Search

GW170817 is the unique gravitational-wave (GW) event that is associated to the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart GRB 170817A. NGC 4993 is identified as the host galaxy of GW170817/GRB 170817A. In this paper, we particularly focus on the spatially resolved properties of NGC 4993. We present the photometric results from the comprehensive data analysis of the high spatial-resolution images in the different optical bands. The morphological analysis reveals that NGC 4993 is a typical early-type galaxy without significant remnants of major galaxy merger. The spatially resolved stellar population properties of NGC 4993 suggest that the galaxy center has passive evolution with the outskirt formed by gas accretion. We derive the merging rate of the compact object per galaxy by a co-evolution scenario of supermassive black hole and its host galaxy. If the galaxy formation is at redshift 1.0, the merging rate per galaxy is $3.2\times 10^{-4}$ to $7.7\times 10^{-5}$ within the merging decay time from 1.0 to 5.0 Gyr. The results provide the vital information for the ongoing GW EM counterpart detections. The HST data analysis presented in this paper can be also applied for the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) research in the future., RAA accepted

We modify Zn anodes with island-distributed indium (Zn@In). The effective suppression of hydrogen evolution by Zn@In enables an ultra-dense and rock-like Zn plating morphology, extending the cycling life of a Zn symmetrical cell to over one year.

Ongoing efforts to develop single-atom catalysts (SACs) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) typically focus on SACs with cationic metal centers, while SACs with anionic metal centers (anionic SACs) have been generally neglected. However, anionic SACs may offer excellent active sites for ORR, since anionic metal centers could facilitate the activation of O2 by back donating electrons to the antibonding orbitals of O2. In this work, we propose a simple guideline for designing anionic SACs: the metal centers should have larger electronegativity than the surrounding atoms in the substrate on which the metal atoms are supported. By means of density functional theory (DFT) simulations, we identified 13 anionic metal centers (Co, Ni, Cu, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, and Hg) dispersed on pristine or defective antimonene substrates as new anionic SACs, among which anionic Au and Co metal centers exhibit limiting potentials comparable to, or even better than, conventional Pt-based catalysts towards ORR. We also found that anionic Os and Re metal centers on the defective antimonene can electrochemically catalyze the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) with a limiting potential close to that of stepped Ru(0001). Overall, our work shows promise towards the rational design of anionic SACs and their utility for applications as electrocatalysts for ORR and other important electrochemical reactions.

The unique intermolecular van der Waals force in emerging two-dimensional inorganic molecular crystals (2DIMCs) endows them with highly tunable structures and properties upon applying external stimuli. Using high pressure to modulate the intermolecular bonding, here we reveal the highly tunable charge transport behavior in 2DIMCs for the first time, from an insulator to a semiconductor. As pressure increases, 2D α-Sb2O3 molecular crystal undergoes three isostructural transitions, and the intermolecular bonding enhances gradually, which results in a considerably decreased bandgap by 25% and a greatly enhanced charge transport. Impressively, the in-situ resistivity measurement of the α-Sb2O3 flake shows a sharp drop by 5 orders of magnitude in 0 - 3.2 GPa. This work sheds new light on the manipulation of charge transport in 2DIMCs and is of great significance for promoting the fundamental understanding and potential applications of 2DIMCs in advanced modern technologies.

