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MoS2-graphene heterostructure nanopores can prolong the dwell time of BSA molecules up to more than 100 ms compared with other kinds of nanopores.

High-density semiconducting aligned carbon nanotube (A-CNT) arrays have been demonstrated with wafer-scale preparation of materials and have shown high performance in P-type field-effect transistors (FETs) and great potential for applications in future digital integrated circuits (ICs). However, high-performance N-type FETs (N-FETs) have not yet been implemented with A-CNTs, making development of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, a necessary component for modern digital ICs, impossible. In this work, we reveal the mechanism hindering the realization of A-CNT N-FETs contacted by low-work-function metals and develop corresponding solutions to promote the performance of N-FETs to that of P-type FETs (P-FETs). The fabricated scandium (Sc)-contacted A-CNT N-FET with a 100 nm gate length exhibits an on-state current (

A mechanistic understanding of interactions between atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and their growth substrates is important for achieving the unidirectional alignment of nuclei and seamless stitching of 2D TMD domains and thus 2D wafers. In this work, we conduct a cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) study to investigate the atomic-scale nucleation and early stage growth behaviors of chemical vapor deposited monolayer (ML-) MoS

Solid-state nanopores play an important role in sensing single-biomolecules such as DNA and proteins. However, an ultra-short translocation time hinders nanopores from acquiring more detailed information about biomolecules, and further applications such as sequencing and molecular structure analysis are limited. Related studies have shown that MoS

We have demonstrated air-stable n-type single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based field-effect transistors (FETs) with hafnium (Hf) contacts. Unlike previously reported p-type characteristics for ...

Transistors on aligned semiconducting carbon nanotubes (A-CNTs) have been considered a promising substitute for mainstream Si transistors to extend integrated circuit (IC) technology owing to their potential advantages of easy miniaturization and high energy efficiency, but whether A-CNT FETs can be scalably fabricated with ultrascaled whole dimensions while maintaining high performance remains questionable. Here, we explore the whole size scaling down potential of A-CNT transistors and demonstrate the possibility of implementing such small-geometry transistors in ultra-large-scale ICs that consist of billions of transistors. A-CNT transistors with a contacted gate pitch (CGP) of 175 nm have been achieved by simultaneously scaling the gate length and the contact length, and exhibit an on-current of 2.24 mA/μm and a peak transconductance of 1.64 mS/μm, surpassing silicon 45 nm node transistors in terms of both size and electronic performance. A static random-access memory (SRAM) cell has been built using six A-CNT transistors in an area of 0.967 μm2, which is comparable to the commercial silicon 90 nm technology node and is the smallest SRAM cell based on non-Si semiconductors. Furthermore, a full-contact structure is introduced between the metal and A-CNTs to achieve a contact resistance as low as 90 Ω·μm and to reduce the dependence on the contact length. A-CNT transistors downsized to a CGP of 55 nm (corresponding to the silicon 10 nm technology node) have been demonstrated to outperform 10 nm Si MOS transistors in terms of carrier mobility and Fermi velocity, indicating the tremendous potential of A-CNT transistors in high-performance digital ICs of sub 10 nm nodes.

The selective synthesis of energetically less favorable ring-shaped nanostructures by liquid phase synthetic chemistry is a huge challenge. Herein, we report a precise synthesis of carbon nanorings with a well-defined morphology and tunable thickness based on asymmetric intramicellar phase-transition-induced tip-to-tip assembly via mixing hydrophobic long-chain octadecanol and block copolymer F127. This orientational self-assembly depends on the hydrophobicity difference of the intermediate’s surface, which triggers directional interactions that surpass the entropy cost of undesired connections and help assemble intermediates into defined ringlike structures. Based on a ringlike template, carbon nanorings with adjustable sizes can be attained by changing synthetic variables. More importantly, diverse units including crescentlike, podlike, and garlandlike nanostructures can also be created through controlling the kinetics of the self-assembly process. This discovery lays a solid foundation for the challenging construction of such a precise configuration on the nanoscale, which would not only promote fundamental studies but also pave the way for the development of advanced nanodevices with unique properties., Carbon nanorings with a well-defined morphology and tunable thickness have been selectively synthesized via asymmetric intramicellar phase-transition-induced tip-to-tip assembly.

Understanding the formation mechanism of nanocrystals in solution is fundamental to the development of materials science. For a metal nanocrystal, the cluster-mediated formation mechanism is still poorly understood. In particular, identifying what types of clusters are dominant and how they evolve into a nanocrystal in the early nucleation stage remains a great challenge. Here, using liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy, we directly observe the formation of ultrasmall Au clusters (∼0.84 nm) in the presence of PAA-Na. These clusters, which correspond to the size of the Au13 cluster, coalesce to form nanocrystals. Our molecular dynamics simulations suggest that Au13 in an aqueous environment has greater stability when compared to other cluster sizes and provide atomistic details of growth by cluster coalescence. Collectively, our demonstration of Au13 as the dominant species with an elaboration of their coalescence kinetics sheds light on nonclassical nanocrystal formation mechanisms and offers useful guidelines for designing innovative pathways for the synthesis of nanomaterials.

