Construction of 2D lateral pseudoheterostructures by strain engineering

Two-dimensional (2D) lateral heterostructures host unconventional physical properties due to their controllable band-offset tuning and interfacial sensitive characteristic. The lattice mismatch results in the difficulties to construct the perfect atomic interface in such 2D lateral heterostructures, which in turn limits their desirable properties and performances in applications. In this work, strain-modulated 2D lateral pseudoheterogeneous structures are designed and realized in the single-component 2D BiOBr nanosheets by taking advantage of their strain-sensitive crystal and electronic structures. The pseudoheterogeneous interface without atomic mismatch can be feasibly modulated by local strain distribution, which exhibits similar local electronic band structure of corresponding heterostructures. Significant enhancement in charge separation at the pseudoheterostructure was demonstrated under visible light irradiation, which is given rise to the controllable electronic band alignment across the interface. The construction of the lateral pseudoheterostructure offers a feasible and promising way to build unprecedented 2D systems with exciting properties.