Highlights A general layered 2D materials-derived atomic substitution conversion strategy is proposed to achieve the synthesis of large-size ultrathin nonlayered 2D materials.Using low-melting-point CdI2 flakes via a simple hot plate assisted vertical vapor deposition method as precursor, large-size ultrathin CdS flakes were successfully converted from layered to nonlayered nanostructures through a facile low-temperature chemical sulfurization process.The size and thickness of CdS flakes can be controlled by the CdI2 precursor. The growth mechanism is ascribed to the chemical substitution reaction from I to S atoms between CdI2 and CdS, which has been evidenced by experiments and theoretical calculations. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00692-6., Nonlayered two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted increasing attention, due to novel physical properties, unique surface structure, and high compatibility with microfabrication technique. However, owing to the inherent strong covalent bonds, the direct synthesis of 2D planar structure from nonlayered materials, especially for the realization of large-size ultrathin 2D nonlayered materials, is still a huge challenge. Here, a general atomic substitution conversion strategy is proposed to synthesize large-size, ultrathin nonlayered 2D materials. Taking nonlayered CdS as a typical example, large-size ultrathin nonlayered CdS single-crystalline flakes are successfully achieved via a facile low-temperature chemical sulfurization method, where pre-grown layered CdI2 flakes are employed as the precursor via a simple hot plate assisted vertical vapor deposition method. The size and thickness of CdS flakes can be controlled by the CdI2 precursor. The growth mechanism is ascribed to the chemical substitution reaction from I to S atoms between CdI2 and CdS, which has been evidenced by experiments and theoretical calculations. The atomic substitution conversion strategy demonstrates that the existing 2D layered materials can serve as the precursor for difficult-to-synthesize nonlayered 2D materials, providing a bridge between layered and nonlayered materials, meanwhile realizing the fabrication of large-size ultrathin nonlayered 2D materials. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-021-00692-6.

Searching for room temperature magnetic two-dimensional (2D) materials is a charming goal, but the number of satisfied materials is tiny. Strain can introduce considerable deformation into the lattice structure of 2D materials, and thus significantly modulate their intrinsic properties. In this work, we demonstrated a remarkable strain-modulated magnetic properties in the chemical vapor deposited Cr2Te3 nanoflakes grown on mica substrate. We found the Curie temperature of Cr2Te3 nanoflakes can be positively and negatively modulated under tensile and compressive strain respectively, with a maximum varied value of ∼ 40 and −90 K, dependent on the thickness of samples. Besides, the coercive field of Cr2Te3 nanoflakes also showed a significant decrease under the applied strain, suggesting the decrease of exchange interaction or the change of the magnetization direction. This work suggests a promise to employ interfacial strain to accelerate the practical application of room temperature 2D magnetics.

Activating basal plane inert sites will endow MoTe2 with prominent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic capability and arouse a new family of HER catalysts. Herein, we fabricated single MoTe2 sheet electrocatalytic microdevice for in situ revealing the activated basal plane sites by vacancies introducing. Through the extraction of electrical parameters of single MoTe2 sheet, the in-plane and interlayer conductivities were optimized effectively by Te vacancies due to the defect levels. More deeply, Te vacancies can induce the delocalization of electrons around Mo atoms and shift the d-band center, as a consequence, facilitate the adsorption of H from the catalyst surface for HER catalysis. Benefiting by the coordinated regulation of band structure and local charge density, the overpotential at −10 mA·cm−2 was reduced to 0.32 V after Te vacancies compared to 0.41 V for the basal plane sites of same MoTe2 nanosheet. Meanwhile, the insights gained from single nanosheet electrocatalytic microdevice can be applied to the improved HER of the commercial MoTe2 power. That the in situ testing of the atomic structure-electrical behavior-electrochemical properties of a single nanosheet before/after vacancies introducing provides reliable insight to structure-activity relationships.

Silicon semiconductor technology is approaching its downscaling limit in state-of-the-art electronics. Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors allow exceptional gate electrostatics in field-effect transistors (FETs), thus holding potential as the candidate channel materials beyond silicon. However, it remains challenging to integrate ultrathin and uniform high-κ dielectrics on 2D materials to fabricate FETs with large gate capacitances, though this is highly required to reduce the device operating voltage toward the energy-efficient electronics. Here we report a versatile two-step approach to integrating high-quality dielectric film with sub-1-nm equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) on 2D materials. Inorganic molecular crystal Sb2O3 is homogeneously deposited on 2D materials as a van der Waals buffer layer, which forms a high-quality oxide-to-semiconductor interface and offers a highly hydrophilic surface, enabling the integration of diverse high-κ dielectrics via atomic layer deposition. Using such an approach, we can fabricate monolayer molybdenum disulfide-based FETs with the ever-reported thinnest EOT (0.67 nm). The transistors exhibit an on/off ratio of over 106 using an ultralow operating voltage of 0.4 V, i.e., an unprecedentedly high gating efficiency not matched by any previous FETs. Our results may pave the way for the applications of 2D materials in the future low-power ultra-scaling electronic devices.

