Jia-Tao Sun

Spatially Resolved Electronic Structures of Atomically Precise Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons

Graphene has attracted much interest in both academia and industry. The challenge of making it semiconducting is crucial for applications in electronic devices. A promising approach is to reduce its physical size down to the nanometer scale. Here, we present the surface-assisted bottom-up fabrication of atomically precise armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) with predefined widths, namely 7-, 14- and 21-AGNRs, on Ag(111) as well as their spatially resolved width-dependent electronic structures. STM/STS measurements reveal their associated electron scattering patterns and the energy gaps over 1 eV. The mechanism to form such AGNRs is addressed based on the observed intermediate products. Our results provide new insights into the local properties of AGNRs, and have implications for the understanding of their electrical properties and potential applications.

Epitaxial Growth and Air-Stability of Monolayer Antimonene on PdTe2

Monolayer antimonene is fabricated on PdTe2 by an epitaxial method. Monolayer antimonene is theoretically predicted to have a large bandgap for nanoelectronic devices. Air-exposure experiments indicate amazing chemical stability, which is great for device fabrication. A method to fabricate high-quality monolayer antimonene with several great properties for novel electronic and optoelectronic applications is provided.

Copper phthalocyanine on hydrogenated and bare diamond (001)-2 x 1: influence of interfacial interactions on molecular orientations.

The molecular orientations of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) organic semiconductor molecules on hydrogenated and bare diamond (001)-2 x 1 surfaces are studied using synchrotron-based photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Angular-dependent NEXAFS reveals that the CuPc molecular assemblies are orientationally ordered and lying down on hydrogenated diamond, whereas they undergo a molecular reorientation on bare diamond from lying down at submonolayer coverage to standing up in multilayers. The molecular film on bare diamond also exhibits an order-disorder-order transition in the molecular orientations. The distinct molecular orientation within the CuPc films on both diamond (001) surfaces is explained in terms of the interplay between intermolecular interactions and molecule-substrate interactions.

Nonlinear Rashba spin splitting in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers

Single-layer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS2 and MoSe2 exhibit unique electronic band structures ideal for hosting many exotic spin-orbital orderings. It has been widely accepted that Rashba spin splitting (RSS) is linearly proportional to the external field in heterostructure interfaces or to the potential gradient in polar materials. Surprisingly, an extraordinary nonlinear dependence of RSS is found in semiconducting TMD monolayers under a gate field. In contrast to small and constant RSS in polar materials, the potential gradient in non-polar TMDs gradually increases with the gate bias, resulting in nonlinear RSS with a Rashba coefficient an order-of-magnitude larger than the linear one. Most strikingly, under a large gate field MoSe2 demonstrates the largest anisotropic spin splitting among all known semiconductors to our knowledge. Based on the k·p model via symmetry analysis, we identify that the third-order contributions are responsible for the large nonlinear Rashba splitting. The gate tunable spin splitting found in semiconducting pristine TMD monolayers promises future spintronics applications in that spin polarized electrons can be generated by external gating in an experimentally accessible way.

The origin of half-metallicity in conjugated electron systems—a study on transition-metal-doped graphyne

We studied the mechanism of half-metallicity (HM) formation in transition-metal-doped conjugated carbon based structures by first-principles electronic structure simulations. It is found that the HM is a rather complex phenomenon, determined by the ligand field splitting of d-orbitals of the transition metal atoms, the exchange splitting and the number of valence electrons. Since most of the conjugated carbon based structures possess ligands with intermediate strength, the ordering of the d-orbital splitting is similar in all structures, and the HM properties evolve according to the number of valence electrons. Based on this insight we predict that Cr-, Fe- and Co-doped graphyne will show HM, while Mn- and Ni-doped graphyne will not. By tuning the number of valence electrons, we are thus able to control the emergence of HM and control the energy gaps evolving in the majority or minority spin channels.

