Layered semiconductors based on transition-metal chalcogenides usually cross from indirect bandgap in the bulk limit over to direct bandgap in the quantum (2D) limit. Such a crossover can be achieved ...by peeling off a multilayer sample to a single layer. For exploration of physical behavior and device applications, it is much desired to reversibly modulate such crossover in a multilayer sample. Here we demonstrate that, in a few-layer sample where the indirect bandgap and direct bandgap are nearly degenerate, the temperature rise can effectively drive the system toward the 2D limit by thermally decoupling neighboring layers via interlayer thermal expansion. Such a situation is realized in few-layer MoSe2, which shows stark contrast from the well-explored MoS2 where the indirect and direct bandgaps are far from degenerate. Photoluminescence of few-layer MoSe2 is much enhanced with the temperature rise, much like the way that the photoluminescence is enhanced due to the bandgap crossover going from the bulk to the quantum limit, offering potential applications involving external modulation of optical properties in 2D semiconductors. The direct bandgap of MoSe2, identified at 1.55 eV, may also promise applications in energy conversion involving solar spectrum, as it is close to the optimal bandgap value of single-junction solar cells and photoelechemical devices.
We show that the entire continuous model of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) (and not just the two active bands) with particle-hole symmetry is anomalous and hence incompatible with lattice models. ...Previous works e.g., Z. Song, Z. Wang, W. Shi, G. Li, C. Fang, and B. A. Bernevig, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 036401 (2019); J. Ahn, S. Park, and B.-J. Yang, Phys. Rev. X 9, 021013 (2019); H. C. Po, L. Zou, T. Senthil, and A. Vishwanath, Phys. Rev. B 99, 195455 (2019); J. Kang and O. Vafek, Phys. Rev. X 8, 031088 (2018); M. Koshino, N. F. Q. Yuan, T. Koretsune, M. Ochi, K. Kuroki, and L. Fu, Phys. Rev. X 8, 031087 (2018); J. Liu, J. Liu, and X. Dai, Phys. Rev. B 99, 155415 (2019); L. Zou, H. C. Po, A. Vishwanath, and T. Senthil, Phys. Rev. B 98, 085435 (2018) found that the two flatbands in TBG possess a fragile topology protected by the C2zT symmetry. Song et al. Z. Song, Z. Wang, W. Shi, G. Li, C. Fang, and B. A. Bernevig, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 036401 (2019) also pointed out an approximate particle-hole symmetry (P) in the continuous model of TBG. In this paper, we numerically confirm that P is indeed a good approximation for TBG and show that the fragile topology of the two flatbands is enhanced to a P -protected stable topology. This stable topology implies 4l + 2(l ∈ N) Dirac points between the middle two bands. The P-protected stable topology is robust against arbitrary gap closings between the middle two bands and the other bands. We further show that, remarkably, this P -protected stable topology, as well as the corresponding 4l + 2 Dirac points, cannot be realized in lattice models that preserve both C2zT and P symmetries. In other words, the continuous model of TBG is anomalous and cannot be realized on lattices. Two other topology related topics, with consequences for the interacting TBG problem, i.e., the choice of Chern band basis in the two flatbands and the perfect metal phase of TBG in the so-called second chiral limit, are also discussed.
It has been well-established that single layer MX2 (M = Mo, W and X = S, Se) are direct gap semiconductors with band edges coinciding at the K point in contrast to their indirect gap multilayer ...counterparts. In few-layer MX2, there are two valleys along the Γ–K line with similar energy. There is little understanding on which of the two valleys forms the conduction band minimum (CBM) in this thickness regime. We investigate the conduction band valley structure in few-layer MX2 by examining the temperature-dependent shift of indirect exciton photoluminescence peak. Highly anisotropic thermal expansion of the lattice and the corresponding evolution of the band structure result in a distinct peak shift for indirect transitions involving the K and Λ (midpoint along Γ-K) valleys. We identify the origin of the indirect emission and concurrently determine the relative energy of these valleys.
The discovery of graphene has put the spotlight on other layered materials including transition metal dichalcogenites (TMD) as building blocks for novel heterostructures assembled from stacked atomic ...layers. Molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, a semiconductor in the TMD family, with its remarkable thermal and chemical stability and high mobility, has emerged as a promising candidate for postsilicon applications such as switching, photonics, and flexible electronics. Because these rely on controlling the position of the Fermi energy (E F), it is crucial to understand its dependence on doping and gating. To elucidate these questions we carried out gated scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) measurements and compared them with transport measurements in a field effect transistor (FET) device configuration. This made it possible to measure the bandgap and the position of E F in MoS2 and to track its evolution with gate voltage. For bulk samples, the measured bandgap (∼1.3 eV) is comparable to the value obtained by photoluminescence, and the position of E F (∼0.35 eV) below the conduction band, is consistent with N-doping reported in this material. We show that the N-doping in bulk samples can be attributed to S vacancies. In contrast, the significantly higher N-doping observed in thin MoS2 films deposited on SiO2 is dominated by charge traps at the sample–substrate interface.
In this paper, we study the interfacial friction of water at graphitic interfaces with various topologies, water between planar graphene sheets, inside and outside carbon nanotubes, with the goal to ...disentangle confinement and curvature effects on friction. We show that the friction coefficient exhibits a strong curvature dependence; while friction is independent of confinement for the graphene slab, it decreases with carbon nanotube radius for water inside, but increases for water outside. As a paradigm the friction coefficient is found to vanish below a threshold diameter for armchair nanotubes. Using a statistical description of the interfacial friction, we highlight here a structural origin of this curvature dependence, mainly associated with a curvature-induced incommensurability between the water and carbon structures. These results support the recent experiments reporting fast transport of water in nanometric carbon nanotube membranes.
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