The high electrical conductivity of 1T'-WTe2 deserves particular attention and may show a high potential for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysis. However, the actual activity certainly does not match expectations, and the inferior HER activity is actually still ambiguous at the atomic level. Unraveling the underlying HER behaviors of 1T'-WTe2 will give rise to a new family of HER catalysts. Our structural analysis reveals that the inferior activity could result from insufficient charge density around the Te site and blocked adsorption channel at the W site, which cause too weak hydrogen adsorption. Herein, we fabricated a single WTe2 sheet-based electrocatalytic microdevice for directly extracting enhanced HER activity of doped electronegative F atoms. The overpotential at -10 mA cm-2 reduced to 0.27 V after F doping compared to 0.45 V for the original state. In situ electrochemical measurement and electrical tests on a single sheet indicate that doped F can regulate surface charge and hydrogen adsorption behavior. Furthermore, the theory simulation uncovers that the smaller atomic radius of F contributes to an empty coordination environment; meanwhile, strong electronegativity induces hydrogen adsorption. Thus, the ΔGH* at W sites around the doped F is as low as 0.18 eV. Synergistically modulating the charge properties and opening steric hindrance provides a new pathway to rationally construct electrocatalysts and beyond.

Low-symmetry 2D materials are reviving recently owing to their azimuth-angle-dependent physical properties, which can be applied in polarization-sensitive optical and photoelectric devices. In this work, layered V2P4S13 with a novel low-symmetry porous structure was introduced as a promising highly anisotropic 2D material. We systematically investigated the structural, phonon-vibrational, and optical properties of 2D V2P4S13 by transmission electron microscopy, angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy, angle-resolved reflection, and absorption spectroscopy. We discovered that 2D V2P4S13 shows strong crystallographic anisotropy, highly porous structure, and unique bi-vanadium atom coupling in the 2D plane. Polarized Raman spectroscopy indicated the strong phonon vibration anisotropy of 2D V2P4S13. Additionally, angle-resolved difference reflection and absorption spectra demonstrated optical anisotropy with a high anisotropic absorption ratio of 1.55 at 468 nm. Remarkably, we discovered unusual linear dichroism conversion of V2P4S13 from 468 nm to 600 nm. Such unique structural features of 2D V2P4S13, in combination with high optical anisotropy, make it an ideal platform for novel polarization-sensitive devices.

Encapsulation is critical for devices to guarantee their stability and reliability. It becomes an even more essential requirement for devices based on 2D materials with atomic thinness and far inferior stability compared to their bulk counterparts. Here a general van der Waals (vdW) encapsulation method for 2D materials using Sb

Bismuth oxyselenide (Bi

By a two-step computational process, namely Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations and machine learning (ML), we screened 50 959 hypothetical pure-silica zeolites and identified 230 preeminent zeolites with excellent adsorption performances.

Ultraviolet detection is of great significance due to its wide applications in the missile tracking, flame detecting, pollution monitoring, and so on. The nonlayered semiconductor γ-Bi

Metal oxides are the archetypal CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) electrocatalysts, yet the inevitable self-reduction will enhance competitive hydrogen evolution and lower the CO2RR selectivity. Herein, we propose a tangible superlattice model of alternating metal oxide and sulfide sublayer in which electrons are rapidly exported through the conductive metal sulfide layer to protect the active oxide layer from self-reduction. Taking BiCuSeO superlattices as a proof-of-concept, a comprehensive characterization reveals that the active [Bi2O2]2+ sublayers retain oxidation states rather their self-reduced Bi metal during CO2RR because of the rapid electron transfer through the conductive [Cu2Se2]2− sublayer. Theoretical ccalculations uncover the high activity over [Bi2O2]2+ sublayers due to the overlaps between the Bi p orbitals and O p orbitals in HCOO* intermediate, thus achieving over 90% formate selectivity in a wide potential range from − 0.4 to -1.1 V. This work broadens the horizons of studying and improving the CO2 electroreduction properties of metal oxide systems.