Defects play vital roles in tailoring structures and properties of materials including the atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials, and increasing demands are requested to find effective ways to realize the defect engineering, i.e., tuning the defects and thus the materials’ structure–property in a well-controlled way. Herein, we propose a novel method to tune the structures and configurations of one-dimensional (1D) line defects in monolayer MoS2 via mass transport induced structural transformation. By using atomic-resolved annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM), we demonstrate in situ that sulfur vacancy line defect can be healed locally into defect-free MoS2 lattice via the desorption of Mo atoms from vacancy lines and adsorption into a moving Mo cluster. Furthermore, directional transport of Mo atoms (or Mo cluster) along the sulfur vacancy lines can induce the formation of Mo chains. Such a mass transport induced defect tuning provides more operational routes for the rational defect designing and property tuning in MoS2 as well as other related 2D materials.

Epidermal electronic systems that simultaneously provide physiological information acquisition, processing, and storage are in high demand for health care/clinical applications. However, these system-level demonstrations using flexible devices are still challenging because of obstacles in device performance, functional module construction, or integration scale. Here, on the basis of carbon nanotubes, we present an epidermal system that incorporates flexible sensors, sensor interface circuits, and an integrated flash memory array to collect physiological information from the human body surface; amplify weak biosignals by high-performance differential amplifiers (voltage gain of 27 decibels, common-mode rejection ratio of >43 decibels, and gain bandwidth product of >22 kilohertz); and store the processed information in the memory array with performance on par with industrial standards (retention time of 10 8 seconds, program/erase voltages of ±2 volts, and endurance of 10 6 cycles). The results shed light on the great application potential of epidermal electronic systems in personalized diagnostic and physiological monitoring.

Biological nervous systems evolved in nature have marvelous information processing capacities, which have great reference value for modern information technologies. To expand the function of electronic devices with applications in smart health monitoring and treatment, wearable energy-efficient computing, neuroprosthetics, etc., flexible artificial synapses for neuromorphic computing will play a crucial role. Here, carbon nanotube-based ferroelectric synaptic transistors are realized on ultrathin flexible substrates via a low-temperature approach not exceeding 90 °C to grow ferroelectric dielectrics in which the single-pulse, paired-pulse, and repetitive-pulse responses testify to well-mimicked plasticity in artificial synapses. The long-term potentiation and long-term depression processes in the device demonstrate a dynamic range as large as 2000×, and 360 distinguishable conductance states are achieved with a weight increase/decrease nonlinearity of no more than 1 by applying stepped identical pulses. The stability of the device is verified by the almost unchanged performance after the device is kept in ambient conditions without additional passivation for 240 days. An artificial neural network-based simulation is conducted to benchmark the hardware performance of the neuromorphic devices in which a pattern recognition accuracy of 95.24% is achieved.

Mirror twin grain boundary (MTB) defects, being a special type of high-symmetry one-dimensional (1D) defects in two-dimensional atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), have received considerable interest due to their unique structures and intriguing 1D properties. However, formation and distribution of MTBs in hybrid TMDC materials such as heterojunction remain scarcely studied. Herein, we investigate the spatial distribution, lattice registry and formation mechanism of MTBs in molecular beam epitaxy grown monolayer WSe2–MoSe2 lateral heterojunctions using atomic-resolution annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM). MTBs manifest a much higher density in MoSe2 than in WSe2 domains with a few of them spanning coherently across the domain interface. Compositionally, a Mo-dominant rather than W-dominant configuration was observed in those MTBs located in WSe2 domains and its origin can be attributed to the preferable Mo substitution to W along the MTBs occurring at the later MoSe2 growth period. This proposed mechanism is supported by ab-initio density functional theory calculations and substitution dynamics captured by in-situ ADF-STEM. The present study deepens our understanding of MTBs in heterostructured TMDCs, which may also serve as an excellent platform for the exploration of intriguing 1D physics.

Oxidative etching possesses an enriched flexibility and atomic-level accuracy in tailoring the size, morphology, surface structure, and composition of colloidal nanocrystals toward their catalytic ...

