materials research

High-Performance and Lithography-Free Au/WS2/Ag Vertical Schottky Junction Solar Cells

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors (SCs) exhibit intriguing optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. * Due to their extraordinarily large optical absorption coefficients, transition metal dichalcogenides… Read More »High-Performance and Lithography-Free Au/WS2/Ag Vertical Schottky Junction Solar Cells

Graphene removal by water-assisted focused electron-beam-induced etching – unveiling the dose and the dwell time impact on the etch profile and topographical changes in SiO2 substrates

by NANOSENSORS
27 March 202427 March 2024
Science & Technology

Graphene is one of the most extensively studied 2D materials, exhibiting extraordinary mechanical and electronic properties. * Although many years have passed since its discovery,… Read More »Graphene removal by water-assisted focused electron-beam-induced etching – unveiling the dose and the dwell time impact on the etch profile and topographical changes in SiO2 substrates

Effective Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation on Lithium Metal Anodes by Mechanochemical Modification

Figure 6. from Julia Wellmann et al. “Effective Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation on Lithium Metal Anodes by Mechanochemical Modification”: SEM images of lithium electrodes after cycling in symmetric Li∥Li cells with liquid carbonate-based electrolytes (1 M LiPF6 in EC:EMC (3:7)) (a, f) without modification, (b, g) after mechanical modification, (c, h) after mechanochemical modification, and (d, i) after roll-pressing and immersion for 1 day and (e, j) for 7 days after (a–e) one electrodeposition step (1 mAh, 1 mA cm–2) and (f–j) after 50 cycles (1 mAh, 1 mA cm–2). AFM topography images of (k) pristine lithium, (l) mechanically modified lithium, (m) mechanochemically modified lithium, and (n) lithium immersed for 1 day and (o) for 7 days. The Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed using a NANOSENSORS™ PointProbe® Plus PPP-ZEILR AFM probe. (Contact Mode Low Force Constant - Reflex Coating).

Lithium metal batteries are gaining increasing attention due to their potential for significantly higher theoretical energy density than conventional lithium ion batteries. * In the… Read More »Effective Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation on Lithium Metal Anodes by Mechanochemical Modification

Electrical Detection of Magnetic Skyrmions in a Magnetic Tunnel Junction

Magnetic skyrmions are promising information carriers for dense and energy-efficient information storage owing to their small size, low driving-current density, and topological stability.* Electrical detection… Read More »Electrical Detection of Magnetic Skyrmions in a Magnetic Tunnel Junction

Electrical and magnetic anisotropies in van der Waals multiferroic CuCrP2S6

Fig. 2 from “Electrical and magnetic anisotropies in van der Waals multiferroic CuCrP2S6” by Xiaolei Wang et al.: Electrical measurements of the AFE CCPS indicating local FE polarization and electrical anisotropy. a Phase vs voltage hysteresis loop of CCPS crystal bulk obtained at T = 2 K by PFM, after subtracting the built-in electric field between the sample and substrate. The upper inset diagram indicates the atomic structure of electric field (E) driven FE polarized state. b The microscope picture of our CCPS device with identified a and b axes, along with the scale-up configuration of electrical measurements on the right. c The rectifying J–V characteristics along the a and b axes as positive +10 V bias is poling for 3 min. d The rectification behaviors as increasing the poling voltage to 6 min or longer. e Time dependence of current density along the a and b axes as setting the poling bias +10 V. f The negative rectification along the a axis as the poling voltage is −10 V for 3 min. g The schematic diagram of physical mechanism illustrating the in-plane electrical anisotropy. NANOSENSORS™ conductive and wear resistant Platinum-Silicide PtSi-FM AFM probes were used for the low-temperature piezoresponse force microscopy.

In the field of modern information storage, the physical properties could act as the storage “medium”, such as electric polarization (dipole orientation) of ferroelectric materials,… Read More »Electrical and magnetic anisotropies in van der Waals multiferroic CuCrP2S6

Domain-wall magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic hexagonal YbFeO3 films

Supplementary Figure.S15 from “Domain-wall magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic hexagonal YbFeO3 films” by Xin Li et al.: (a) MFM images of h-YbFeO3(001)/ YSZ(111), which were measured in the phase-lock mode 100 nm above the surface with a 3×3 m scan area. The gray scale of the images corresponds to the frequency shift, whose full scale is 1 Hz. The arrows indicate the sequence of the applied magnetic field along the c axis of h-YbFeO3 films. (b) Surface topography of h-YbFeO3 films measured by AFM with a 75 nm full grey scale. (c) Magnetic-field dependence of the roughness of the MFM images calculated using the central part of the images in (a). (d) The distribution of magnetic domain sizes extracted from the central part of the images in (a) with reducing magnetic field. All measurements were taken at 12 K. NANOSENSORS PPP-MFMR AFM probes with magnetic coating were used.

Electrical modulation of magnetic states in single-phase multiferroic materials, using domain-wall magnetoelectric (ME) coupling, can be enhanced substantially by controlling the population density of the… Read More »Domain-wall magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic hexagonal YbFeO3 films

Magnetic Skyrmions in a Thickness Tunable 2D Ferromagnet from a Defect Driven Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction

by NANOSENSORS
23 September 202215 March 2023
Science & Technology

Figure 4 from “Magnetic Skyrmions in a Thickness Tunable 2D Ferromagnet from a Defect Driven Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction” by Anirban Chakraborty et al. Thickness dependence of skyrmion size in lamella L2 as imaged by MFM. a) SEM image of the wedge-shaped lamella. The thickness of the lamella varies from ≈100 nm to ≈2 µm. b) MFM image of skyrmions in the lamella at 100 K and 0.032 T. c–f) Evolution of skyrmions as the field is increased from 0.1 to 0.2 T and finally reaches the field polarized state at ≈0.3 T. The blue and red contrast in the MFM images represent up- and down-magnetized domains. All MFM images are at the same scale: a scale bar is shown in (b). g) Skyrmion diameter as a function of lamella thickness including both MFM and LTEM data. NANOSENSORS SSS-MFMR AFM probes for magnetic force microscopy were used for all MFM measurements.

There is considerable interest in van der Waals (vdW) materials as potential hosts for chiral skyrmionic spin textures. Of particular interest is the ferromagnetic, metallic… Read More »Magnetic Skyrmions in a Thickness Tunable 2D Ferromagnet from a Defect Driven Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction