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Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) show great potential for the future electronics, optoelectronics and energy applications. But, the studies unveiling their interactions with the host substrates are sparse and limits their practical use for real device applications. We report the facile nano-scratch method to determine the adhesion energy of the wafer scale MoS2 atomic layers attached to the SiO2/Si and sapphire substrates. The practical adhesion energy of monolayer MoS2 on the SiO2/Si substrate is 7.78 J/m2. The practical adhesion energy was found to be an increasing function of the MoS2 thickness. Unlike SiO2/Si substrates, MoS2 films grown on the sapphire possess higher bonding energy, which is attributed to the defect-free growth and less number of grain boundaries, as well as less stress and strain stored at the interface owing to the similarity of Thermal Expansion Coefficient (TEC) between MoS2 films and sapphire substrate. Furthermore, we calculated the surface free energy of 2D MoS2 by the facile contact angle measurements and Neumann model fitting. A surface free energy ~85.3 mJ/m2 in few layers thick MoS2 manifests the hydrophilic nature of 2D MoS2. The high surface energy of MoS2 helps explain the good bonding strength at MoS2/substrate interface. This simple adhesion energy and surface energy measurement methodology could further apply to other TMDs for their widespread use.

Understanding the “incomprehensible” world of materials is the biggest challenge to the materials science community. To access the properties of the materials and to utilize them for positive changes in the world are of great interest. Often scientists use approximate theories to get legitimate answers to the problems. Density functional theory (DFT) has emerged as one of the successful and powerful predictive methods in this regard. The accuracy of DFT relies on the approximate form of the exchange-correlation (EXC) functional. The most complicated form of this functional can be as accurate as more complicated and computationally robust method like Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC), Random Phase Approximation (RPA). Two newest meta-GGAs, SCAN and SCAN+rVV10 are among those functionals. Instantaneous charge fluctuation between any two objects gives rise to the van der Waals (vdW) interactions (often termed as dispersion interactions). It is a purely correlation effect of the interacting electrons and thus non-local in nature. Despite its small magnitude it plays a very important role in many systems such as weakly bound rare-gas dimers, molecular crystals, and molecule-surface interaction. The traditional semi-local functionals can not describe the non-local of vdW interactions; only short- and intermediate-range of the vdW are accounted for in these functionals. In this thesis we investigate the effect of the weak vdW interactions in surface properties, rare-gas dimers and how it can be captured seamlessly within the semi-local density functional approximation. We have used summed-up vdW series within the spherical-shell approximation to develop a new vdW correction to the meta-GGA-MS2 functional. This method has been utilized to calculate binding energy and equilibrium binding distance of different homo- and hetero- dimers and we found that this method systematically improves the MGGA-MS2 results with a very good agreement with the experimental data. The binding energy curves are plotted using this MGGA-MS2, MGGA-MS2-vdW and two other popular vdW-corrected functionals PBE-D2, vdW-DF2. From these plots it is clear that our summed-up vdW series captures the long-range part of the binding energy curve via C6, C8, and, C10 coefficients. The clean metallic surface properties such as surface energy, work functions are important and often play a crucial role in many catalytic reactions. The weak dispersion interactions present between the surfaces has significant effect on these properties. We used LDA, PBE, PBSEsol, SCAN and SCAN+rVV10 to compute the clean metallic surface properties. The SCAN+rVV10 seamlessly captures different ranges of the vdW interactions at the surface and predicts very accurate values of surface energy (σ), and work function (Φ) and interlayer relaxations (δ%). Our conclusion is adding non-local vdW correction to a good semilocal density functional such as SCAN is necessary in order to predict the weak attractive vdW forces at the metallic surface. The SCAN+rVV10 has also been employed to study the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on 1T-MoS2. We have chosen as a descriptor differential Gibbs free energy (ΔGH to understand the underlying mechanism of this catalytic reaction. Density functional theory calculations agree with the experimental findings. In the case of layered materials like 1TMoS2, vdW interactions play an important role in hydrogen binding, that SCAN+rVV10 calculation was able to describe precisely. We have also used SCAN and SCAN+rVV10 functionals to understand bonding of CO on (111) metal surfaces, where many approximations to DFT fail to predict correct adsorption site and adsorption energy. In this case SCAN and SCAN+rVV10 do not show systematic improvements compared to LDA or PBE, rather, both SCAN and SCAN+rVV10 overbind CO more compared to PBE but less compared to the LDA. This overbinding of CO is associated with the incorrect charge transfer from metal to molecule and presumably comes from the density-driven self-interaction error of the functionals. In this thesis we assessed different semi-local functionals to inivestigate molecule surface systems of π-conjugated molecules (thiophene, pyridine) adsorbed on Cu(111), Cu(110), Cu(100) surfaces. We find the binding mechanism of these molecules on the metallic surface is mediated by short and intermediate range vdW interactions. Calculated values of binding energies and adsorbed geometries imply that this kind of adsorption falls in the weak chemisorption regime. Structural phase transitions due to applied pressure are very important in materials science. However, pressure induced structural phase transition in early lanthanide elements such as Ce are considered as abnormal first order phase transition. The Ce α-to-γ isostructural phase transition is one of them. The volume collapse and change of magnetic properties associated with this transition are mediated by the localized f -electron. Semi-local density functionals like LDA, GGA delocalize this f -electron due to the inherent self-interaction error (SIE) of these functionals. We have tested the SCAN functional for this particular problem, and, it was found that the spin-orbit coupling calculations with SCAN not only predicts the correct magnetic ordering of the two phases, but also gives a correct minima for the high-pressure α-Ce phase and a shoulder for the low-pressure γ-Ce phase. / Physics

