Search Results
Highly Crystalline and Semiconducting Imine-Based Two-Dimensional Polymers Enabled by Interfacial Synthesis
2020, Sahabudeen, Hafeesudeen, Qi, Haoyuan, Ballabio, Marco, Položij, Miroslav, Olthof, Selina, Shivhare, Rishi, Jing, Yu, Park, SangWook, Liu, Kejun, Zhang, Tao, Ma, Ji, Rellinghaus, Bernd, Mannsfeld, Stefan, Heine, Thomas, Bonn, Mischa, Cánovas, Enrique, Zheng, Zhikun, Kaiser, Ute, Dong, Renhao, Feng, Xinliang
Single-layer and multi-layer 2D polyimine films have been achieved through interfacial synthesis methods. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve the maximum degree of crystallinity in the 2D polyimines, which largely limits the long-range transport properties. Here we employ a surfactant-monolayer-assisted interfacial synthesis (SMAIS) method for the successful preparation of porphyrin and triazine containing polyimine-based 2D polymer (PI-2DP) films with square and hexagonal lattices, respectively. The synthetic PI-2DP films are featured with polycrystalline multilayers with tunable thickness from 6 to 200 nm and large crystalline domains (100–150 nm in size). Intrigued by high crystallinity and the presence of electroactive porphyrin moieties, the optoelectronic properties of PI-2DP are investigated by time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy. Typically, the porphyrin-based PI-2DP 1 film exhibits a p-type semiconductor behavior with a band gap of 1.38 eV and hole mobility as high as 0.01 cm2 V−1 s−1, superior to the previously reported polyimine based materials. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Direct Observation of Plasmon Band Formation and Delocalization in Quasi-Infinite Nanoparticle Chains
2019, Mayer, Martin, Potapov, Pavel L., Pohl, Darius, Steiner, Anja Maria, Schultz, Johannes, Rellinghaus, Bernd, Lubk, Axel, König, Tobias A.F., Fery, Andreas
Chains of metallic nanoparticles sustain strongly confined surface plasmons with relatively low dielectric losses. To exploit these properties in applications, such as waveguides, the fabrication of long chains of low disorder and a thorough understanding of the plasmon-mode properties, such as dispersion relations, are indispensable. Here, we use a wrinkled template for directed self-assembly to assemble chains of gold nanoparticles. With this up-scalable method, chain lengths from two particles (140 nm) to 20 particles (1500 nm) and beyond can be fabricated. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy supported by boundary element simulations, finite-difference time-domain, and a simplified dipole coupling model reveal the evolution of a band of plasmonic waveguide modes from degenerated single-particle modes in detail. In striking difference from plasmonic rod-like structures, the plasmon band is confined in excitation energy, which allows light manipulations below the diffraction limit. The non-degenerated surface plasmon modes show suppressed radiative losses for efficient energy propagation over a distance of 1500 nm. © 2019 American Chemical Society.
Probing magnetic properties at the nanoscale: in-situ Hall measurements in a TEM
2023, Pohl, Darius, Lee, Yejin, Kriegner, Dominik, Beckert, Sebastian, Schneider, Sebastian, Rellinghaus, Bernd, Thomas, Andy
We report on advanced in-situ magneto-transport measurements in a transmission electron microscope. The approach allows for concurrent magnetic imaging and high resolution structural and chemical characterization of the same sample. Proof-of-principle in-situ Hall measurements on presumably undemanding nickel thin films supported by micromagnetic simulations reveal that in samples with non-trivial structures and/or compositions, detailed knowledge of the latter is indispensable for a thorough understanding and reliable interpretation of the magneto-transport data. The proposed in-situ approach is thus expected to contribute to a better understanding of the Hall signatures in more complex magnetic textures.
