman spectra and electronic transports measurements

In this work, we correlated the angular dependence of the Raman response of black phosphorus to its crystallographic orientation by using transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the intensity of the A2g mode reached a maximum when the polarization direction of the incident light was parallel to the zigzag crystallographic orientation. Notably, it was further confirmed that the zigzag crystallographic direction exhibited superior conductance and carrier mobility. Because of the lattice extension along the armchair direction, an intensification of the anisotropic Raman response was observed. This work provides direct evidence of the correlation between anisotropic properties and crystallographic direction and represents a turning point in the discussion of the angular-dependent electronic properties of black phosphorus.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Controlled Synthesis of Organic/Inorganic van der Waals Solid for Tunable Light-matter Interactions

Van der Waals (vdW) solids, as a new type of artificial materials that consist of alternating layers bonded by weak interactions, have shed light on fascinating optoelectronic device concepts. As a result, a large variety of vdW devices have been engineered via layer-by-layer stacking of two-dimensional materials, although shadowed by the difficulties of fabrication. Alternatively, direct growth of vdW solids has proven as a scalable and swift way, highlighted by the successful synthesis of graphene/h-BN and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) vertical heterostructures from controlled vapor deposition. Here, we realize high-quality organic and inorganic vdW solids, using methylammonium lead halide (CH3NH3PbI3) as the organic part (organic perovskite) and 2D inorganic monolayers as counterparts. By stacking on various 2D monolayers, the vdW solids behave dramatically different in light emission. Our studies demonstrate that h-BN monolayer is a great complement to organic perovskite for preserving its original optical properties. As a result, organic/h-BN vdW solid arrays are patterned for red light emitting. This work paves the way for designing unprecedented vdW solids with great potential for a wide spectrum of applications in optoelectronics.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

Wafer-scale CVD Growth of Monolayer Hexagonal Boron Nitride with Large Domain Size by Cu Foil Enclosure Approach

Chemical vapor deposition synthesis of large domain hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with uniform thickness on Cu foils is of great challenge, originating from the extremely high nucleation densities and the reverse hydrogen etching competition reaction. We report herein the successful growth of wafer-scale high-quality h-BN monolayer film with the largest single crystalline domain sizes up to 72 micrometer in edge length using a folded Cu enclosure approach. The highly-confined growth space with this facile and unique approach enables the drastic decrease of nucleation centers together with the effective suppression of hydrogen etching reaction. It is revealed, for the first time, that the orientations of as-grown h-BN monolayers are strongly correlated with the crystalline facets of growth substrates, with the Cu (111) being the best substrate for growing high-quality single crystalline h-BN monolayer, consistent with the density functional theory calculations. The present study offers a practical pathway for growing high-quality h-BN films and deepens the fundamental understanding of h-BN growth process.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Dimensional cross-over of the bandgap transition in quasi-two-dimensional MoS2

The anisotropy of the electronic transition is an important physical property not only determining the materials' optical property, but also revealing the underlying character of the electronic states involved. Here we used momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy to study the evolution of the anisotropy of the electronic transition involving the low energy valence electrons in the free-standing MoS2 systems as the layer thickness was reduced to monolayer. We used the orientation and the spectral-density analysis to show that indirect to direct band-gap transition is accompanied by a three- to two-dimensional anisotropy cross-over. The result provides a logical explanation for the large sensitivity of indirect transition to the change of thickness compared with that for direct transition. By tracking the energy of indirect transition, we also revealed the asymmetric response of the valence band and conduction band to the quantum confinement effect. Our results have implication for future optoelectronic applications of atomic thin MoS2.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Plasma-assisted fabrication of monolayer phosphorene and its Raman characterization

There have been continuous efforts to seek for novel functional two-dimensional semiconductors with high performance for future applications in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. In this work, we introduce a successful experimental approach to fabricate monolayer phosphorene by mechanical cleavage and the following Ar+ plasma thinning process. The thickness of phosphorene is unambiguously determined by optical contrast combined with atomic force microscope (AFM). Raman spectroscopy is used to characterize the pristine and plasma-treated samples. The Raman frequency of A2g mode stiffens, and the intensity ratio of A2g to A1g modes shows monotonic discrete increase with the decrease of phosphorene thickness down to monolayer. All those phenomena can be used to identify the thickness of this novel two-dimensional semiconductor efficiently. This work for monolayer phosphorene fabrication and thickness determination will facilitates the research of phosphorene.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