Competition between Hexagonal and Tetragonal Hexabromobenzene Packing on Au(111)

Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope investigations reveal that hexabromobenzene (HBB) molecules arrange in either hexagonally closely packed (hcp) [Formula: see text] or tetragonal [Formula: see text] structure on Au(111) dependent on a small substrate temperature difference around 300 K. The underlying mechanism is investigated by density functional theory calculations, which reveal that substrate-mediated intermolecular noncovalent C-Br···Br-C attractions induce hcp HBB islands, keeping the well-known Au(111)-22×√3 reconstruction intact. Upon deposition at 330 K, HBB molecules trap freely diffusing Au adatoms to form tetragonal islands. This enhances the attraction between HBB and Au(111) but partially reduces the intermolecular C-Br···Br-C attractions, altering the Au(111)-22×√3 reconstruction. In both cases, the HBB molecule adsorbs on a bridge site, forming a ∼15° angle between the C-Br direction and [112̅]Au, indicating the site-specific molecule-substrate interactions. We show that the competition between intermolecular and molecule-substrate interactions determines molecule packing at the subnanometer scale, which will be helpful for crystal engineering, functional materials, and organic electronics.

Theoretical investigation of the electronic structures and carrier transport of hybrid graphene and boron nitride nanostructure

Recently hybrid graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (C-BN) nanostructures receive much research interest due to the complementary electronic properties. Graphene is a zero-gap semiconductor, while hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a wide gap semiconductor. Here we studied the electronic structures and carrier transport of hybrid C-BN nanostructures by using first principles calculations and deformation potential theory. We have found that the physical quantities in these systems under study, band gap, effective mass, deformation potential, and carrier mobility, can be categorised into three different families depending on the width of graphene nanoribbon. This family behavior is similar to pristine armchair graphene nanoribbon, but with slight difference from the individual component. New opportunities of designing nanoelectric devices are discussed by utilizing the quantum confinement effect based on such kind of hybrid nanostructures.

Tuning magnetic splitting of zigzag graphene nanoribbons by edge functionalization with hydroxyl groups

The electronic properties and relative stability of zigzag graphene nanoribbons are studied by varying the percentage of hydroxyl radicals for edge saturation using first principle calculations. The passivated structures of zigzag graphene nanoribbon have spin-polarized ground state with antiferromagnetic exchange coupling across the edge and ferromagnetic coupling along the edges. When the edges are specially passivated by hydroxyl, the potentials of spin exchange interaction across the two edges shift accordingly, resulting into a spin-semiconductor. Varying the concentration of hydroxyl groups can alter the maximum magnetization splitting. When the percentage of asymmetrically adsorbed hydroxyl reaches 50%, the magnetization splitting can reach a value as high as 275meV due to the asymmetrical potential across the nanoribbon edges. These results would favor spintronic device applications based on zigzag graphene nanoribbons. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC .[ http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4915337]

Epitaxial Growth of Flat Antimonene Monolayer: A New Honeycomb Analogue of Graphene

Group-V elemental monolayers were recently predicted to exhibit exotic physical properties such as nontrivial topological properties, or a quantum anomalous Hall effect, which would make them very suitable for applications in next-generation electronic devices. The free-standing group-V monolayer materials usually have a buckled honeycomb form, in contrast with the flat graphene monolayer. Here, we report epitaxial growth of atomically thin flat honeycomb monolayer of group-V element antimony on a Ag(111) substrate. Combined study of experiments and theoretical calculations verify the formation of a uniform and single-crystalline antimonene monolayer without atomic wrinkles, as a new honeycomb analogue of graphene monolayer. Directional bonding between adjacent Sb atoms and weak antimonene-substrate interaction are confirmed. The realization and investigation of flat antimonene honeycombs extends the scope of two-dimensional atomically-thick structures and provides a promising way to tune topological properties for future technological applications.

Intrinsic valley polarization of magnetic VSe2 monolayers

Intrinsic valley polarization can be obtained in VSe2 monolayers with broken inversion symmetry and time reversal symmetry. First-principles investigations reveal that the magnitude of the valley splitting in magnetic VSe2 induced by spin-orbit coupling reaches as high as 78.2 meV and can be linearly tuned by biaxial strain. Besides conventional polarized light, hole doping or illumination with light of proper frequency can offer effective routes to realize valley polarization. Moreover, spin-orbit coupling in monolayer VSe2 breaks not only the valley degeneracy but also the three-fold rotational symmetry in band structure. The intrinsic and tunable valley splitting and the breaking of optical isotropy bring additional benefits to valleytronic and optoelectronic applications.