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Title: Ultrasensitive tunability of the direct bandgap of 2D [Twp-dimensional] InSe flakes via strain engineering

Journal Article · · 2D Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [2]; ORCiD logo [6]
  1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  3. Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan). Inst. of Physics; National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan). Center for Condensed Matter Science
  4. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  5. Harbin Inst. of Technology (China). School of Materials Science and Engineering
  6. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Electrical, Computer and System Engineering

InSe, a member of the layered materials family, is a superior electronic and optical material which retains a direct bandgap feature from the bulk to atomically thin few-layers and high electronic mobility down to a single layer limit. We, for the first time, exploit strain to drastically modify the bandgap of two-dimensional (2D) InSe nanoflakes. We demonstrated that we could decrease the bandgap of a few-layer InSe flake by 160 meV through applying an in-plane uniaxial tensile strain to 1.06% and increase the bandgap by 79 meV through applying an in-plane uniaxial compressive strain to 0.62%, as evidenced by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The large reversible bandgap change of ~239 meV arises from a large bandgap change rate (bandgap strain coefficient) of few-layer InSe in response to strain, ~154 meV/% for uniaxial tensile strain and ~140 meV/% for uniaxial compressive strain, representing the most pronounced uniaxial strain-induced bandgap strain coefficient experimentally reported in 2D materials. We developed a theoretical understanding of the strain-induced bandgap change through first-principles DFT and GW calculations. We also confirmed the bandgap change by photoconductivity measurements using excitation light with different photon energies. In conclusion, the highly tunable bandgap of InSe in the infrared regime should enable a wide range of applications, including electro-mechanical, piezoelectric and optoelectronic devices.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1461129
Journal Information:
2D Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 2; ISSN 2053-1583
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 82 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Theory and Ab Initio Calculation of Optically Excited States—Recent Advances in 2D Materials journal December 2019
Self‐Powered Photodetectors Based on 2D Materials journal September 2019
Probing Effective Out‐of‐Plane Piezoelectricity in van der Waals Layered Materials Induced by Flexoelectricity journal September 2019
Predicted high thermoelectric performance in a two-dimensional indium telluride monolayer and its dependence on strain journal January 2019
Emerging black phosphorus analogue nanomaterials for high-performance device applications journal January 2020
Thermoelectric performance of monolayer InSe improved by convergence of multivalley bands journal February 2019
Strong modulation of optical properties in rippled 2D GaSe via strain engineering journal March 2019
Crystallographic and magnetic properties of van der Waals layered FePS 3 crystal journal May 2019
Optoelectronic and photonic devices based on transition metal dichalcogenides journal January 2020

Figures / Tables (5)