As symmetry-breaking interfaces, edges inevitably influence material properties, particularly for low-dimensional materials such as two-dimensional (2D) graphene and black phosphorus (BP). Hence, exploiting pristine edge structures and the associated edge reconstruction is important. In this study, we revealed edge reconstruction and evolution in monolayer BP (ML-BP) via in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Under our typical experimental conditions, spontaneous edge reconstruction occurred in all types of as-prepared edges that include zigzag, Klein zigzag, diagonal, and Klein diagonal edges. Reconstruction induces a periodic variation of the bond length and bond angles of edge atoms: an out-of-plane bending for zigzag and diagonal edge atoms and a dimerization for two neighboring edge atoms on the Klein edge, respectively. Surface atom diffusion can also induce edge structural evolution as evidenced by the atomic scale dynamics captured for the zigzag edge. Experimentally resolved edge configurations and reconstruction were further corroborated by ab initio first-principles calculations. This study explores the understanding of the edge stability in 2D BP materials and may provide routes for precisely controlled edge structure engineering.

An in-depth understanding and precise controlling of grain boundary (GB) motion at the atomic scale are crucial for grain growth and recrystallization in polycrystalline materials. So far, the reported studies mainly focus on the GB motion in the ideal bicrystal system, while the atomic mechanisms of GB motion in polycrystals remain poorly understood. Herein, taking two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a model system, we experimentally investigated the atomic-scale mechanisms of the GB motion in 2D polycrystals. Since GB motion is directly related to the GB structures, this article is organized following the configurations of GBs, which can be divided into straight (including symmetric and asymmetric GBs) and curved GBs. We revealed that (I) for symmetric GBs, the shear-coupled motion alone is insufficient to drive the continuous GB motion in polycrystalline materials, and GB sliding is also needed. (II) For asymmetric GBs, GB motion follows a defaceting-faceting process, in which dislocation reactions are crucial. (III) For curved GBs, shear-coupled GB motion (during grain shrinking) leads to grain rotation, and the rotation direction highly depends on the misorientation angles. (IV) Finally, we will discuss the characteristics of binary lattice h-BN and find that partial dislocations participate in the GB motion at high misorientation angles (>38°). Our results build up the framework of the atomic-scale mechanisms of the GB motion in 2D polycrystalline materials and will be instructive for technological applications such as grain growth and GB engineering.

Assembling monolayers into a bilayer system unlocks the rotational free degree of van der Waals (vdW) homo/heterostructure, enabling the building of twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) which possesses novel electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. Previous methods for preparation of homo/heterstructures inevitably leave the polymer residue or hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) mask, which usually obstructs the measurement of intrinsic mechanical and surface properties of tBLG. Undoubtedly, to fabricate the designable tBLG with clean interface and surface is necessary but challenging. Here, we propose a simple and handy method to prepare atomically clean twisted bilayer graphene with controllable twist angles based on wetting-induced delamination. This method can transfer tBLG onto a patterned substrate, which offers an excellent platform for the observation of physical phenomena such as relaxation of moire pattern in marginally tBLG. These findings and insight should ultimately guide the designable packaging and atomic characterization of the two-dimensional (2D) materials.

A mechanistic understanding of the growth of multiply twinned nanoparticles (MTPs), such as decahedra (Dh) and icosahedra (Ih), is crucial for precisely controlled syntheses and applications. Despite previous successes, no consensus has been reached regarding the multiple competing growth pathways for MTPs proposed thus far, in part due to the lack of information about their nucleation and growth dynamics. Here, we used decahedral and icosahedral gold nanoparticles as a model system in conjunction with in situ liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM) to investigate the nucleation and growth dynamics of MTPs in aqueous solution; two growth pathways were successfully identified: (A) nucleation-based layer-by-layer growth from a rounded multiply twinned seed and (B) the successive twinning and growth of tetrahedra. The LCTEM results enabled us to directly and conclusively identify the growth behaviors of intermediate products. The internal strain relaxation mechanisms and growth kinetics differ for the two pathways: in pathway A, a MTP grew by the opening and closing of re-entrant grooves at the twin boundaries, which was not found in pathway B. We also analyzed different MTP growth pathways from an energetic perspective and discussed how the preferred pathway (A or B) is related to factors, such as the initial seed yield and the size- and morphology-dependent formation of MTPs. Our results contextualize the current understanding of MTP formation mechanisms and provide insightful guidance for the precisely controlled synthesis of MTPs for practical applications.

Atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) nanostructures are predicted to exhibit novel physical properties that make them attractive candidates for the fabrication of electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, TMDCs tend to grow in the form of two-dimensional nanoplates (NPs) rather than one-dimensional nanoribbons (NRs) due to their native layered structure. Herein, we have developed a space-confined and substrate-directed chemical vapor deposition strategy for the controllable synthesis of WS2, WSe2, MoSe2, MoS2, WS2(1−x)Se2x NPs and NRs. TMDC NRs with lengths ranging from several micrometers to 100 μm have been obtained and the widths of TMDC NRs can be effectively tuned. Moreover, we found that TMDC NRs show different growth behaviors on van der Waals (vdW) and non-vdW substrates. The micro-nano structures, optical and electronic properties of synthesized TMDC NRs have been systematically investigated. This approach provides a general strategy for controllable synthesis of TMDC NRs, which makes these materials easily accessible as functional building blocks for novel optoelectronic devices.

