Observation of a new type of nanoscale ferroelectric domains, termed as “bubble domains”—laterally confined spheroids of sub‐10 nm size with local dipoles self‐aligned in a direction opposite to the ...macroscopic polarization of a surrounding ferroelectric matrix—is reported. The bubble domains appear in ultrathin epitaxial PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3/SrTiO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 ferroelectric sandwich structures due to the interplay between charge and lattice degrees of freedom. The existence of the bubble domains is revealed by high‐resolution piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), and is corroborated by aberration‐corrected atomic‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy mapping of the polarization displacements. An incommensurate phase and symmetry breaking is found within these domains resulting in local polarization rotation and hence impart a mixed Néel–Bloch‐like character to the bubble domain walls. PFM hysteresis loops for the bubble domains reveal that they undergo an irreversible phase transition to cylindrical domains under the electric field, accompanied by a transient rise in the electromechanical response. The observations are in agreement with ab‐initio‐based calculations, which reveal a very narrow window of electrical and elastic parameters that allow the existence of bubble domains. The findings highlight the richness of polar topologies possible in ultrathin ferroelectric structures and bring forward the prospect of emergent functionalities due to topological transitions.
Nanoscale spheroid domains—“bubble domains”—sub‐10 nm in lateral size with local dipoles self‐aligned in a direction opposite to the polarization of the surrounding ferroelectric matrix are reported in ultrathin epitaxial ferroelectric heterostructures. Incommensurate dipolar order and symmetry breaking is found within these domains, which leads to local polarization rotation and consequently mixed Néel–Bloch‐like character to the bubble domain walls.
Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is widely used for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials down to atomic resolution. Recent advances in detector technology and ...computational methods have enabled many experiments that record a full image of the STEM probe for many probe positions, either in diffraction space or real space. In this paper, we review the use of these four-dimensional STEM experiments for virtual diffraction imaging, phase, orientation and strain mapping, measurements of medium-range order, thickness and tilt of samples, and phase contrast imaging methods, including differential phase contrast, ptychography, and others.
Structural symmetry-breaking plays a crucial role in determining the electronic band structures of two-dimensional materials. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to breaking the in-plane symmetry of ...graphene with electric fields on AB-stacked bilayers or stacked van der Waals heterostructures. In contrast, transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers are semiconductors with intrinsic in-plane asymmetry, leading to direct electronic bandgaps, distinctive optical properties and great potential in optoelectronics. Apart from their in-plane inversion asymmetry, an additional degree of freedom allowing spin manipulation can be induced by breaking the out-of-plane mirror symmetry with external electric fields or, as theoretically proposed, with an asymmetric out-of-plane structural configuration. Here, we report a synthetic strategy to grow Janus monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides breaking the out-of-plane structural symmetry. In particular, based on a MoS
monolayer, we fully replace the top-layer S with Se atoms. We confirm the Janus structure of MoSSe directly by means of scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy-dependent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and prove the existence of vertical dipoles by second harmonic generation and piezoresponse force microscopy measurements.
The Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis is a technique of elemental analysis associated to electron microscopy based on the generation of characteristic Xrays that reveals the presence of ...elements present in the specimens. The EDX microanalysis is used in different biomedical fields by many researchers and clinicians. Nevertheless, most of the scientific community is not fully aware of its possible applications. The spectrum of EDX microanalysis contains both semi-qualitative and semi-quantitative information. EDX technique is made useful in the study of drugs, such as in the study of drugs delivery in which the EDX is an important tool to detect nanoparticles (generally, used to improve the therapeutic performance of some chemotherapeutic agents). EDX is also used in the study of environmental pollution and in the characterization of mineral bioaccumulated in the tissues. In conclusion, the EDX can be considered as a useful tool in all works that require element determination, endogenous or exogenous, in the tissue, cell or any other sample.
Complex topological configurations are fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and exotic phases in condensed-matter physics. For example, the recent discovery of polarization vortices and ...their associated complex-phase coexistence and response under applied electric fields in superlattices of (PbTiO
)
/(SrTiO
)
suggests the presence of a complex, multi-dimensional system capable of interesting physical responses, such as chirality, negative capacitance and large piezo-electric responses
. Here, by varying epitaxial constraints, we discover room-temperature polar-skyrmion bubbles in a lead titanate layer confined by strontium titanate layers, which are imaged by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Phase-field modelling and second-principles calculations reveal that the polar-skyrmion bubbles have a skyrmion number of +1, and resonant soft-X-ray diffraction experiments show circular dichroism, confirming chirality. Such nanometre-scale polar-skyrmion bubbles are the electric analogues of magnetic skyrmions, and could contribute to the advancement of ferroelectrics towards functionalities incorporating emergent chirality and electrically controllable negative capacitance.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials
and the associated van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures
have provided great flexibility for integrating distinct atomic layers beyond the traditional limits of ...lattice-matching requirements, through layer-by-layer mechanical restacking or sequential synthesis. However, the 2D vdW heterostructures explored so far have been usually limited to relatively simple heterostructures with a small number of blocks
. The preparation of high-order vdW superlattices with larger number of alternating units is exponentially more difficult, owing to the limited yield and material damage associated with each sequential restacking or synthesis step
. Here we report a straightforward approach to realizing high-order vdW superlattices by rolling up vdW heterostructures. We show that a capillary-force-driven rolling-up process can be used to delaminate synthetic SnS
/WSe
vdW heterostructures from the growth substrate and produce SnS
/WSe
roll-ups with alternating monolayers of WSe
and SnS
, thus forming high-order SnS
/WSe
vdW superlattices. The formation of these superlattices modulates the electronic band structure and the dimensionality, resulting in a transition of the transport characteristics from semiconducting to metallic, from 2D to one-dimensional (1D), with an angle-dependent linear magnetoresistance. This strategy can be extended to create diverse 2D/2D vdW superlattices, more complex 2D/2D/2D vdW superlattices, and beyond-2D materials, including three-dimensional (3D) thin-film materials and 1D nanowires, to generate mixed-dimensional vdW superlattices, such as 3D/2D, 3D/2D/2D, 1D/2D and 1D/3D/2D vdW superlattices. This study demonstrates a general approach to producing high-order vdW superlattices with widely variable material compositions, dimensions, chirality and topology, and defines a rich material platform for both fundamental studies and technological applications.