Metal oxides are archetypal CO

Using the atomic carbon [CI](1$-$0) and [CI](2$-$1) emission maps observed with the $Herschel\ Space\ Observatory$, and CO(1$-$0), HI, infrared and submm maps from literatures, we estimate the [CI]-to-H$_2$ and CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factors of $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$, $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$, and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ at a linear resolution $\sim1\,$kpc scale for six nearby galaxies of M 51, M 83, NGC 3627, NGC 4736, NGC 5055, and NGC 6946. This is perhaps the first effort, to our knowledge, in calibrating both [CI]-to-H$_2$ conversion factors across the spiral disks at spatially resolved $\sim1\,$kpc scale though such studies have been discussed globally in galaxies near and far. In order to derive the conversion factors and achieve these calibrations, we adopt three different dust-to-gas ratio (DGR) assumptions which scale approximately with metallicity taken from precursory results. We find that for all DGR assumptions, the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$, $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$, and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ are mostly flat with galactocentric radii, whereas both $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ show decrease in the inner regions of galaxies. And the central $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ and $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$ values are on average $\sim 2.2$ and $1.8$ times lower than its galaxy averages. The obtained carbon abundances from different DGR assumptions show flat profiles with galactocentric radii, and the average carbon abundance of the galaxies is comparable to the usually adopted value of $3 \times 10^{-5}$. We find that both metallicity and infrared luminosity correlate moderately with the $\alpha_\mathrm{CO}$ whereas only weakly with either the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](1-0)}$ or carbon abundance, and not at all with the $\alpha_\mathrm{[CI](2-1)}$., Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Based on MaNGA integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy we search 60 AGN candidates, which have stellar masses $M_{\star}\leqslant5\times10^{9}$$M_{\odot}$ and show AGN ionization signatures in the BPT diagram. For these AGN candidates, we derive the spatially resolved stellar population with the stellar population synthesis code STARLIGHT and measure the gradients of the mean stellar age and metallicity. We find that the gradients of mean stellar age (metallicity) of individual AGN-host dwarfs are diverse in 0-0.5 Re, 0.5-1 Re and 0-1 Re. However, the overall behavior of the mean stellar age (metallicity) profiles tend to be flat, as the median values of the gradients are close to zero. We further study the overall behavior of the mean stellar age (metallicity) by plotting the co-added radial profiles for the AGN sample and compare with a control sample with similar stellar mass. We find that the median values of light-weighted mean stellar ages of AGN sample are as old as 2-3 ~Gyr within 2 Re,which are about 4-7 times older than those of the control sample. Meanwhile, most of the AGN candidates are low-level AGNs, as only eight sources have L[OIII]>$10^{39.5}$~erg~s$^{-1}$. Hence, the AGNs in dwarf galaxies might accelerate the evolution of galaxies by accelerating the consumption of the gas, resulting in an overall quenching of the dwarf galaxies, and the AGNs also become weak due to the lack of gas. The median values of mass-weighted mean stellar age of both samples within 2 $Re$ are similar and as old as about 10~Gyr, indicating that the stellar mass is mainly contributed by old stellar populations.The gradients of co-added mean stellar metallicity for both samples tend to be negative but close to zero, and the similar mean stellar metallicity profiles for both samples indicate that the chemical evolution of the host galaxy is not strongly influenced by the AGN., 25 pages, 12 figures, accepted by RAA