Aligning dense carbon nanotube arrays Although semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising candidates to replace silicon in transistors at extremely small dimensions, their purity, density, and alignment must be improved. Liu et al. combined a multiple dispersion sorting process, which improves purity, and a dimension-limited self-alignment process to produce well-aligned CNT arrays on a 10-centimeter silicon wafer. The density is sufficiently high (100 to 200 CNTs per micrometer) that large-scale integrated circuits could be fabricated. With ionic liquid gating, the performance metrics exceeded those of conventional silicon transistors with similar dimensions. Science , this issue p. 850

Vanadium diselenide (VSe2), a member of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) family, is emerging as a promising two-dimensional (2D) candidate for the electronic and spintronic device with e...

Confining interacting particles in one-dimension (1D) changes the electronic behavior of the system fundamentally, which has been studied extensively in the past. Examples of 1D metallic systems include carbon nanotubes, quasi-1D organic conductors, metal chains, and domain boundary defects in monolayer thick transition-metal dichalcogenides such as MoSe2. Here single and bundles of Mo6Se6 nanowires were fabricated through annealing a MoSe2 monolayer grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on graphene. Conversion from two-dimensional (2D) MoSe2 film to 1D Mo6Se6 nanowire is reversible. Mo6Se6 nanowires form preferentially at the Se-terminated zigzag edges of MoSe2 and stitch to it via two distinct atomic configurations. The Mo6Se6 wire is metallic and its length is tunable, which represents one of few 1D systems that exhibit properties pertinent to quantum confined Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, as evidenced by scanning tunneling microscopic and spectroscopic studies.

Inter-particle interactions play important roles in controlling the structures, dispersion state and chemo-physical properties of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) in liquid media. In this work, we prepared palladium (Pd) NPs with an average diameter of ∼4.6 nm in situ inside the liquid cell, and investigated their coupled diffusion and aggregation behaviors through liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM). Via analyzing the interaction energies and forces, we derived the effective working range for repulsive double layer interaction experimentally, a value larger than two times the Debye length, suggesting a different interaction behavior of sub-5 nm NPs from that of colloidal NPs in larger sizes. Our results provide insights for the interactions between colloidal ultrafine nanoparticles in solution and will also shed light on the precisely controlled assembly of colloidal nanocrystals for practical applications.

Structural defects in crystals are generally believed to disrupt the symmetry of the pristine lattice, but sometimes, they can also serve as the constituent elements of new structures if they are arranged in a well-ordered pattern. Herein, choosing 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) as a model system, we successfully fabricated a novel group of 2D materials-M2X3 (M = Mo, W, X = S, Se) via the periodic assembly of chalcogen vacancy lines in their corresponding MX2 monolayers (such as MoS2). Our ab initio calculations further revealed that these monolayer M2X3 materials electronically exhibit quasi-direct narrow band-gap semiconducting characteristics, e.g., Eg = 0.89 eV for Mo2S3, and show ultra-high phonon-limited room-temperature carrier mobility up to ∼27 000 cm2 V−1 s−1 for electrons in Mo2S3. The emergence of these novel M2X3 materials expands the existing 2D family and provides new platforms for both fundamental research and practical applications, and the approach via the periodic assembly of ordered defects should also be applicable to other 2D materials.

In this work, the interlayer coupling dependent lithium intercalation induced phase transition in bilayer MoS2 (BL-MoS2) was investigated using an atomic-resolution annual dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (ADF-STEM). It was revealed that the lithiation induced H → T' phase transition in BL-MoS2 strongly depended on the interlayer twist angle; i.e., the H → T' phase transition occurred in well-stacked H phase BL-MoS2 (with a twist angle of θt = 0°) but not for θt ≠ 0° BL-MoS2. The lithiated BL-MoS2 appeared in homophase stacking, either T'/T' or H/H (locally, no phase transformation) stacking, without any heterophase stacking such as H/T' or T'/H observed. This finding indicated the H → T' phase transition occurred via a domain-by-domain mode rather than layer-by-layer. Up to 15 types of stacking orders were experimentally identified locally in lithiated bilayer T'-MoS2, and the formation mechanism was attributed to the discrete interlayer translation with a unit step of (m/6a, n/6b) (m, n = 0, 1, 2, 3), where a and b were the primitive lattice vectors of T'-MoS2. Our experimental results were further corroborated by ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations, where the occurrence of different stacking orders can be quantitatively correlated with the variation of intercalated lithium contents into the BL-MoS2. The present study aids in the understanding of the phase transition mechanisms in atomically thin 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and will also shed light on the precisely controlled phase engineering of 2D materials for memory applications.