Search

A facile, ultralow-cost, and up-scalable printable manufacturing process of flexible, multifunctional sensors that respond to more than one external stimulus could have a pivotal role in low-cost wearables and portable systems for Industry 4.0. Herein, using a low capex, in-house spray coating system, the fabrication of a low-cost photodetector that is tuneable by mechanical strain exploiting the piezo-phototronic nature of defect-free 2D In2Se3 nanosheets is reported. Moreover, force sensors that respond to different levels of applied force are spray-coated by using In2Se3 nanosheets. Regarding the photodetector, a nonmonotonic and asymmetric effect of strain on photocurrent response is shown exhibiting a local maximum at the 23°–32° compressive angle range and a slight hysteresis. Forward compressive bending leads to a photocurrent enhancement by 27% at 32° and reverse by 31% at 23°, while tensile strain leads to a current suppression by 8–10% at 23°–32° angle. The resulting force sensor repeatably demonstrates discrete piezoelectric voltages in the millivolt scale upon different mass loads, opening the path for force and tactile sensing applications. Applying industrially compatible materials for the underlying flexible substrate and electrodes, combined with spray coating, removes manufacturing complexities that engage costly and energy intensive fabrication.

We explore the electronic structure of paramagnetic CrSBr by comparative first principles calculations and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We theoretically approximate the paramagnetic phase using a supercell hosting spin configurations with broken long-range order and applying quasiparticle self-consistent $GW$ theory, without and with the inclusion of excitonic vertex corrections to the screened Coulomb interaction (QS$GW$ and QS$G\hat{W}$, respectively). Comparing the quasi-particle band structure calculations to angle-resolved photoemission data collected at 200 K results in excellent agreement. This allows us to qualitatively explain the significant broadening of some bands as arising from the broken magnetic long-range order and/or electronic dispersion perpendicular to the quasi two-dimensional layers of the crystal structure. The experimental band gap at 200 K is found to be at least 1.51 eV at 200 K. At lower temperature, no photoemission data can be collected as a result of charging effects, pointing towards a significantly larger gap, which is consistent with the calculated band gap of $\approx$ 2.1 eV., 11 pages, 12 figures

Here, we investigate the role of the interlayer magnetic ordering of CrSBr in the framework of $\textit{ab initio}$ calculations and by using optical spectroscopy techniques. These combined studies allow us to unambiguously determine the nature of the optical transitions. In particular, photoreflectance measurements, sensitive to the direct transitions, have been carried out for the first time. We have demonstrated that optically induced band-to-band transitions visible in optical measurement are remarkably well assigned to the band structure by the momentum matrix elements and energy differences for the magnetic ground state (A-AFM). In addition, our study reveals significant differences in electronic properties for two different interlayer magnetic phases. When the magnetic ordering of A-AFM to FM is changed, the crucial modification of the band structure reflected in the direct-to-indirect band gap transition and the significant splitting of the conduction bands along the $\Gamma-Z$ direction are obtained. In addition, Raman measurements demonstrate a splitting between the in-plane modes $B^2_{2g}$/$B^2_{3g}$, which is temperature dependent and can be assigned to different interlayer magnetic states, corroborated by the DFT+U study. Moreover, the $B^2_{2g}$ mode has not been experimentally observed before. Finally, our results point out the origin of interlayer magnetism, which can be attributed to electronic rather than structural properties. Our results reveal a new approach for tuning the optical and electronic properties of van der Waals magnets by controlling the interlayer magnetic ordering in adjacent layers., Comment: 33 pages, 15 figures

P.O. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Project MCIU-19-RTI2018-094218-BI00).

Samples with different Bi2O3/Co2O3 ratio were prepared by ceramic route. Based on the results of DTA, XRD and SEM – EDX a section of phase diagram of the Bi–Co–O diagram in air atmosphere was calculated using the FactSage software. The sillenite structure of Bi24+xCo2-xO39 was confirmed and described. The Rietveld analysis confirmed SEM – EDX results. The heat capacity and enthalpy increments of Bi24Co2O39 were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) from 258 K to 355 K and by the drop calorimetry from 573 K to 973 K. Above room temperature the temperature dependence of the molar heat capacity in the form Cpm = (1467.87 + 0.299410 · T – 15888378 · T-2) J K-1 mol-1 was derived by least-squares method from the experimental data.

