arXiv subjects

Tharangattu N. Narayanan

Publications and source records attributed to Tharangattu N. Narayanan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sonochemically Boosted Hydrogen Evolution Activity of Janus TMD Monolayers

2D electrocatalysts that enable hydrogen evolution at low overpotentials offer an attractive alternative to expensive platinum-based systems. Here, we report the growth of Janus transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers (MLs), SeMoS and SeWS, on Au foils using chemical vapor deposition, and systematically compare their catalytic properties in the context of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with those of their parent TMDs. The Janus MLs exhibited significantly enhanced catalytic performance relative to the parent TMDs. Furthermore, these MLs on Au foils were subjected to sonochemical treatment in polar and non-polar solvents, in which the treatment with polar solvents led to a substantial improvement in the HER activity of Janus MLs. In particular, SeMoS MLs treated with water showed a low overpotential of ~63 mV, a Tafel slope of ~42 mV/dec, and an exchange current density of ~10$^{-3}$ mA cm$^{- 2}$, approaching that of platinum. Analyses indicate that enhanced electrocatalytic activity is associated with tensile strain induced by Au surface restructuring and the formation of defects in Janus MLs, as shown by experimental observations and by density functional theory calculations. The enhancement in catalytic performance due to sonochemical treatment emphasizes the importance of our results for developing novel catalytic systems for HER based on Janus 2D materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Vanadium Doped Magnetic MoS2 Monolayers of Improved Electrical Conductivity as Spin-Orbit Torque Layer

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal di-chalcogenide layers with high electrical conductivity and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can find huge potential in spintronic devices. With limited success of 2D spin Hall material development, we demonstrate vanadium (V) substitutionally doped monolayer MoS2 (VMS) as a potential spin Hall material having tunable electrical conductivity, SOC strength, and room temperature magnetism. Systematic enhancement in the electrical conductivity is observed with the extent of V doping, where it is enhanced from ~0.3 S/m of MoS2 to ~100000 S/m upon doping to the level of 9 atomic%. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) based spin-pumping experiments indicate the spin transport across the junction of permalloy (Py) and VMS. Spin-torque FMR measurements demonstrate the suggesting latter's potential as a spin-orbit torque layer in 2D spintronic devices.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Photochargeable Li-ion Battery: Type II Heterojunction Exposes Underlying Band Gap in 'Metallic' Lithiated MoS2

Light chargeable metal-ion batteries using semiconductor heterostructures are gaining enormous interest. A few such heterostructures such as MoS2/MoOy and TiS2/TiO2 have been shown to function as photocathodes in photochargeable Li-ion batteries, where the type II set-up has been proposed to generate spatially separated (longer-lived) excitons upon photo-exposure. The Li intercalated MoS2, generated during the discharge cycle of the battery, undergoes a phase transition from the semiconducting (2H) to a metallic (1T) phase, in contrast to its TiS2 counterpart, casting a doubt over the photocharging process. Here, employing density functional theory based traditional as well as unconventional computational schemes along with relevant spectroscopic techniques, we show that in LixMoS2/MoO3 heterostructure an underlying band gap of LixMoS2 is exposed, upto a certain value of x, due to dispersion of electron density onto MoO3 justifying the observed photocharging. We believe that the general concepts explored in this study will be important in the rational design of photo-cathode materials in Li-ion batteries.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Photo-Rechargeable Li Ion Batteries using TiS2 Cathode

Photo-rechargeable (solar) battery can be considered as an energy harvesting cum storage system, where it can charge the conventional metal-ion battery using light instead of electricity, without having other parasitic reactions. Here we demonstrate a two-electrode lithium ion solar battery with multifaceted TiS2-TiO2 hybrid sheets as cathode. Choice of TiS2-TiO2 electrode ensures the formation of a type II semiconductor heterostructure while the lateral heterostructure geometry ensures high mass/charge transfer and light interactions with the electrode. TiS2 has a higher lithium binding energy (1.6 eV) than TiO2 (1.03 eV), ensuring the possibilities of higher amount of Li ion insertion to TiS2 and hence the maximum recovery with the photocharging, as further confirmed by the experiments. Apart from the demonstration of solar solid-state batteries, the charging of lithium ion full cell with light indicates the formation of lithium intercalated graphite compounds, ensuring the charging of the battery without any other parasitic reactions at the electrolyte or electrode-electrolyte interfaces. Possible mechanisms proposed here for the charging and discharging processes of solar batteries, based on our experimental and theoretical results, indicate the potential of such systems in forthcoming era of renewable energies.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

High-Sensitivity Characterization of Ultra-Thin Atomic Layers using Spin-Hall Effect of Light

Magnetic/non-magnetic/heterostructured ultra-thin films' characterisation is highly demanding due to the emerging diverse applications of such films. Diverse measurements are usually performed on such systems to infer their electrical, optical and magnetic properties. We demonstrate that MOKE-based spin-Hall effect of light (SHEL) is a versatile surface characterization tool for studying materials' magnetic and dielectric ordering. Using this technique, we measure magnetic field dependent complex Kerr angle and the coercivity in ultra-thin films of permalloy (Py) and at molybdenum disulphide (MoS$_2$) - permalloy (MSPy) hetero-structure interfaces. The measurements are compared with standard magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) studies to demonstrate that SHEL-MOKE is a practical alternative to the conventional MOKE method, with competitive sensitivity. A comprehensive theoretical model and simulation data are provided to further strengthen the potential of this simple non-invasive optical method. The theoretical model is applied to extract the optical conductivity and susceptibility of non-magnetic ultra-thin layers such as MoS$_2$ .

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

On the Existence of Photoluminescence and Room-Temperature Spin Polarization in Ambipolar V doped MoS$_2$ Monolayers

Opto-spintronics is an emerging field where ultra-thin magnetic-semiconductors having high spin-valley coupling play an important role. Here, we demonstrate substitutional vanadium (V) doping in MoS$_2$ lattice in different extent, leading to the coexistence of photoluminescence (PL), valleypolarization (~32%), and valley splitting (~28 meV shift in PL with helicity $σ^+$ and $σ^-$ of light excitation). A large V doping causes semiconductor to metal transition in MoS$_2$ but with medium level causing the existence of photoluminescence with high spin polarization. The ambipolar nature of medium level V doped MoS$_2$ is shown here indicating its potential as an opto-electronic material. The presence of V-dopants and their different level of content are proven by both spectroscopic and microscopic methods.A detailed temperature and power dependent photoluminescence studies along with density functional theory-based calculations in support unravels the emergence of the co-existence of spin-valley coupling and photoluminescence. This study shows the potential of doping MoS$_2$ for deriving new materials for next generation room temperature opto-spintronics.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Soft-Pinning: Experimental Validation of Static Correlations in Supercooled Molecular Glass-forming Liquids

Enormous enhancement in the viscosity of a liquid near its glass transition is generally connected to the growing many-body static correlations near the transition, often coined as `amorphous ordering'. Estimating the length scales of such correlations in different glass-forming liquids is highly important to unravel the physics of glass formation. Experiments on molecular glass-forming liquids become pivotal in this scenario as the viscosity grows several folds ($\sim 10^{14}$), simulations or colloidal glass experiments fail to access the long-time scales required. Here we design an experiment to extract the static length scales in molecular liquids using dilute amounts of another large molecule as a pinning site. Results from dielectric relaxation experiments on supercooled glycerol with different pinning concentrations of sorbitol and the simulations on a few model glass-forming liquids with pinning sites indicate the robustness of the proposed method, opening a plethora of opportunity to study the physics of other glass-forming liquids.

cond-mat.soft↗