During recent years, new types of materials have been discovered with unique properties. One family of such materials are two-dimensional materials, which include graphene and MXene. These materials are stronger, more flexible, and have higher conductivity than other materials. As such they are highly interesting for new applications, e.g. specialized in vivo drug delivery systems, hydrogen storage, or as replacements of common materials in e.g. batteries, bulletproof clothing, and sensors. The list of potential applications is long for these new materials. As these materials are almost entirely made up of surfaces, their properties are strongly influenced by interaction between their surfaces, as well as with molecules or adatoms attached to the surfaces (surface groups). This interaction can change the materials and their properties, and it is therefore imperative to understand the underlying mechanisms. Surface groups on two-dimensional materials can be studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), where high energy electrons are transmitted through a sample and the resulting image is recorded. However, the high energy needed to get enough resolution to observe single atoms damages the sample and limits the type of materials which can be analyzed. Lowering the electron energy decreases the damage, but the image resolution at such conditions is severely limited by inherent imperfections (aberrations) in the TEM. During the last years, new TEM models have been developed which employ a low acceleration voltage together with aberration correction, enabling imaging at the atomic scale without damaging the samples. These aberration-corrected TEMs are important tools in understanding the structure and chemistry of two-dimensional materials. In this thesis the two-dimensional materials graphene and Ti3C2Tx MXene have been investigated by low-voltage, aberration-corrected (scanning) TEM. High temperature annealing of graphene covered by residues from the synthesis is studied, as well as the structure and surface groups on single and double Ti3C2Tx MXene. These results are important contributions to the understanding of this class of materials and how their properties can be controlled.

Graphene has unrivalled properties and is heralded as a revolutionary material for the 21^st century. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on metals is a promising method to produce large-area graphene. Controlling the properties of CVD graphene is vital for its integration in a wide-range of future applications. Many factors can influence the CVD growth of graphene and its properties, therefore further investigations will be beneficial to fully understand and control this technique. In this thesis I expand the knowledge about the growth of pure and heteroatom-doped graphene by low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) and atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) on commercially available Cu and Pt foils. Using a range of characterisation techniques, I investigate the influence of the substrate’s properties and the synthesis conditions on the growth of graphene, in pursuit of improved, controlled or optimised production, which can promote high quality, large-area, single-layer graphene, or other as desired. By characterising the topography, surface roughness, crystallographic orientations, and chemical composition of six Cu foils, I find that their properties vary greatly and this influences the growth of CVD graphene. I elucidate that the commonly used 99.8 % Alfa Aesar Cu foil has a surface coating composed of calcium, chromium, and phosphorus, which detrimentally influences graphene growth. Cleaning Cu foils with CH₃COOH is shown to reduce the concentration of surface contaminants, consequently reducing the nucleation density and increasing the growth rate of CVD graphene. I also demonstrate that the shape, orientation, edge-geometry and thickness of CVD graphene domains can be controlled by the Cu crystallographic orientations. Single layer LPCVD graphene domains align with zigzag edges parallel to a single <101> direction on Cu{111} and Cu{101}, while bilayer domains align to two directions on Cu{001}. Hexagonal APCVD domains also preferentially align with edges parallel to the <101> direction(s). This discovery resolves a key challenge of controlling the orientation of individual graphene domains and opens a new avenue for tailored production of large-area CVD graphene with improved properties. By controlling the synthesis conditions of APCVD graphene on Pt foils I optimise production of ~0.5 mm single layer graphene domains with reduced nucleation density and increased growth rate of ~100 &mu;m/min by synthesis at 1150°C, a higher temperature than previously reported. The absence of large, hexagonal, single-crystal domains on pristine Pt foil, and observation of a reaction between quartz and Pt that promotes hexagonal domains, suggests that a silicon or platinum silicide surface layer may be advantageous for improved growth of graphene. Finally, I demonstrate that the dopant concentration of nitrogen-doped graphene is increased at lower synthesis temperatures and higher NH₃ concentration, up to 1.3 %, but with an associated decrease in the growth rate. Direct visualisation, elemental confirmation, and electronic characterisation of individual nitrogen atoms is shown for the first time using aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Boron-doped graphene is also synthesised. The implications of these findings, and many additional minor contributions, are wide-ranging and of considerable importance for the future understanding of CVD growth of graphene on metals, and more generally for the advancement of scientific knowledge for manufacturing large-area graphene. Collectively, these discoveries represent a significant body of work that can improve the efficiency of production and assist with controlling the properties of large-area CVD graphene.

