Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1810.08927

Band Structure Engineering of Interfacial Semiconductors Based on Atomically Thin Lead Iodide Crystals

Abstract

To explore new constituents in two-dimensional materials and to combine their best in van der Waals heterostructures, are in great demand as being unique platform to discover new physical phenomena and to design novel functionalities in interface-based devices. Herein, PbI2 crystals as thin as few-layers are first synthesized, particularly through a facile low-temperature solution approach with the crystals of large size, regular shape, different thicknesses and high-yields. As a prototypical demonstration of flexible band engineering of PbI2-based interfacial semiconductors, these PbI2 crystals are subsequently assembled with several transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. The photoluminescence of MoS2 is strongly enhanced in MoS2/PbI2 stacks, while a dramatic photoluminescence quenching of WS2 and WSe2 is revealed in WS2/PbI2 and WSe2/PbI2 stacks. This is attributed to the effective heterojunction formation between PbI2 and these monolayers, but type I band alignment in MoS2/PbI2 stacks where fast-transferred charge carriers accumulate in MoS2 with high emission efficiency, and type II in WS2/PbI2 and WSe2/PbI2 stacks with separated electrons and holes suitable for light harvesting. Our results demonstrate that MoS2, WS2, WSe2 monolayers with very similar electronic structures themselves, show completely distinct light-matter interactions when interfacing with PbI2, providing unprecedent capabilities to engineer the device performance of two-dimensional heterostructures.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Yan Sun, Zhen Huang, Zishu Zhou, Jiangbin Wu, Liujiang Zhou, Yang Cheng, Jinqiu Liu, Chao Zhu, Maotao Yu, Peng Yu, Wei Zhu, Yue Liu, Jian Zhou, Bowen Liu, Hongguang Xie, Yi Cao, Hai Li, Xinran Wang, Kaihui Liu, Xiaoyong Wang, Jianpu Wang, Lin Wang, Wei Huang. 2019-01-07. Band Structure Engineering of Interfacial Semiconductors Based on Atomically Thin Lead Iodide Crystals. https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.08927

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Inverse Purcell Suppression of Decoherence in Majorana Qubits via Environmental Engineering

We show that the electromagnetic or phononic environment of a topological quantum device can be engineered to actively suppress decoherence. For a Majorana qubit in a superconducting wire, the exponentially small splitting $ε\sim e^{-L/ξ}$ that provides topological protection also makes the qubit vulnerable to low-frequency noise. From a microscopic local interaction, we derive the effective low-energy coupling between the Majorana parity operator and a bosonic field; the coupling strength itself is proportional to $ε$, reflecting the qubit's non-local nature. The resulting pure-dephasing rate scales as $Γ_ϕ\propto ε^2 S(ε)$, with $S(ε)$ the environmental noise power at frequency $ε$. In the experimentally relevant high-temperature regime ($k_B T \gtrsim \hbarε$), this gives $Γ_ϕ\propto ερ(ε) T$, where $ρ(ε)$ is the environmental density of states. By engineering an environment with a suppressed low-frequency density of states, $ρ_{\text{eng}}(ω) = ρ_0 (ω/ω_c)^α$ for $ω< ω_c$ ($α> 0$), the dephasing rate drops to $Γ_ϕ^{\text{eng}} \propto ε^{α+1} \propto e^{-(α+1)L/ξ}$. Thus, longer wires yield exponentially better coherence---a direct synergy with topological protection. This "inverse Purcell" effect, which suppresses the density of states at the qubit frequency, provides a quantitative design principle for environmental engineering. Our work establishes spectral density shaping as a practical method for enhancing coherence in topological quantum devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Axionic tunneling from a topological Kondo insulator

Discoveries over the past two decades have revealed the remarkable ability of quantum materials to emulate relativistic properties of the vacuum, from Dirac cones in graphene to Dirac surface states of topological insulators. Yet one of the most elusive consequences of topology in quantum matter -- the axionic ${\bf E}\cdot{\bf B}$ contribution to the electromagnetic response, predicted to produce strong magnetoelectric effects -- remains experimentally challenging to detect. Here we report evidence for an axion-like magnetoelectric response obtained through scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) using a SmB$_6$ nanowire tip on an antiferromagnetic Fe$_{1+x}$Te sample. Our measurements reveal a striking voltage-induced magnetization: millivolt biases generate measurable tip magnetizations that reverse with the voltage. The magnitude, tunability, and reversibility of this signal are consistent with an axion-like ${\bf E} \cdot {\bf B}$ coupling, which naturally accounts for the voltage-odd magnetic component of the tip spectral function while strongly constraining a conventional static-magnetism interpretation. Moreover, millivolt-scale control of spin polarization in a tunnel junction provides a new route for probing axionic electrodynamics and opens avenues for future STM and spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Exciton-mediated optical control of liquid-solid friction

Interfacial friction in nanofluidic systems can arise from fluctuation-induced coupling between liquid charge fluctuations and the internal excitations of the confining solid. Here, we develop a microscopic theory of exciton-mediated solid-liquid friction based on the coupling between optically generated excitons and charge fluctuations in water. We distinguish between static excitons, localized by disorder or functionalization, and dynamic excitons, which interact with water through polarization fluctuations. In both cases, we derive analytical formulas for the excitonic friction, which is experimentally tunable and can significantly reduce the slip length and thereby the hydraulic permeability of nanochannels. Applying our framework to carbon nanotubes, we quantitatively reproduce the recent measurements of Kistwal et al., showing a reduction of nanotube diffusion under optical excitation, without fitting parameters. More broadly, our results establish excitons as a mechanism to optically control nanofluidic transport and suggest that excitonic photoluminescence could provide an optical probe of flow velocity inside nanochannels.

cond-mat.mes-hall