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Domain walls (DWs) in the charge-density-wave (CDW) Mott insulator 1T-TaS2 have unique localized states, which play an important role in exploring the electronic properties of the material. However, the electronic states in DWs in 1T-TaS2 have not been clearly understood, mostly due to the complex structures, phases, and interlayer stacking orders in the DW areas. Here, we explored the electronic states of DWs in large-area CDW phase and mosaic phase of 1T-TaS2 by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Due to the different density of DWs, the electronic states of DWs show distinct features in these phases. In large area CDW phase, both the domain and the DWs (DW1, DW2, DW4) have zero conductance at the Fermi level; while in mosaic phase, they can be metallic or insulating depending on their environments. In areas with high density of DWs, some electronic states were observed both on the DWs and within the domains, indication delocalized states over the whole region. Our work contributes to further understandings on the interplay between CDW and electron correlations in 1T-TaS2.

Charge density wave (CDW) strongly affects the electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials and can be tuned by phase engineering. Among 2D transitional metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), VTe2 was predicted to require small energy for its phase transition and shows unexpected CDW states in its T-phase. However, the CDW state of H-VTe2 has been barely reported. Here, we investigate the CDW states in monolayer (ML) H-VTe2, induced by phase-engineering from T-phase VTe2. The phase transition between T- and H-VTe2 is revealed with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) measurements. For H-VTe2, scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) results show a robust 2 3 × 2 3 CDW superlattice with a transition temperature above 450 K. Our findings provide a promising way for manipulating the CDWs in 2D materials and show great potential in its application of nanoelectronics.

HoBi single crystal and polycrystalline compounds with NaCl-type structure are successfully obtained, and their magnetic and magnetocaloric properties are studied in detail. With temperature increasing, HoBi compound undergoes two magnetic transitions at 3.7 K and 6 K, respectively. The transition temperature at 6 K is recognized as an antiferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic (AFM–PM) transition, which belongs to the first-order magnetic phase transition (FOMT). It is interesting that the HoBi compound with FOMT exhibits good thermal and magnetic reversibility. Furthermore, a large inverse and normal magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is found in HoBi single crystal in the H||[100] direction, and the positive ΔS M peak reaches 13.1 J/kg⋅K under a low field change of 2 T and the negative ΔS M peak arrives at –18 J/kg⋅K under a field change of 5 T. These excellent properties are expected to be applied to some magnetic refrigerators with special designs and functions.

We report a facile phase conversion method that can locally convert n-type SnSe2 into p-type SnSe by direct laser irradiation. Raman spectra of SnSe2 flakes before and after laser irradiation confirm the phase conversion of SnSe2 to SnSe. By performing the laser irradiation on SnSe2 flakes at different temperatures, it is found that laser heating effect induces the removal of Se atoms from SnSe2 and results in the phase conversion of SnSe2 to SnSe. Lattice-revolved transmission electron microscope images of SnSe2 flakes before and after laser irradiation further confirm such conversion. By selective laser irradiation on SnSe2 flakes, a pattern with SnSe2/SnSe heteostructures is created. This indicates that the laser induced phase conversion technique has relatively high spatial resolution and enables the creation of micron-sized in-plane p–n junction at predefined region.

The linkage structures between monomers make great influence on the properties of polymers. The synthesis of some special linkage structures can be challenging, which is often overcome by employing special reaction conditions. Here,we build dihydropentalene linkage in poly-naphthalocyanine on Ag(110) surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) measurements confirm the dihydropentalenelinkage structure and a possible formation path with reconstruction steps is proposed. The controlled experiment on Ag(100) surface shows no dihydropentalene structures formed, which indicates the grooved substrate is necessary for the reconstruction. This work provides insights into the surface restricted reactions that can yield special structures in organic polymers.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials received large amount of studies because of the enormous potential in basic science and industrial applications. Monolayer Pd2Se3 is a fascinating 2D material that was predicted to possess excellent thermoelectric, electronic, transport, and optical properties. However, the fabrication of large-scale and high-quality monolayer Pd2Se3 is still challenging. Here, we report the synthesis of large-scale and high-quality monolayer Pd2Se3 on graphene-SiC (0001) by a two-step epitaxial growth. The atomic structure of Pd2Se3 was investigated by scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and confirmed by non-contact atomic force microscope (nc-AFM). Two subgroups of Se atoms have been identified by nc-AFM image in agreement with the theoretically predicted atomic structure. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) reveals a bandgap of 1.2 eV, suggesting that monolayer Pd2Se3 can be a candidate for photoelectronic applications. The atomic structure and defect levels of a single Se vacancy were also investigated. The spatial distribution of STS near the Se vacancy reveals a highly anisotropic electronic behavior. The two-step epitaxial synthesis and characterization of Pd2Se3 provide a promising platform for future investigations and applications.

Y0.75−xGdxAl0.10BO3:Eu3+0.10, 0.05R3+ (R = Sc, Bi) (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.45) powder samples are prepared by solid-state reaction and their luminescence properties are investigated. With the replacement of Y3+ ions by Sc3+ (or Bi3+) and Gd3+ ions in (Y,Al)BO3:Eu, the intensities of emission at 254 and 147 nm are remarkably improved, because Sc3+ ions can absorb UV light and transfer the energy to Eu3+ ions efficiently. Moreover, Gd3+ and Bi3+ ions act as an intermediate "bridge" between the sensitizer and the activator (Eu3+) in energy transfer to produce light in the (Y, Gd)BO3:Bi3+, Eu3+ system more effectively. After doping an appropriate concentration of Gd3+ into Y0.50Gd0.25Al0.10BO3:Eu3+0.01, Bi3+0.05, the emission intensity reaches its maximum, which is nearly 110% compared with the red commercial phosphor (Y,Gd)BO3:Eu and better chromaticity coordinates (0.650, 0.350) are obtained.