Solid-liquid interfaces are important in a range of chemical, physical and biological processes
, but are often not fully understood owing to the lack of high-resolution characterization methods that ...are compatible with both solid and liquid components
. For example, the related processes of dendritic deposition of lithium metal and the formation of solid-electrolyte interphase layers
are known to be key determinants of battery safety and performance in high-energy-density lithium-metal batteries. But exactly what is involved in these two processes, which occur at a solid-liquid interface, has long been debated
because of the challenges of observing such interfaces directly. Here we adapt a technique that has enabled cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) of hydrated specimens in biology-immobilization of liquids by rapid freezing, that is, vitrification
. By vitrifying the liquid electrolyte we preserve it and the structures at solid-liquid interfaces in lithium-metal batteries in their native state, and thus enable structural and chemical mapping of these interfaces by cryo-scanning transmission electron microscopy (cryo-STEM). We identify two dendrite types coexisting on the lithium anode, each with distinct structure and composition. One family of dendrites has an extended solid-electrolyte interphase layer, whereas the other unexpectedly consists of lithium hydride instead of lithium metal and may contribute disproportionately to loss of battery capacity. The insights into the formation of lithium dendrites that our work provides demonstrate the potential of cryogenic electron microscopy for probing nanoscale processes at intact solid-liquid interfaces in functional devices such as rechargeable batteries.
As the dimensions of the semiconducting channels in field-effect transistors decrease, the contact resistance of the metal-semiconductor interface at the source and drain electrodes increases, ...dominating the performance of devices
. Two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS
) have been demonstrated to be excellent semiconductors for ultrathin field-effect transistors
. However, unusually high contact resistance has been observed across the interface between the metal and the 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide
. Recent studies have shown that van der Waals contacts formed by transferred graphene
and metals
on few-layered transition-metal dichalcogenides produce good contact properties. However, van der Waals contacts between a three-dimensional metal and a monolayer 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide have yet to be demonstrated. Here we report the realization of ultraclean van der Waals contacts between 10-nanometre-thick indium metal capped with 100-nanometre-thick gold electrodes and monolayer MoS
. Using scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging, we show that the indium and gold layers form a solid solution after annealing at 200 degrees Celsius and that the interface between the gold-capped indium and the MoS
is atomically sharp with no detectable chemical interaction between the metal and the 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide, suggesting van-der-Waals-type bonding between the gold-capped indium and monolayer MoS
. The contact resistance of the indium/gold electrodes is 3,000 ± 300 ohm micrometres for monolayer MoS
and 800 ± 200 ohm micrometres for few-layered MoS
. These values are among the lowest observed for three-dimensional metal electrodes evaporated onto MoS
, enabling high-performance field-effect transistors with a mobility of 167 ± 20 square centimetres per volt per second. We also demonstrate a low contact resistance of 220 ± 50 ohm micrometres on ultrathin niobium disulfide (NbS
) and near-ideal band offsets, indicative of defect-free interfaces, in tungsten disulfide (WS
) and tungsten diselenide (WSe
) contacted with indium alloy. Our work provides a simple method of making ultraclean van der Waals contacts using standard laboratory technology on monolayer 2D semiconductors.
Cover Image Papazoglou, Sebastian; Ashtarayeh, Mohammad; Oeschger, Jan Malte ...
NMR in biomedicine,
03/2024, Volume:
37, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The cover image is based on the Research Article Insights and improvements in correspondence between axonal volume fraction measured with diffusion‐weighted MRI and electron microscopy by Sebastian ...Papazoglou et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.5070.
We describe the simple, scalable, single‐step, and polar‐solvent‐free synthesis of high‐quality colloidal CsPbX3 (X=Cl, Br, and I) perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) with tunable halide ion composition ...and thickness by direct ultrasonication of the corresponding precursor solutions in the presence of organic capping molecules. High angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF‐STEM) revealed the cubic crystal structure and surface termination of the NCs with atomic resolution. The NCs exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yields, narrow emission line widths, and considerable air stability. Furthermore, we investigated the quantum size effects in CsPbBr3 and CsPbI3 nanoplatelets by tuning their thickness down to only three to six monolayers. The high quality of the prepared NCs (CsPbBr3) was confirmed by amplified spontaneous emission with low thresholds. The versatility of this synthesis approach was demonstrated by synthesizing different perovskite NCs.
Under ultrasonication: Perovskite nanocrystals and nanoplatelets with controlled halide composition and thickness were prepared by direct ultrasonication of the corresponding precursor solutions in the presence of organic capping molecules. The optical properties of the as‐prepared CsPbX3 NCs can be tuned across the entire visible range by changing either the composition or thickness.
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