Chuanshan Tian

Gate-Variable Optical Transitions in Graphene

Two-dimensional graphene monolayers and bilayers exhibit fascinating electrical transport behaviors. Using infrared spectroscopy, we find that they also have strong interband transitions and that their optical transitions can be substantially modified through electrical gating, much like electrical transport in field-effect transistors. This gate dependence of interband transitions adds a valuable dimension for optically probing graphene band structure. For a graphene monolayer, it yields directly the linear band dispersion of Dirac fermions, whereas in a bilayer, it reveals a dominating van Hove singularity arising from interlayer coupling. The strong and layer-dependent optical transitions of graphene and the tunability by simple electrical gating hold promise for new applications in infrared optics and optoelectronics.

Structure and charging of hydrophobic material/water interfaces studied by phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy

We have studied the hydrophobic water/octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) interface by using the phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (PS-SFVS), and we obtained detailed structural information of the interface at the molecular level. Excess ions emerging at the interface were detected by changes of the surface vibrational spectrum induced by the surface field created by the excess ions. Both hydronium (H3O+) and hydroxide (OH−) ions were found to adsorb at the interface, and so did other negative ions such as Cl−. By varying the ion concentrations in the bulk water, their adsorption isotherms were measured. It was seen that among the three, OH− has the highest adsorption energy, and H3O+ has the lowest; OH− also has the highest saturation coverage, and Cl− has the lowest. The result shows that even the neat water/OTS interface is not neutral, but charged with OH− ions. The result also explains the surprising observation that the isoelectric point appeared at ∼3.0 when HCl was used to decrease the pH starting from neat water.

Isotopic Dilution Study of the Water/Vapor Interface by Phase-Sensitive Sum-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy

Phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (PS-SFVS) has been used to probe the isotopically diluted water/vapor interfaces in the spectral regions of OD (2200-2800 cm(-1)) and OH (3000-3800 cm(-1)) stretches. The experimentally measured Im chiS(2) spectra, where chiS(2) is the surface nonlinear susceptibility, permit direct characterization of resonances of the interfaces. The Im chiS(2) spectrum of the HDO/vapor interface that is intrinsically simpler to analyze can be deduced from the result of isotopic dilution. It exhibits in the bonded-OH region a broad band comprising two parts with opposite signs, in contrast to those deduced earlier from fitting of the |chiS(2)|2 spectra and those calculated by MD simulation, but consistent with that obtained for the H2O/vapor interface.

Structures and charging of alpha-alumina (0001)/water interfaces studies by sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy

Sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy in the OH stretch region was employed to study structures of water/alpha-Al2O3 (0001) interfaces at different pH values. Observed spectra indicate that protonation and deprotonation of the alumina surface dominate at low and high pH, respectively, with the interface positively and negatively charged accordingly. The point of zero charge (pzc) appears at pH approximately = 6.3, which is close to the values obtained from streaming potential and second-harmonic generation studies. It is significantly lower than the pzc of alumina powder. The result can be understood from the pK values of protonation and deprotonation at the water/alpha-Al2O3 (0001) interface. The pzc of amorphous alumina was found to be similar to that of powder alumina.

Surface structure of protonated R-plane-sapphire (1-102) studied by sum frequency vibrational spectroscopy

Sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy was used to study the protonated R-plane (1102) sapphire surface. The OH stretch vibrational spectra show that the surface is terminated with three hydroxyl moieties, two from AlOH(2) and one from Al(2)OH functional groups. The observed polarization dependence allows determination of the orientations of the three OH species. The results suggest that the protonated sapphire (1102) surface differs from an ideal stoichiometric termination in a manner consistent with previous X-ray surface diffraction (crystal truncation rod) studies. However, in order to best explain the observed hydrogen-bonding arrangement, surface oxygen spacing determined from the X-ray diffraction study requires modification.

Optical transitions in monolayer and bilayer graphene

Optical transitions in grapheme are studied by infrared spectroscopy. The interband transitions in graphene monolayers show a relatively flat spectrum, while those in bilayers are dominated by a van-Hove singularity.