Search for: All records

Abstract The rational design of the electronic band structures and the associated properties (e.g. optical) of advanced materials has remained challenging for crucial applications in optoelectronics, solar desalination, advanced manufacturing technologies, etc. In this work, using first-principles calculations, we studied the prospects of tuning the absorption spectra of graphene via defect engineering, i.e. chemical doping and oxidation. Our computational analysis shows that graphene functionalization with single hydroxyl and carboxylic acid fails to open a band gap in graphene. While single epoxide functionalization successfully opens a bandgap in graphene and increases absorptivity, however, other optical properties such as reflection, transmission, and dielectric constants are significantly altered. Boron and nitrogen dopants lead to p- and n-type doping, respectively, while fluorine dopants or a single-carbon atomic vacancy cannot create a significant bandgap in graphene. By rigorously considering the spin-polarization effect, we find that titanium, zirconium, and hafnium dopants can create a bandgap in graphene via an induced flat band around the Fermi level as well as the collapse of the Dirac cone. In addition, silicon, germanium, and tin dopants are also effective in improving the optical characteristics. Our work is important for future experimental work on graphene for laser and optical processing applications. 

Graphene with in-plane nanoholes, named holey graphene, shows great potential in electrochemical applications due to its fast mass transport and improved electrochemical activity. Scalable nanomanufacturing of holey graphene is generally based on chemical etching using hydrogen peroxide to form through-the-thickness nanoholes on the basal plane of graphene. In this study, we probe into the fundamental mechanisms of nanohole formation under peroxide etching via an integrated experimental and computational effort. The research results show that the growth of nanoholes during the etching of graphene oxide is achieved by a three-stage reduction–oxidation–reduction procedure. First, it is demonstrated that vacancy defects are formed via a partial reduction-based pretreatment. Second, hydrogen peroxide reacts preferentially with the edge-sites of defect areas on graphene oxide sheets, leading to the formation of various oxygen-containing functional groups. Third, the carbon atoms around the defects are removed along with the neighboring carbon atoms via reduction. By advancing the understanding of process mechanisms, we further demonstrate an improved nanomanufacturing strategy, in which graphene oxide with a high density of defects is introduced for peroxide etching, leading to enhanced nanohole formation. 

Refractory materials hold great promise to develop functional multilayer coating for extreme environments and temperature applications but require high temperature and complex synthesis to overcome their strong atomic bonding and form a multilayer structure. Here, a spontaneous reaction producing sophisticated multilayer refractory carbide coatings on carbon fiber (CF) is reported. This approach utilizes a relatively low-temperature (950 °C) moltensalt process for forming refractory carbides. The reaction of titanium (Ti), chromium (Cr), and CF yields a complex, high-quality multilayer carbide coating composed of 1) Cr carbide (Cr3C2), 2) Ti carbide, and 3) Cr3C2 layers. The layered sequence arises from a difference in metal dissolutions, reactions, and diffusion rates in the salt media. The multilayer-coated CFs act as a permeable oxidation barrier with no crystalline degradation of the CFs after extreme temperature (1,200 °C) and environment (oxyacetylene flame) exposure. The synthesis of high-quality multilayer refractory coating in a fast, efficient, easy, and clean manner may answer the need for industrial applications that develop cheap and reliable extreme environment protection barriers. 

Abstract Complex oxide heterointerfaces and van der Waals heterostructures present two versatile but intrinsically different platforms for exploring emergent quantum phenomena and designing new functionalities. The rich opportunity offered by the synergy between these two classes of materials, however, is yet to be charted. Here, we report an unconventional nonlinear optical filtering effect resulting from the interfacial polar alignment between monolayer MoS₂and a neighboring ferroelectric oxide thin film. The second harmonic generation response at the heterointerface is either substantially enhanced or almost entirely quenched by an underlying ferroelectric domain wall depending on its chirality, and can be further tailored by the polar domains. Unlike the extensively studied coupling mechanisms driven by charge, spin, and lattice, the interfacial tailoring effect is solely mediated by the polar symmetry, as well explained via our density functional theory calculations, pointing to a new material strategy for the functional design of nanoscale reconfigurable optical applications. 

Abstract Two‐dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as MoS₂exhibit exceptionally strong nonlinear optical responses, while nanoscale control of the amplitude, polar orientation, and phase of the nonlinear light in TMDCs remains challenging. In this work, by interfacing monolayer MoS₂with epitaxial PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃(PZT) thin films and free‐standing PZT membranes, the amplitude and polarization of the second harmonic generation (SHG) signal are modulated via ferroelectric domain patterning, which demonstrates that PZT membranes can lead to in‐operando programming of nonlinear light polarization. The interfacial coupling of the MoS₂polar axis with either the out‐of‐plane polar domains of PZT or the in‐plane polarization of domain walls tailors the SHG light polarization into different patterns with distinct symmetries, which are modeled via nonlinear electromagnetic theory. This study provides a new material platform that enables reconfigurable design of light polarization at the nanoscale, paving the path for developing novel optical information processing, smart light modulators, and integrated photonic circuits.