Electron beam induced dehydrogenation of MgH2 studied by VEELS
2016, Surrey, Alexander, Schultz, Ludwig, Rellinghaus, Bernd
Nanosized or nanoconfined hydrides are promising materials for solid-state hydrogen storage. Most of these hydrides, however, degrade fast during the structural characterization utilizing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) upon the irradiation with the imaging electron beam due to radiolysis. We use ball-milled MgH2 as a reference material for in-situ TEM experiments under low-dose conditions to study and quantitatively understand the electron beam-induced dehydrogenation. For this, valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) measurements are conducted in a monochromated FEI Titan3 80–300 microscope. From observing the plasmonic absorptions it is found that MgH2 successively converts into Mg upon electron irradiation. The temporal evolution of the spectra is analyzed quantitatively to determine the thickness-dependent, characteristic electron doses for electron energies of both 80 and 300 keV. The measured electron doses can be quantitatively explained by the inelastic scattering of the incident high-energy electrons by the MgH2 plasmon. The obtained insights are also relevant for the TEM characterization of other hydrides.
Understanding the catalyst-free transformation of amorphous carbon into graphene by current-induced annealing
2013, Barreiro, Amelia, Börrnert, Felix, Avdoshenko, Stanislav M., Rellinghaus, Bernd, Cuniberti, Gianaurelio, Rümmeli, Mark H., Vandersypen, Lieven M.K.
We shed light on the catalyst-free growth of graphene from amorphous carbon (a–C) by current-induced annealing by witnessing the mechanism both with in-situ transmission electron microscopy and with molecular dynamics simulations. Both in experiment and in simulation, we observe that small a–C clusters on top of a graphene substrate rearrange and crystallize into graphene patches. The process is aided by the high temperatures involved and by the van der Waals interactions with the substrate. Furthermore, in the presence of a–C, graphene can grow from the borders of holes and form a seamless graphene sheet, a novel finding that has not been reported before and that is reproduced by the simulations as well. These findings open up new avenues for bottom-up engineering of graphene-based devices.
Graphene-Like ZnO: A Mini Review
2016, Ta, Huy Q., Zhao, Liang, Pohl, Darius, Pang, Jinbo, Trzebicka, Barbara, Rellinghaus, Bernd, Pribat, Didier, Gemming, Thomas, Liu, Zhongfan, Bachmatiuk, Alicja, Rümmeli, Mark H.
The isolation of a single layer of graphite, known today as graphene, not only demonstrated amazing new properties but also paved the way for a new class of materials often referred to as two-dimensional (2D) materials. Beyond graphene, other 2D materials include h-BN, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), silicene, and germanene, to name a few. All tend to have exciting physical and chemical properties which appear due to dimensionality effects and modulation of their band structure. A more recent member of the 2D family is graphene-like zinc oxide (g-ZnO) which also holds great promise as a future functional material. This review examines current progress in the synthesis and characterization of g-ZnO. In addition, an overview of works dealing with the properties of g-ZnO both in its pristine form and modified forms (e.g., nano-ribbon, doped material, etc.) is presented. Finally, discussions/studies on the potential applications of g-ZnO are reviewed and discussed.
Atom size electron vortex beams with selectable orbital angular momentum
2017, Pohl, Darius, Schneider, Sebastian, Zeiger, Paul, Rusz, Ján, Tiemeijer, Peter, Lazar, Sorin, Nielsch, Kornelius, Rellinghaus, Bernd
The decreasing size of modern functional magnetic materials and devices cause a steadily increasing demand for high resolution quantitative magnetic characterization. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) based measurements of the electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) may serve as the needed experimental tool. To this end, we present a reliable and robust electron-optical setup that generates and controls user-selectable single state electron vortex beams with defined orbital angular momenta. Our set-up is based on a standard high-resolution scanning TEM with probe aberration corrector, to which we added a vortex generating fork aperture and a miniaturized aperture for vortex selection. We demonstrate that atom size probes can be formed from these electron vortices and that they can be used for atomic resolution structural and spectroscopic imaging – both of which are prerequisites for future atomic EMCD investigations.