This thesis presents several experiments, generally aiming at visualising the ballistic and topological transport on the high-mobility graphene/boron nitride heterostructure using the scanning gate microscope. For the first experiment, we use the scanning gate microscopy to map out the trajectories of ballistic carriers in high-mobility graphene encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride and in a weak perpendicular magnetic field. We employ a magnetic focusing transport configuration to image carriers that emerge ballistically from an injector, follow a cyclotron path due to the Lorentz force from an applied magnetic field, and land on an adjacent collector probe. The local potential generated by the scanning tip in the vicinity of the carriers deflects their trajectories, modifying the proportion of carriers focused into the collector. By measuring the voltage at the collector while scanning the tip, we are able to obtain images with arcs that are consistent with the expected cyclotron motion. We also demonstrate that the tip can be used to redirect misaligned carriers back to the collector. For the second experiment, we investigate the graphene van der Waals structures formed by aligning monolayer graphene with insulating layers of hexagonal boron nitride which exhibit a moiré superlattice that is expected to break sublattice symmetry. However, despite an energy gap of several tens of millielectronvolts opening in the Dirac spectrum, electrical resistivity remains lower than expected at low temperature and varies between devices. While subgap states are likely to play a role in this behaviour, their precise nature is still unclear in the community. We therefore perform a scanning gate microscopy study of graphene moiré superlattice devices with comparable activation energy but with different charge disorder levels. In the device with higher charge impurity ($\sim$ 10$^-$ cm$^{-2}$) and lower resistivity ($\sim$ 10 k$\Omega$) at the Dirac point we observe scanning gate response along the graphene edges. Combined with simulations, our measurements suggest that enhanced edge doping is responsible for this effect. In addition, a device with low charge impurity ($\sim$ 10$^{9}$ cm$^{-2}$) and higher resistivity ($\sim$ 100 k$\Omega$) shows subgap states in the bulk. Our measurements provide alternative model to the prevailing theory in the literature in which the topological bandstructures of the graphene moiré superlattices entail an edge currents shunting the insulating bulk. In the third experiment, we continue our study in the graphene moir$\acute e$ superlattices with the newly reported non-local Hall signals at the main Dirac point. It has been associated with the non-zero valley Berry curvature due to the gap opening and the nonlocal signal has been interpreted as the signature of the topological valley Hall effects. However, the nature of such signal is still disputed in the community, due to the vanishing density of states near the Dirac point and the possible topological edge transport in the system. Various artificial contribution without a topological origin of the measurement scheme has also been suggested. In connection to the second experiment, we use the scanning gate microscope to image the non-local Hall resistance as well as the local resistance in the current path. By analysing the features in the two sets of images, we find evidence for topological Hall current in the bulk despite a large artificial components which cannot be distinguished in global transport measurement. In the last experiment, we show the development of a radio-frequency scanning impedance microscopy compatible with the existing scanning gate microscopy and the dilution refrigerator. We detailed the design and the implementation of the radio-frequency reflectometry and the specialised tip holder for the integration of the tip and the transmission lines. We demonstrate the capability of imaging local impedance of the sample by detecting the mechanical oscillation of the tip, the device topography, and the Landau levels in the quantum Hall regime at liquid helium temperature and milli-Kelvin temperature.