Exploring the heteroanionic 2D materials RhSeCl and RhTeCl as promising semiconductor materials.

Heteroanionic materials show promising potential as 2D semiconductors due to their tunable band gaps, making them excellent candidates for photocatalytic water splitting applications. We conducted detailed theoretical and experimental analysis of two selected materials by synthesizing crystals through chemical vapor transport and investigating the impact of anion variation on crystal structure and properties. Using powder X-ray diffraction and convergent beam electron diffraction, we elucidated the non-centrosymmetric space groups of these compounds.

Colloidal PbS nanoplatelets synthesized via cation exchange for electronic applications.

In this work, we present a new synthetic approach to colloidal PbS nanoplatelets (NPLs) utilizing a cation exchange (CE) strategy starting from CuS NPLs synthesized via the hot-injection method. Whereas the thickness of the resulting CuS NPLs was fixed at approx. 5 nm, the lateral size could be tuned by varying the reaction conditions, such as time from 6 to 16 h, the reaction temperature (120 °C, 140 °C), and the amount of copper precursor.

Universal electronic structure of polar oxide hetero-interfaces.

The electronic properties of NdGaO3/SrTiO3, LaGaO3/SrTiO3, and LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, all showing an insulator-to-metal transition as a function of the overlayer-thickness, are addressed in a comparative study based on x-ray absorption, x-ray photoemission and resonant photoemission spectroscopy. The nature of the charge carriers, their concentration and spatial distribution as well as the interface band alignments and the overall interface band diagrams are studied and quantitatively evaluated. The behavior of the three analyzed heterostructures is found to be remarkably similar.

Superconductors: time-reversal symmetry breaking?

One of the mysteries of modern condensed-matter physics is the nature of the pseudogap state of the superconducting cuprates. Kaminski et al. claim to have observed signatures of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the pseudogap regime in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (Bi2212).