Direct measurements of surface scattering in Si nanosheets using a microscale phonon spectrometer: implications for Casimir-limit predicted by Ziman theory.

Thermal transport in nanostructures is strongly affected by phonon-surface interactions, which are expected to depend on the phonon's wavelength and the surface roughness. Here we fabricate silicon nanosheets, measure their surface roughness (∼ 1 nm) using atomic force microscopy (AFM), and assess the phonon scattering rate in the sheets with a novel technique: a microscale phonon spectrometer. The spectrometer employs superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) to produce and detect controllable nonthermal distributions of phonons from ∼ 90 to ∼ 870 GHz.

Synthesis and properties of electrically conductive, ductile, extremely long (~50 μm) nanosheets of K(x)CoO2·yH2O.

Extremely long, electrically conductive, ductile, free-standing nanosheets of water-stabilized KxCoO2·yH2O are synthesized using the sol-gel and electric-field induced kinetic-demixing (SGKD) process. Room temperature in-plane resistivity of the KxCoO2·yH2O nanosheets is less than ~4.7 mΩ·cm, which corresponds to one of the lowest resistivity values reported for metal oxide nanosheets.