Quantum Theory of Advanced Materials

Abstract Band structure by design in 2D layered semiconductors is highly desirable, with the goal to acquire the electronic properties of interest through the engineering of chemical composition, structure, defect, stacking, or doping. For atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides, substitutional doping with more than one single type of transition metals is the task for which no feasible approach is proposed. Here, the growth of WS2 monolayer is shown codoped with multiple kinds of transition metal impurities via chemical vapor deposition controlled in a diffusion-limited mode. Multielement embedment of Cr, Fe, Nb, and Mo into the host lattice is exemplified. Abundant impurity states thus generate in the bandgap of the resultant WS2 and provide a robust switch of charging/discharging states upon sweep of an electric filed. A profound memory window exists in the transfer curves of doped WS2 field-effect transistors, forming the basis of binary states for robust nonvolatile memory. The doping technique presented in this work brings one step closer to the rational design of 2D semiconductors with desired electronic properties.

A p-T phase diagram of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) terminated by hydrogen atoms is established based on first-principles calculations, where the stable phase at standard conditions (25 degrees C and 1 bar) is found to be a zigzag GNR (zzGNR). The stability of this new GNR is understood based on an electron-counting model, which predicts semiconducting nonmagnetic zzGNRs. Quantum confinement of Dirac fermions in the stable zzGNRs is found to be qualitatively different from that in ordinary semiconductors. Bifurcation of the band gap is predicted to take place, leading to the formation of polymorphs with distinct band gaps but equal thermodynamic stability. A tight-binding model analysis reveals the role of edge symmetry on the band-gap bifurcation.

The asymmetry in the phase diagram of the H/Ru(001) system is studied by assuming a lattice gas model for the chemisorbed hydrogen and using the cluster variation method. Ground state analysis of the ordered structures shows that the effective pair interaction for the next-nearest neighbors has to be repulsive. We also found that the order-disorder transition temperatures and hence the phase diagram are very sensitive to upsilon3, the ratio of the effective next-nearest to nearest neighbor interactions of H adatoms. The asymmetry in the phase diagram, which cannot be accounted for by the adsorbate relaxation model by Persson [Surf. Sci. 258 (1991) 451], is attributed to the coverage dependence of the effective pair interactions. By assuming a simple piecewise linear dependence of upsilon3 on the chemical potential, we constructed an asymmetric phase diagram which is in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The model studied can be applied to the H/Pd(111) system directly and can be easily generalized for other close-packed metal surfaces.

The phase stability is studied for the beta-phase YH2+x system based on first-principles total energy calculations. Our study predicts that the D0(22), ''40'', and D1a structures are stable near x = 0. 25, 0.5, and 0.8, respectively. Using the effective cluster interactions obtained from the first-principles total-energy data, the phase diagram for the D0(22) and ''40'' ordered phases is calculated by the cluster variational method. The calculated order-disorder transition temperature at x = 0.1 for the D0(22) structure is around 280 K, which is consistent with the recent observation of the metal-semiconductor transition near 230-280 K and resistivity anomalies near 200-250 K for the system with x near 0.1 [Daou and Vajda, Phys. Rev. B 45, 10 907 (1992)].