Presented experiments utilize methanolic solution of zinc acetyl-acetonate as a precursor and sapphire (001) as a substrate for deposition of thin films of ZnO. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed polycrystalline character of prepared films with preferential growth orientation along c-axis. The roughness of prepared films was assessed by AFM microscopy and represented by roughness root mean square (RMS) value in range of 1.8 - 433 nm. The surface morphology was mapped by scanning electron microscopy showing periodical structure with several local defects. The optical transmittance spectrum of ZnO films was measured in wavelength range of 200-1000 nm. Prepared films are transparent in visible range with sharp ultra-violet cut-off at approximately 370 nm. Raman spectroscopy confirmed wurtzite structure and the presence of compressive stress within its structure as well as the occurrence of oxygen vacancies. The four-point Van der Pauw method was used to study the transport prosperities. The resistivity of presented ZnO films was found 8 × 10–2 Ω cm with carrier density of 1.3 × 1018 cm–3 and electron mobility of 40 cm2 V–1 s–1.

We present the synthesis and characterization of ZnTM2O4 spinels (where TM = Cr3+, Mn3+, Fe3+ and Co3+), which are possible impurity phases in TM-doped ZnO that represent a large family of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS). The aim of our study was to find a uniform technique simplifying the whole synthesis of zinc spinels and their magnetic characterization. The synthesis was carried out by a conventional ceramic route with one calcination and two sintering steps. The structure of the prepared samples was proofed by X-ray diffraction analysis and magnetic properties were studied using SQUID magnetometer. Excluding the cobalt spinel, all spinels were singe phase and showed antiferromagnetic behavior.

2D magnets represent material systems in which magnetic order and topological phase transitions can be observed. Based on these phenomena, novel types of computing architectures and magnetoelectronic devices can be envisaged. Unlike conventional magnetic films, their magnetism is independent of the substrate and interface qualities, and 2D magnetic properties manifest even in formally bulk single crystals. However, 2D magnetism in layered materials is rarely reported often due to weak exchange interactions and magnetic anisotropy, and low magnetic transition temperatures. Here, the electron spin resonance (ESR) properties of a layered antiferromagnetic CrSBr single crystal are reported. The W-like shape angular dependence of the ESR linewidth provides a signature for room temperature spin–spin correlations and for the XY spin model. By approaching the Néel temperature the arising of competing intralayer ferromagnetic and interlayer antiferromagnetic interactions might lead to the formation of vortex and antivortex pairs. This argument is inferred by modeling the temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth with the topological Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition. These findings together with the chemical stability and semiconducting properties, make CrSBr a promising layered magnet for future magneto- and topological-electronics.

Liquid phase exfoliation is a commonly used method to produce 2D nanosheets from a range of layered crystals. However, such nanosheets display broad size and thickness distributions and correlations between area and thickness, issues that limit nanosheet application potential. To understand the factors controlling the exfoliation process, we have liquid-exfoliated 11 different layered materials, size-selecting each into fractions before using AFM to measure the nanosheet length, width, and thickness distributions for each fraction. The resultant data show a clear power-law scaling of nanosheet area with thickness for each material. We have developed a simple nonequilibrium thermodynamics-based model predicting that the power-law prefactor is proportional to both the ratios of in-plane-tearing/out-of-plane-peeling energies and in-plane/out-of-plane moduli. By comparing the experimental data with the modulus ratio calculated from first-principles, we find close agreement between experiment and theory. This supports our hypothesis that energy equipartition holds between nanosheet tearing and peeling during sonication-assisted exfoliation., Accepted Manuscript (30 pages) and Supporting Information (68 pages)

Graphene oxide foils implanted with copper ions at low energy and high dose, have been proposed as hybrid graphene-based materials suitable to be laser irradiated in vacuum to produce hot plasmas. The special lattice structure of the graphene oxide foil can improve the propagation of the laser accelerated electrons inside the foil and to enhance the electron density emerging from the rear foil surface. In such conditions the electric field developed in the non-equilibrium plasma increases and consequently in the forward ion acceleration. The foils have been optimized in thickness and they were irradiated with optimized laser parameters in order to produce high energy and quasi-monoenergetic proton beams by the femtosecond laser at the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion in Warsaw, Poland. Gaf chromic film and silicon carbide detectors were used to monitor the plasma properties and to measure the velocity of the emitted protons and carbon ions from plasma.