Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Screening at the Surface of Black Phosphorus.

Electronic screening can have direct consequences for structural arrangements on the nanoscale, such as on the periodic ordering of adatoms on a surface. So far, such ordering phenomena have been explained in terms of isotropic screening of free electronlike systems. Here, we directly illustrate the structural consequences of anisotropic screening, making use of a highly anisotropic two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) near the surface of black phosphorous. The presence of the 2DEG and its filling is controlled by adsorbed potassium atoms, which simultaneously serve to probe the electronic ordering. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we show that the anisotropic screening leads to the formation of potassium chains with a well-defined orientation and spacing. We quantify the mean interaction potential utilizing statistical methods and find that the dimensionality and anisotropy of the screening is consistent with the presence of a band bending-induced 2DEG near the surface. The electronic dispersion of the 2DEG inferred by electronic ordering is consistent with that measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Molecular dynamics of the halloysite nanotubes.

We report large-scale and long-time molecular dynamics simulations demonstrating the transformation of a single kaolin alumosilicate sheet to a halloysite nanotube. The models we consider contain up to 5 × 105 atoms, which is two orders of magnitude larger than that used in previous theoretical works. It was found that the temperature plays a crucial role in the formation of the rolled geometry of the halloysite. For the models with periodic boundary conditions, we observe the tendency to form twin-tube structures, which is confirmed experimentally by atomic force microscopy imaging. The molecular dynamics calculations show that the rate of the rolling process is very sensitive to the choice of the winding axis and varies from 5 ns to 25 ns. The effects of the open boundary conditions and the initial form of the kaolin alumosilicate sheet are discussed. Our simulation results are consistent with experimental TEM and AFM halloysite tube imaging.