The high electrical conductivity of 1T'-WTe

Van der Waals (vdW) dielectrics such as hBN are widely used to preserve the intrinsic properties of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors and support the fabrication of high-performance 2D devices. This is fundamentally attributed to their dangling-bond-free surface, carrying far lower density of charged scattering sources and trap states with respect to the conventional dielectrics (SiO2 etc.). However, their wafer-scale fabrication and compatible integration with 2D semiconductors remain cumbersome, giving rise to the difficulties in scalable fabrication of high-performance 2D devices. Here we report a high-κ vdW dielectric (εr=11.5) composed of inorganic molecular crystal (IMC) Sb2O3, allowing for large-scale fabrication and facile integration via standard thermal evaporation process thanks to its particular crystal structure. Similarly, our vdW dielectric also supports remarkably improved 2D devices with respect to the typical conventional dielectric SiO2. The monolayer MoS2 field effect transistors (FET) supported by our vdW dielectric exhibits high on/off ratio (108), greatly enhanced electron mobility (from 20 to 80 cm2/Vs) and reduced transfer-curve hysteresis over an order of magnitude. Our results may open a new avenue towards compatible fabrication of vdW dielectrics using IMCs and lead to the scalable fabrication of high-performance 2D devices.

Recent discovery of intrinsic ferromagnetism in Fe

To study the high-transition dense-gas tracers and their relationships to the star formation of the inner $\sim$ 2 kpc circumnuclear region of NGC253, we present HCN $J=4-3$ and HCO$^+ J=4-3$ maps obtained with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). With the spatially resolved data, we compute the concentration indices $r_{90}/r_{50}$ for the different tracers. HCN and HCO$^+$ 4-3 emission features tend to be centrally concentrated, which is in contrast to the shallower distribution of CO 1-0 and the stellar component. The dense-gas fraction ($f_\text{dense}$, traced by the velocity-integrated-intensity ratios of HCN/CO and HCO$^+$/CO) and the ratio $R_\text{31}$ (CO 3-2/1-0) decline towards larger galactocentric distances, but increase with higher SFR surface density. The radial variation and the large scatter of $f_\text{dense}$ and $R_\text{31}$ imply distinct physical conditions in different regions of the galactic disc. The relationships of $f_\text{dense}$ versus $\Sigma_\text{stellar}$, and SFE$_\text{dense}$ versus $\Sigma_\text{stellar}$ are explored. SFE$_\text{dense}$ increases with higher $\Sigma_\text{stellar}$ in this galaxy, which is inconsistent with previous work that used HCN 1-0 data. This implies that existing stellar components might have different effects on the high-$J$ HCN and HCO$^+$ than their low-$J$ emission. We also find that SFE$_\text{dense}$ seems to be decreasing with higher $f_\text{dense}$, which is consistent with previous works, and it suggests that the ability of the dense gas to form stars diminishes when the average density of the gas increases. This is expected in a scenario where only the regions with high-density contrast collapse and form stars., Comment: accepted to MNRAS

Correction for ‘Machine-learning-assisted screening of pure-silica zeolites for effective removal of linear siloxanes and derivatives’ by Shiru Lin et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020, 8, 3228–3237.

