| Aug 08, 2024 |
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(Nanowerk Information) Phosphorus is an thrilling component: It’s important for the survival of organisms and guarantees quite a few digital functions. With this in thoughts, researchers on the College of Basel have synthesized two-dimensional layers containing rings of 5 phosphorus atoms (phosphorus pentamers (cyclo-P5)) on a silver floor.
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For the primary time, they’ve been capable of examine their digital properties utilizing mixed atomic power and scanning tunneling spectroscopy. They discovered that the atomic phosphorus pentamer layer retains its semiconductor properties and kinds a particular digital interface the place the layer joins the silver floor (p-type semiconductor-metal Schottky junction).
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This reveals that phosphorus pentamers on the silver floor fulfill a fundamental requirement for functions in field-effect transistors, diodes or photo voltaic cells, as just lately reported by the analysis staff within the scientific journal Nature Communications (“Probing charge redistribution at the interface of self-assembled cyclo-P5 pentamers on Ag(111)”).
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Phosphorus is a crucial element of each organism and performs a key position, for instance, in power switch within the physique and inside cell membranes, bones and enamel. Phosphorus can also be particular as a result of it happens in quite a few totally different kinds (allotropes).
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For instance, there’s the extremely explosive, poisonous white phosphorus, the extra steady crimson phosphorus recognized from match heads, or the crystalline, semi-conducting black phosphorus. The latter has quite a few functions in digital gadgets. The number of phosphorus compounds and their bodily and chemical properties could be additional prolonged by the self-assembly of two-dimensional phosphorus buildings on surfaces.
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| When two-dimensional layers containing rings of 5 phosphorus atoms (phosphorus pentamers) are shaped on a sliver floor by self-assembly, the phosphorus layer retains its semiconductor properties and a particular interface (a p-type semiconductor-metal Schottky junction) kinds on the interface with the silver floor. (Picture: R. Pawlak, Division of Physics, College of Basel)
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Varied two-dimensional layers
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Researchers from the group led by Professor Ernst Meyer on the Division of Physics and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute on the College of Basel have now produced varied two-dimensional phosphorus buildings on silver surfaces by evaporating phosphorus atoms.
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Along with chains and hexagonal rings, additionally they produced planar rings of 5 phosphorus atoms (phosphorus pentamers), every of which behaves like an anion, i.e., is negatively charged. To be able to assess whether or not such 2D layers consisting of phosphorus pentamers are appropriate for functions in nanoelectronics and nanooptics, it’s essential to characterize the properties of the atomic layer and examine the interactions with the metallic floor.
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Utilizing a mix of atomic power and scanning tunneling spectroscopy at low temperatures of 4 kelvin (-269.15 °C), the researchers discovered that the phosphorus pentamers retain their semiconducting properties on the silver floor.
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“This distinguishes the phosphorus layer from a hexagonal graphene layer, for example, which is metallic when in direct contact with a metallic surface,” explains Dr. Rémy Pawlak, who supervised the experiments.
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The phosphorus pentamer layer causes electrons to cross from the metallic into the phosphorus layer and a particular boundary layer, often known as a p-type semiconductor-metal Schottky junction, is shaped. “The formation of a Schottky junction at the interface could enable applications in field-effect transistors, in solar cells or as diodes,” provides Professor Ernst Meyer.
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The outcomes had been confirmed by simulations carried out by analysis teams from Shenzhen and Shanghai in China.
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