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In recent years, low-dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid metal halides (OIHMHs) have shown excellent photophysical properties due to their quantum structure, adjustable energy levels, and energy transfer between inorganic and organic components, which have attracted extensive attention from researchers. Herein, we synthesize a zero-dimensional (0D) OIHMH, Sb3+:(Gua)3InCl6, by introducing Sb3+into (Gua)3InCl6, which undergoes a significant enhancement of the emission peak at 580 nm with the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) boosted from 17.86 to 95.72% when excited at 340 nm. This boost in photoluminescence of the doped sample was studied by combining ultrafast femtosecond transient absorption, temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and density functional theory (DFT) calculation, revealing the process of self-trapped exciton (STE) recombination to emit light at both Sb and In sites in this 0D structure simultaneously. This material with the lowest dark STE level at the In site for emission in the undoped sample can amazingly yield very strong emission in the doped sample, which has never been observed before. Finally, we tested its application in a photoelectric device. This work not only helps to gain a deeper understanding of the formation of STEs in In-based halides but also plays a certain guiding role in the design of new luminescent materials.

Among first experimentally discovered two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials, chromium triiodide (CrI3) monolayers have attracted particular attention due to their potential applications in electronics and spintronics. However, the Curie temperature Tcof the CrI3monolayer is below room temperature, which greatly limits practical development of the devices. Herein, using density functional theory calculation, we explore how the electronic and magnetic properties of CrI3monolayers change upon adsorption of 3d transition-metal (TM) atoms (from Sc to Zn). Our results indicate that the electronic properties of the TM–CrI3system can be tuned from semiconductor to metal/half-metal/spin gapless semiconductor depending on the choice of the adsorbed TM atoms. Moreover, the adsorption can improve the ferromagnetic stability of CrI3monolayers by increasing both magnetic moments and Tc. Notably, Tcof CrI3with Sc and V adatoms can be increased by nearly a factor of 3. We suggest postsynthesis doping of 2D CrI3by deposition of TM atoms as a new route toward potential applications of TM–CrI3systems in nanoelectronic and spintronic devices.

An acidified SnO2/rGO aerogel (ASGA) is an attractive contributor in ethanol gas sensing under ultralow concentration because of the sufficient active sites and adsorption pores in SnO2and the rGA, respectively. Furthermore, a p–n heterojunction is successfully constructed by the high electron mobility between ASP and rGA to establish a brand-new bandgap of 2.72 eV, where more electrons are released and the surface energy is decreased, to improve the gas sensitivity. The ASGA owns a specific surface area of 256.1 m2/g, far higher than SnO2powder (68.7 m2/g), indicating an excellent adsorption performance, so it can acquire more ethanol gas for a redox reaction. For gas-sensing ability, the ASGA exhibits an excellent response of Ra/Rg= 137.4 to 20 ppm of ethanol at the optimum temperature of 210 °C and can reach a response of 1.2 even at the limit detection concentration of 0.25 ppm. After the concentration gradient change test, a nonlinear increase between concentration and sensitivity (S–Ccurve) is observed, and it indirectly proves the chemical adsorption between ethanol and ASGA, which exhibits charge transfer and improves electron mobility. In addition, a detailed energy band diagram and sensor response diagram jointly depict the gas-sensitive mechanism. Finally, a conversed calculation explains the feasibility of the nonlinear S–Ccurve from the atomic level, which further verifies the chemical adsorption during the sensing process.

Layered 1T-type TiS2powders were pretreated by an ethanol-based shear pulverization process, which showed outstanding effectiveness in reducing the average grain size and narrowing the size distribution while maintaining high crystallinity and plate-shaped morphology. The resulting bulk ceramics densified by spark plasma sintering possessed a highly (00l)-oriented texture and pronounced anisotropy. They showed a noticeably increased σ and an unaffected Sin the in-plane direction due to the increased carrier mobility μ and the constant carrier concentration n, which resulted in a significant enhancement of the in-plane power factor, optimally to an unprecedented high level of 1.6–1.8 mW m–1K–2in a range of 323–673 K. Meanwhile, the lattice thermal conductivity was reduced by approximately 20% due to the intensified grain boundary phonon scattering that overwhelmed the effect due to texturing. These effects not only demonstrated the powder shear pulverization pretreatment as a facial and reliable route toward a high-textured TiS2but also enabled a remarkable increase of ZTrecord for TiS2-based thermoelectrics (TEs) to approximately 0.7 at 673 K, indicating clearly the significant effect of texture engineering on TE performance.

Recent discovery of intrinsic ferromagnetism in Fe3GeTe2(FGT) monolayer [Deng, Y.; Nature2018, 563, 94−99; Fei, Z.; Nat. Mater.2018, 17, 778–782] not only extended the family of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials but also stimulated further interest in the possibility to tune their magnetic properties without changing the chemical composition or introducing defects. By means of density functional theory computations, we explore strain effects on the magnetic properties of the FGT monolayer. We demonstrate that the ferromagnetism can be largely enhanced by the tensile strain in the FGT monolayer due to the competitive effects of direct exchange and superexchange interaction. The average magnetic moments of Fe atoms increase monotonically with an increase in biaxial strain from −5 to 5% in FGT monolayer. The intriguing variation of magnetic moments with strain in the FGT monolayer is related to the charge transfer induced by the changes in the bond lengths. Given the successful fabrication of the FGT monolayer, the strain-tunable ferromagnetism in the FGT monolayer can stimulate the experimental effort in this field. This work also suggests an effective route to control the magnetic properties of the FGT monolayer. The pronounced magnetic response toward the biaxial strain can be used to design the magnetomechanical coupling spintronics devices based on FGT.