Controlling the Mott transition through strain engineering is crucial for advancing the development of memristive and neuromorphic computing devices. Yet, Mott insulators are heterogeneous due to intrinsic phase boundaries and extrinsic defects, posing significant challenges to fully understanding the impact of microscopic distortions on the local Mott transition. Here, using a synchrotron-based scanning X-ray nanoprobe, we studied the real-space structural heterogeneity during the structural phase transition in a VO thin film. Through temperature-dependent metal-insulator phase coexistence mapping, we report a variation in the local transition temperature up to 7 K across the film and nanoscale transition hysteresis. Furthermore, we reveal that the spatial heterogeneity of the transition is closely tied to the tilting of crystallographic planes. Our work highlights the impact of local heterogeneity on the Mott transition and lays the groundwork for future innovations in harnessing strain heterogeneity within Mott systems for the next-generation computational technologies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05387 | DOI Listing |
Phys Chem Chem Phys
January 2025
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330018, China.
Owing to their high light absorption coefficient, excellent electronic mobility, and enhanced excitonic effect, two-dimensional (2D) GaN materials hold great potential for applications in optoelectronic and electronic devices. As the metal-semiconductor junction (MSJ) is a fundamental component of semiconductor-based devices, identifying a suitable metal for contacting semiconductors is essential. In this work, detailed first-principles calculations were performed to investigate the contact behavior between the GaN monolayer (ML) and a series of 2D metals MX (M = Nb, Ta, V, Mo, or W; X = S or Se).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
January 2025
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Science and Applications of Molecular Ferroelectrics, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, P. R. China.
With the discovery of colossal magnetoresistance materials and high-temperature superconductors, Mott insulators can potentially undergo a transition from insulating state to metallic state. Here, in molecular ferroelectrics system, a Mott insulator of (CHN)VO has been first synthesized, which is a 2D organic-inorganic ferroelectric with composition of layered vanadium oxide and quinuclidine ring. Interestingly, accompanied by the ferroelectric phase transition, (CHN)VO changes sharply in conductivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States.
Controlling the Mott transition through strain engineering is crucial for advancing the development of memristive and neuromorphic computing devices. Yet, Mott insulators are heterogeneous due to intrinsic phase boundaries and extrinsic defects, posing significant challenges to fully understanding the impact of microscopic distortions on the local Mott transition. Here, using a synchrotron-based scanning X-ray nanoprobe, we studied the real-space structural heterogeneity during the structural phase transition in a VO thin film.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
School of Information Science and Technology and Department of Optical Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
The formation of large polarons resulting from the Fröhlich coupling of photogenerated carriers with the polarized crystal lattice is considered crucial in shaping the outstanding optoelectronic properties in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite crystals. Until now, the initial polaron dynamics after photoexcitation have remained elusive in the hybrid perovskite system. Here, based on the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and optical-pump terahertz probe, we access the nature of interplay between photoexcited unbound charge carriers and optical phonons in MAPbBr within the initial 5 ps after excitation and have demonstrated the simultaneous existence of both electron- and hole-polarons, together with the photogenerated carrier dynamic process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of Review: Women are underrepresented in HIV infection and prevention research despite making up half of people living with HIV. The female genital tract (FGT) serves as a primary site of HIV acquisition, but gaps in knowledge remain regarding protective innate immune mechanisms. Innate lymphoid cells are tissue-resident cells involved in mucosal barrier maintenance and protection, and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are altered during chronic HIV infection.
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