We selected an active galactic nuclei (AGN) sample ($0 < z \le 0.35$) from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, and measured the broad- (${\rm H\alpha^{b}/H\beta^{b}}$) and narrow-line Balmer decrements (${\rm H\alpha^{n}/H\beta^{n}}$) of 554 selected AGNs. We found that the distributions of Balmer decrements can be fitted by a Gaussian function and give the best estimates of ${\rm H\alpha^{b}/H\beta^{b}} = 3.16$ with a standard deviation 0.07 dex, and ${\rm H\alpha^{n}/H\beta^{n}} = 4.37$ with a standard deviation 0.10 dex. We inspected the distributions of ${\rm H\alpha^{b}/H\beta^{b}}$ and ${\rm H\alpha^{n}/H\beta^{n}}$ in the Baldwin$-$Phillips$-$Terlevich (BPT) diagram and found that only narrow-line Balmer decrements depend on the physical conditions of the narrow-line region (NLR). We tested the relationship between ${\rm H\alpha^{b}/H\beta^{b}}$ and ${\rm H\alpha^{n}/H\beta^{n}}$, and found that ${\rm H\alpha^{b}/H\beta^{b}}$ does not correlate with ${\rm H\alpha^{n}/H\beta^{n}}$. We investigated the relationship between Balmer decrements and Seyfert sub-type, and found that only broad-line Balmer decrements correlate with Seyfert sub-type, We also examined the dependency of Balmer decrements on AGN properties, and found that Balmer decrements have no correlation with optical luminosity, but show some dependence on accretion rate. These results indicate that the NLR is subject to more reddening by dust than the broad-line region (BLR)., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Pentazole (HN5) and its anion ( cyclo-N5-) have been elusive for nearly a century because of the unstable N5 ring. Recently, Zhang et al. reported the first synthesis and characterization of the pentazolate anion cyclo-N5- in (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl salt at ambient conditions ( Science 2017, 355, 374 ). However, whether the cyclo-N5- in (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl salt is protonated or not has been debated ( Huang and Xu, Science, 2018, 359, eaao3672 ; Jiang et al. Science, 2018, 359, aas8953 ). Herein, we employed ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, which can well present the dynamic behavior at realistic experimental conditions, to examine the potential protonated state of cyclo-N5- in both crystal and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent. Our simulations revealed that the protonation reaction of (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl → (N5)5(N5H)(H2O)(H3O)2(NH4)4Cl is thermodynamically spontaneous according to Δ G < 0, and the small energy barrier of 12.6 kJ/mol is not enough to prevent the partial protonation of cyclo-N5- due to the temperature effect; consequently, both deprotonated and protonated cyclo-N5- exist in the crystal. In comparison, the DMSO solvent effect can remarkably reduce the difference of proton affinities among cyclo-N5-, H2O, and NH3, and the temperature effect can finally break these hydrogen bonds and lead to the deprotonated cyclo-N5- in DMSO solvent. Our AIMD simulations reconcile the recent controversy.

The most intensively star-forming galaxies are extremely luminous at far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths, highly obscured at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, and lie at $z\ge 1-3$. We present a programme of ${\it Herschel}$ FIR spectroscopic observations with the SPIRE FTS and photometric observations with PACS, both on board ${\it Herschel}$, towards a sample of 45 gravitationally lensed, dusty starbursts across $z\sim 1-3.6$. In total, we detected 27 individual lines down to 3-$\sigma$, including nine $[\rm C{\small II}]$ 158-$\mu$m lines with confirmed spectroscopic redshifts, five possible $[\rm C{\small II}]$ lines consistent with their far-infrared photometric redshifts, and in some individual sources a few $[\rm O{\small III}]$ 88-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small III}]$ 52-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small I}]$ 145-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small I}]$ 63-$\mu$m, $[\rm N{\small II}]$ 122-$\mu$m, and OH 119-$\mu$m (in absorption) lines. To derive the typical physical properties of the gas in the sample, we stack all spectra weighted by their intrinsic luminosity and by their 500-$\mu$m flux densities, with the spectra scaled to a common redshift. In the stacked spectra, we detect emission lines of $[\rm C{\small II}]$ 158-$\mu$m, $[\rm N{\small II}]$ 122-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small III}]$ 88-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small III}]$ 52-$\mu$m, $[\rm O{\small I}]$ 63-$\mu$m, and the absorption doublet of OH at 119-$\mu$m, at high fidelity. We find that the average electron densities traced by the $[\rm N{\small II}]$ and $[\rm O{\small III}]$ lines are higher than the average values in local star-forming galaxies and ULIRGs, using the same tracers. From the $[\rm N{\small II}]/[\rm C{\small II}]$ and $[\rm O{\small I}]/[\rm C{\small II}]$ ratios, we find that the $[\rm C{\small II}]$ emission is likely dominated by the photo-dominated regions (PDR), instead of by ionised gas or large-scale shocks., Comment: 39 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS. For extra pptx slides prepared for this work, please see http://www.eso.org/~zzhang/download/FTS_SMG_survey_ZhiyuZhang.pdf

