No Arabic abstract
Monolayer WTe2 attracts rapidly growing interests for its large-gap quantum spin Hall effect,which enables promising apllications in flexible logic devices. Due to one-dimensional W-W chains,1T-WTe2 exhibits unique anisotropic structure and promising properties, which can be modified by simply applying strains. Based on the first-principles simulations, we show that phonon branch undergoes soft down to negative frequency at special q points under different critical strains, i.e., epsilon_a = 11.55 percent along a-axis (with W-W chains) direction, epsilon_b = 7.0 percent along b-axis direction and epsilon_ab = 8.44 percent along biaxial direction. Before each critical strain, the Raman-shift of A1_g, A3_g, and A4_g modes, corresponding to the main peaks in Raman spectra of 1T-WTe2 , shows anisotropic response to uniaxial strain but most sensitive to biaxial strain. Interestingly, we find that the frequency shift of A3_g mode show parabolic characters of strained 1T-WTe2, then we split it into two parts and it shows a Raman-shift transition at about 5 percent strains. While for the A1_g and A4_g modes,the frequencies change linearly. Through careful structure and vibration analysis, we try to explain these Raman irregularity in strained 1T-WTe2.
In a latest experimental advance, graphene-like and insulating BeO monolayer was successfully grown over silver surface by molecular beam epitaxy (ACS Nano 15(2021), 2497). Inspired by this accomplishment, in this work we conduct first-principles based simulations to explore the electronic, mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of graphene-like BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers. The considered nanosheets are found to show desirable thermal and dynamical stability. BeO monolayer is found to show remarkably high elastic modulus and tensile strength of 408 and 53.3 GPa, respectively. The electronic band gap of BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers are predicted to be 6.72, 4.79, and 3.80 eV, respectively, using the HSE06 functional. On the basis of iterative solutions of the Boltzmann transport equation, the room temperature lattice thermal conductivity of BeO, MgO and CaO monolayers are predicted to be 385, 64 and 15 W/mK, respectively. Our results reveal substantial decline in the electronic band gap, mechanical strength and thermal conductivity by increasing the weight of metal atoms. This work highlights outstandingly high thermal conductivity, carrier mobility and mechanical strength of insulating BeO nanosheets and suggest them as promising candidates to design strong and insulating components with high thermal conductivities.
A quantum spin hall insulator(QSHI) is manifested by its conducting edge channels that originate from the nontrivial topology of the insulating bulk states. Monolayer 1T-WTe2 exhibits this quantized edge conductance in transport measurements, but because of its semimetallic nature, the coherence length is restricted to around 100 nm. To overcome this restriction, we propose a strain engineering technique to tune the electronic structure, where either a compressive strain along a axis or a tensile strain along b axis can drive 1T-WTe2 into an full gap insulating phase. A combined study of molecular beam epitaxy and in-situ scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy then confirmed such a phase transition. Meanwhile, the topological edge states were found to be very robust in the presence of strain.
Using the density functional theory of electronic structure, we compute the anisotropic dielectric response of bulk black phosphorus subject to strain. Employing the obtained permittivity tensor, we solve Maxwells equations and study the electromagnetic response of a layered structure comprising a film of black phosphorus stacked on a metallic substrate. Our results reveal that a small compressive or tensile strain, $sim 4%$, exerted either perpendicular or in the plane to the black phosphorus growth direction, efficiently controls the epsilon-near-zero response, and allows a perfect absorption tuning from low-angle of the incident beam $theta=0^circ$ to high values $thetaapprox 90^circ$ while switching the energy flow direction. Incorporating a spatially inhomogeneous strain model, we also find that for certain thicknesses of the black phosphorus, near-perfect absorption can be achieved through controlled variations of the in-plane strain. These findings can serve as guidelines for designing largely tunable perfect electromagnetic wave absorber devices.
The nucleation of cavities in a homogenous polymer under tensile strain is investigated in a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. In order to establish a causal relation between local microstructure and the onset of cavitation, a detailed analysis of some local properties is presented. In contrast to common assumptions, the nucleation of a cavity is neither correlated to a local loss of density nor, to the stress at the atomic scale and nor to the chain ends density in the undeformed state. Instead, a cavity in glassy polymers nucleates in regions that display a low bulk elastic modulus. This criterion allows one to predict the cavity position before the cavitation occurs. Even if the localization of a cavity is not directly predictable from the initial configuration, the elastically weak zones identified in the initial state emerge as favorite spots for cavity formation.
We report a rectangular charge density wave (CDW) phase in strained 1T-VSe$_2$ thin films synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy on c-sapphire substrates. The observed CDW structure exhibits an unconventional rectangular 4a{times}{sqrt{3a}} periodicity, as opposed to the previously reported hexagonal $4atimes4a$ structure in bulk crystals and exfoliated thin layered samples. Tunneling spectroscopy shows a strong modulation of the local density of states of the same $4atimessqrt{3}a$ CDW periodicity and an energy gap of $2Delta_{CDW}=(9.1pm0.1)$ meV. The CDW energy gap evolves into a full gap at temperatures below 500 mK, indicating a transition to an insulating phase at ultra-low temperatures. First-principles calculations confirm the stability of both $4atimes4a$ and $4atimessqrt{3}a$ structures arising from soft modes in the phonon dispersion. The unconventional structure becomes preferred in the presence of strain, in agreement with experimental findings.