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / A possibilidade de se obter sistemas bidimensionais a partir de materiais com estrutura cristalina lamelar tem atraÃdo muitas pesquisas nesses materiais, pois as propriedades de poucas camadas diferem bastante dos seus respectivos bulks, o que abre uma gama de possibilidades em aplicaÃÃes tecnolÃgicas. O fÃsforo negro apresenta muitas propriedades interessantes, dentre elas, um gap de energia, que garante a construÃÃo de dispositivos eletrÃnicos (bem diferente do grafeno que à um semi metal sem gap). Esse gap pode ser ajustado aumentando o nÃmero de camadas, variando de 0.3 eV para uma monocamada atà cerca de 2.0 eV para o bulk, cobrindo um espectro de energia de gap relativamente grande de dispositivos Ãpticos. AlÃm disso, esse material à altamente anisotrÃpico em sua estrutura de bandas. Neste trabalho, derivamos a aproximaÃÃo da massa efetiva a partir do modelo tight-binding e usamos o Hamiltoniano aproximado para estudar nanoestruturas de fÃsforo negro. Nesse modelo, o carÃter anisotrÃpico do fÃsforo negro à refletido na diferenÃa entre as massas efetivas quando se toma diferentes direÃÃes. Primeiramente, comparamos os resultados numÃrico obtido atravÃs da tÃcnica de diferenÃas finitas com o modelo analÃtico para um ponto quÃntico circular, que devido à estrutura de bandas ter um contorno elÃptico, à descrito pelas equaÃÃes de Mathieu quando se resolve a equaÃÃo de SchrÃdinger. Os resultados analÃtico e numÃrico mostram boa concordÃncia. Ainda na aproximaÃÃo da massa efetiva, estudamos o efeito de campos externos sobre um anel quÃntico de fÃsforo negro e analisamos o efeito da interaÃÃo entre esses campos e a anisotropia de massa do sistema sobre seus estados eletrÃnicos. Devido à anisotropia de massa, esse sistema quando sujeito a um campo magnÃtico, nÃo apresenta oscilaÃÃes Aharonov-Bohm, que podem ser recuperadas aplicando-se um potencial de confinamento elÃptico. Estudamos tambÃm o efeito de um campo elÃtrico nas direÃÃes x e y em um anel quÃntico, e verificamos como a energia à alterada pelo campo. Nossos resultados mostram que, como consequÃncia de uma localizaÃÃo da funÃÃo de onda causada pela anisotropia de massa, os nÃveis de energia decrescem quadraticamente (efeito Stark) com o campo aplicado apontando para a direÃÃo armchair, enquanto um decrÃscimo quase linear (efeito Stark linear) aparece para um campo aplicado na direÃÃo zigzag, com uma sÃrie de estados que se cruzam, levando a um comportamento semelhante ao de um poÃo quÃntico duplo sob um campo elÃtrico perpendicular a ele. / The possibility of obtaining two-dimensional systems from layered materials has been attracting a lot of research on these materials, since their few layer properties are very different from their respective bulk ones, which opens up great possibilities in technological applications. Black phosphorus exhibit several interesting properties, among them, a direct energy gap, that enables the possibility of fabricating electronic devices (in contrast e.g. with the gapless semi-metallic graphene), and which can be tuned by the number of layers, varying from 0.3 eV for a bulk up to 2.0 eV for a monolayer, thus covering a relatively large range of the energy spectrum for optical devices. Besides, the fact that this is a very anisotropic material has brought even more attention to it, towards novel ways of exploring this anisotropy in new technologies. In this work, we have derived the effective mass approximation from the tight binding model and used the out coming approximate Hamiltonian to study nanostructures based on monolayer black phosphorus. In this model, the anisotropic features of black phosphorus are reflected in the difference between effective masses in different directions. Firstly, we compare the finite difference methods with the analytical solution for a circular quantum dot, which, due to its elliptical contour of energy bands, is given by Mathieu functions for solving the resulting SchrÃdinger equation. With this comparison, we verify the compatibility between these methods. Within the effective mass approximation, we investigate the effect of external electromagnetic fields on a black phosphorus quantum ring, thus analysing the effect of the interplay between these fields and the system anisotropy on its electronic states. Due to the anisotropy, under an applied magnetic field, this ring does not exhibit Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, which can be recovered by assuming an elliptic ring-like confinement. We also investigate the effect of an external electric field applied in x and y directions in a black phosphorus quantum ring on its energy levels. Our results show that, as a consequence of a wave function localization induced by mass anisotropy, energy levels decay quadratically (Stark effect) with the field if it is applied along the armchair direction, whereas an almost linear Stark effect, along with a series of crossing excited states, is observed for a field applied in the zigzag direction, leading to a behavior that is in close resemblance to a double quantum well under a perpendicular electric field.