Bismuth oxyselenide (Bi2 O2 Se) has emerged as a promising candidate for electronic and optoelectronic applications due to its outstanding electron mobility and ambient stability. However, high dark current and relatively slow photoresponse that originate from high charge carrier concentration as well as bolometric effect in Bi2 O2 Se inhibit further improvement of Bi2 O2 Se based photodetectors. Here, a one-step van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy synthesis of Bi2 Te2 Se/Bi2 O2 Se vertical heterojunction with type-II band alignment and high-quality interface is demonstrated. The crystal quality and uniformity of the heterojunction are supported by Raman, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy results. A photodetector based on Bi2 Te2 Se/Bi2 O2 Se heterojunction demonstrates steady photoresponse over a large wavelength range (532-1456 nm), with a high specific responsivity of 2.21 × 103 A W-1 at 532 nm and fast response speed of 50 ms. Moreover, field effect regulation allows for further improvement of the photoresponse performance of the heterojunction field effect transistor device, where the responsivity can be increased to 3.34 × 103 A W-1 with a 60 V gate voltage. Overall, the one-step vdW epitaxy process is a promising and convenient route towards constructing high quality Bi2 O2 Se based heterojunction for improving its photodetection performance.

Ultraviolet detection is of great significance due to its wide applications in the missile tracking, flame detecting, pollution monitoring, and so on. The nonlayered semiconductor γ-Bi2 O3 is a promising candidate toward high-performance UV detection due to the wide bandgap, excellent light sensitivity, environmental stability, nontoxic and elemental abundance properties. However, controllable preparation of ultrathin 2D γ-Bi2 O3 flakes remains a challenge, owing to its nonlayered structure, metastable nature, and other competing phases. Moreover, the UV photodetectors based on 2D γ-Bi2 O3 flake have not been implemented yet. Here, ultrathin (down to 4.8 nm) 2D γ-Bi2 O3 flakes with high crystal quality are obtained via a van der Waals epitaxy method. The as-synthesized single-crystalline γ-Bi2 O3 flakes show a body-centered cubic structure and grown along (111) lattice plane as revealed by experimental observations. More importantly, photodetectors based on the as-synthesized 2D γ-Bi2 O3 flakes exhibit promising UV detection ability, including a responsivity of 64.5 A W-1 , a detectivity of 1.3 × 1013 Jones, and an ultrafast response speed (τrise ≈ 290 µs and τdecay ≈ 870 µs) at 365 nm, suggesting its great potential for various optoelectronic applications.

Sulfur vacancies (SVs) inherent in MoS2 are generally detrimental for carrier mobility and optical properties. Thiol chemistry has been explored for SV repair and surface functionalization. However, the resultant products and reaction mechanisms are still controversial. Herein, a comprehensive understanding on the reactions is provided by tracking potential energy surfaces and kinetic studies. The reactions are dominated by two competitive mechanisms that lead to either functionalization products or repair SVs, and the polarization effect from decorating thiol molecules and thermal effect are two determining factors. Electron-donating groups are conducive to the repairing reaction whereas electron-withdrawing groups facilitate the functionalization process. Moreover, the predominant reaction mechanism can be switched by increasing the temperature. This study fosters a way of precisely tailoring the electronic and optical properties of MoS2 by means of thiol chemistry approaches.

