ABSTRACT
The discovery of ferroelectricity in two-dimensional van der Waals materials has sparked enormous interest from the scientific community, due to its possible applications in next-generation nanoelectronic devices, such as random-access memory devices, digital signal processors, and solar cells, among others. In the present study, we used vapor phase deposition to synthesize ultrathin germanium sulfide nano-flakes on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate. Nanostructures of variable thicknesses were characterized using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Tunneling currents under forward and backward biases were measured as a function of nano-flake thickness. Remarkably, we clearly observed a hysteresis pattern, which we attributed to surface ferroelectric behavior, consistent with the screening conditions of polarization charges. The effect increases as the number of layers is reduced. This experimental result may be directly applicable to miniaturized memory devices, given the two-dimensional nature of this effect.
ABSTRACT
Dropcast films of very low concentration domains of phenazine 1,2,3-triazole molecules, blended in a Zeonex matrix, were studied by steady-state fluorescence as a function of temperature. These domains, randomly spread in the volume of the films, presented emission characteristics of singlet and triplet states coming from different molecular conformations. Emissions of singlet monomers, dimers or more complex aggregates, as well two distinct triplet phosphorescent bands, were observed to appear concomitantly or in isolated forms. From the analysis of the experimental results, the additional red-shifted phosphorescent band appeared as a consequence of the formation of dimer and/or more complex aggregated states. The emission characteristics of both phosphorescent bands were classified as coming from ensembles of a few interactive molecules. This statement was assumed based on the absence of replica modes of vibrational spin-orbit interactions.
