Gibaja, C, Rodríguez‐San‐Miguel, D, Paz, WS et al. (13 more authors) (2021) Exfoliation of Alpha-Germanium: A Covalent Diamond-Like Structure. Advanced Materials, 33 (10). 2006826. ISSN 0935-9648
Abstract
2D materials have opened a new field in materials science with outstanding scientific and technological impact. A largely explored route for the preparation of 2D materials is the exfoliation of layered crystals with weak forces between their layers. However, its application to covalent crystals remains elusive. Herein, a further step is taken by introducing the exfoliation of germanium, a narrow-bandgap semiconductor presenting a 3D diamond-like structure with strong covalent bonds. Pure α-germanium is exfoliated following a simple one-step procedure assisted by wet ball-milling, allowing gram-scale fabrication of high-quality layers with large lateral dimensions and nanometer thicknesses. The generated flakes are thoroughly characterized by different techniques, giving evidence that the new 2D material exhibits bandgaps that depend on both the crystallographic direction and the number of layers. Besides potential technological applications, this work is also of interest for the search of 2D materials with new properties.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gibaja, C., Rodríguez-San-Miguel, D., Paz, W. S., Torres, I., Salagre, E., Segovia, P., Michel, E. G., Assebban, M., Ares, P., Hernández-Maldonado, D., Ramasse, Q., Abellán, G., Gómez-Herrero, J., Varela, M., Palacios, J. J., Zamora, F., Exfoliation of Alpha-Germanium: A Covalent Diamond-Like Structure. Adv. Mater. 2021, 33, 2006826, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202006826. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. |
Keywords: | 2D materials; alpha-germanium nanolayers; bandgap modulation; gram-scale preparation; liquid-phase exfoliation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2021 09:31 |
Last Modified: | 04 Feb 2022 01:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/adma.202006826 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176812 |