Full author list: J.-J. Ren, R. Raddi, A. Rebassa-Mansergas, M. S. Hernandez, S. G. Parsons, P. Irawati, P. Rittipruk, M. R. Schreiber, B. T. Gänsicke, S. Torres, H.-J. Wang, J.-B. Zhang, Y. Zhao, Y.-T. Zhou, Z.-W. Han, B. Wang, C. Liu, X.-W. Liu, Y. Wang, J. Zheng, J.-F. Wang, F. Zhao, K.-M. Cui, J.-R. Shi, and H. Tian, Close white dwarf binaries consisting of a white dwarf and an A-, F-, G-, or K-type main-sequence star, henceforth close WD+AFGK binaries, are ideal systems to understand the nature of type Ia supernovae progenitors and to test binary evolution models. In this work we identify 775 WD+AFGK candidates from TGAS (The Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution) and Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2), a well-defined sample of stars with available parallaxes, and we measure radial velocities (RVs) for 275 of them with the aim of identifying close binaries. The RVs have been measured from high-resolution spectra obtained at the Xinglong 2.16 m Telescope and the San Pedro Mártir 2.12 m Telescope and/or from available LAMOST DR6 (low-resolution) and RAVE DR5 (medium-resolution) spectra. We identify 23 WD+AFGK systems displaying more than 3σ RV variation among 151 systems for which the measured values are obtained from different nights. Our WD+AFGK binary sample contains both AFGK dwarfs and giants, with a giant fraction ∼43%. The close binary fractions we determine for the WD+AFGK dwarf and giant samples are ≃24% and ≃15%, respectively. We also determine the stellar parameters (i.e., effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, mass, and radius) of the AFGK companions with available high-resolution spectra. The stellar parameter distributions of the AFGK companions that are members of close and wide binary candidates do not show statistically significant differences., This work is partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China 11903048, 11833006, U1831209, and 11873057. R.R. has received funding from the postdoctoral fellowship program Beatriu de Pinós, funded by the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) and by the Horizon 2020 program of research and innovation of the European Union under the Maria Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801370. A.R.M. acknowledges support from the MINECO under the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2016-20254) and the AYA2017-86274-P grant, and the AGAUR grant SGR661/2017. M.S.H. acknowledges support through a Fellowship for National PhD students from ANID, grant No. 21170070. S.G. P. acknowledges the support of the STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship. M.R.S. is thankful for support from FONDECYT (grant No. 1181404).

Recent discovery of intrinsic ferromagnetism in Fe3GeTe2 (FGT) monolayer [ Deng, Y.; et al. Nature 2018, 563, 94-99; Fei, Z.; et al. 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.

We present ALMA observations of the CO(1-0) line and 3-mm continuum emission in eight ultraluminous infrared (IR) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at z = 0.06-0.19. All eight IR QSO hosts are clearly resolved in their CO molecular gas emission with a median source size of 3.2 kpc, and seven out of eight sources are detected in 3-mm continuum, which is found to be more centrally concentrated with respect to molecular gas with sizes of 0.4-1.0 kpc. Our observations reveal a diversity of CO morphology and kinematics for the IR QSO systems which can be roughly classified into three categories, rotating gas disk with ordered velocity gradient, compact CO peak with disturbed velocity, and multiple CO distinct sources undergoing a merger between luminous QSO and a companion galaxy separated by a few kpc. The molecular gas in three of IR QSO hosts are found to be rotation-dominated with the ratio of the maximum rotation velocity to the local velocity dispersion of $V_{\rm rot}/\sigma=4-6$. Basic estimates of the dynamical masses within the CO-emitting regions give masses between $7.4\times10^9$ and $6.9\times10^{10}$ $M_\odot$. We find an increasing trend between BH mass accretion rate and star formation rate (SFR) over three orders of magnitude in far-IR luminosity/SFR, in line with the correlation between QSO bolometric luminosity and SF activity, indicative of a likely direct connection between AGN and SF activity over galaxy evolution timescales., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, and 4 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

Organic/inorganic interfaces play dominant roles in the formation of organic thin films and the performance of organic electronic devices. Preparing a high-quality and high-stability interfacial organic layer on the inorganic substrate is currently challenging, and understanding the self-assembly mechanism of the interfacial layer (IL) in depth at a molecular level is thus essential. In this work, by studying the self-assembly of perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride IL on graphene, we unveil that intermolecular H-bonds can considerably widen the nucleation area, heighten the stability–metastability critical temperature, promote the nucleation speed, and guide the nucleation direction. We further demonstrate that such positive effects on the IL self-assembly are of generality. Moreover, it is found that IL can transform into a well-ordered crystal from an amorphous state through suitable thermal treatment or molecule coverage control. Our work highlights that fabricating H-bond networks is desirab...