Microporous membranes act as selective barriers and play an important role in industrial gas separation and water purification. The permeability of such membranes is inversely proportional to their thickness. Synthetic two-dimensional materials (2DMs), with a thickness of one to a few atoms or monomer-units are ideal candidates for developing separation membranes. In this Progress Report, we present groundbreaking advances in the design, synthesis, processing, and application of 2DMs for gas and ion separations, as well as water desalination. After the introduction in Section 1, this report describes the syntheses, structures, and mechanical properties of 2DMs in Section 2. In Section 3, we will discuss the established methods for processing 2DMs into selective permeation membranes and address the separation mechanism and their performances. Finally, current challenges and emerging research directions, which need to be addressed for developing next generation separation membranes, are summarized in the Conclusion and Perspective.

La demande urgente d'innovations dans le domaine du stockage de l'énergie est liée au développement récent de la production d'énergie renouvelable ainsi qu'à la diversification des produits électroniques portables qui consomment de plus en plus d'énergie. Il existe plusieurs technologies pour le stockage et la conversion électrochimique de l'énergie, les plus notables étant les batteries aux ions lithium, les piles à combustible et les supercondensateurs. Ces systèmes sont utilisés de façon complémentaire des uns aux autres dans des applications différentes. Par exemple, les batteries sont plus facilement transportables que les piles à combustible et ont de bonne densité d'énergie alors que les supercondensateurs ont des densités de puissance plus élevés et une meilleure durée de vie. L'objectif principal de ces travaux est d'étudier les performances électrochimiques d'une nouvelle famille de matériaux bidimensionnel appelée MXène, en vue de proposer de nouvelles solutions pour le stockage de l'énergie. Pour y arriver, plusieurs directions ont été explorées. Dans un premier temps, la thèse se concentre sur les supercondensateurs dans des électrolytes aqueux et aux effets des groupes de surface. La seconde partie se concentre sur les systèmes de batterie et de capacités à ions sodium. Une cellule complète comportant une anode en carbone et une cathode de MXène a été développées. La dernière partie de la thèse présente l'étude des MXènes pour les supercondensateur en milieu organique. Une attention particulière est apportée à l'étude du mécanisme d'intercalation des ions entre les feuillets de MXène. Différentes techniques de caractérisations ont été utilisées, en particulier la voltampérométrie cyclique, le cyclage galvanostatique, la spectroscopie d'impédance, la microscopie électronique et la diffraction des rayons X. / An increase in energy and power densities is needed to match the growing energy storage demands linked with the development of renewable energy production and portable electronics. Several energy storage technologies exist including lithium ion batteries, sodium ion batteries, fuel cells and electrochemical capacitors. These systems are complementary to each other. For example, electrochemical capacitors (ECs) can deliver high power densities whereas batteries are used for high energy densities applications. The first objective of this work is to investigate the electrochemical performances of a new family of 2-D material called MXene and propose new solutions to tackle the energy storage concern. To achieve this goal, several directions have been explored. The first part of the research focuses on MXene behavior as electrode material for electrochemical capacitors in aqueous electrolytes. The next part starts with sodium-ion batteries, and a new hybrid system of sodium ion capacitor is proposed. The last part is the study of MXene electrodes for supercapacitors is organic electrolytes. The energy storage mechanisms are thoroughly investigated. Different characterization techniques were used in this work, such as cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.

abstract: Two dimensional (2D) Janus Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a new class of atomically thin polar materials. In these materials, the top and the bottom atomic layer are made of different chalcogen atoms. To date, several theoretical studies have shown that a broken mirror symmetry induces a colossal electrical field in these materials, which leads to unusual quantum properties. Despite these new properties, the current knowledge in their synthesis is limited only through two independent studies; both works rely on high-temperature processing techniques and are specific to only one type of 2D Janus material - MoSSe. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of a new synthesis method to (1) Extend the library of Janus class materials. (2) Improve the quality of 2D crystals. (3) Enable the synthesis of Janus heterostructures. The central hypothesis in this work is that the processing temperature of 2D Janus synthesis can be significantly lowered down to room temperatures by using reactive hydrogen and sulfur radicals while stripping off selenium atoms from the 2D surface. To test this hypothesis, a series of controlled growth studies were performed, and several complementary characterization techniques were used to establish a process–structure-property relationship. The results show that the newly proposed approach, namely Selective Epitaxy and Atomic Replacement (SEAR), is effective in reducing the growth temperature down to ambient conditions. The proposed technique benefits in achieving highly crystalline 2D Janus layers with an excellent optical response. Further studies herein show that this technique can form highly sophisticated lateral and vertical heterostructures of 2D Janus layers. Overall results establish an entirely new growth technique for 2D Janus.layers, which pave ways for the realization of exciting quantum effects in these materials such as Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state, Majorana fermions, and topological p-wave superconductors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Materials Science and Engineering 2020