Two-dimensional programmable materials for optical and electronic applications (TODIMA)

Graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon, has unique mechanical, electronic and optical properties. This is the first truly two-dimensional (2D) material ever manufactured. Its discovery has profound effect on the research of low-dimensional systems, as emphasized by the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics given to A. Geim and K. Novoselov for its discovery.

Recently, other 2D systems with rich physics and chemistry, e.g., hexagonal boron-nitride (BN) sheets, have been synthesized. These materials and their hybrids have been shown to be very promising candidates with programmable functionality for applications in next generation electronics and photonics. In particular, graphene can be used in photovoltaic and light emitting devices, sensors, photodetectors, flexible smart windows, touch screens, saturable absorbers in ultrafast lasers.

It can perform several functions at the same time, for example serve as a flexible transparent conductor in touch screens with sound generation, or operate in photovoltaic devices as a transparent conductor and photoactive material, while controllable introduction of the bandgap in graphene by gating may be used to employ the same material for luminescence.

In this research project, we plan to grow 2D materials such as doped graphene, hexagonal BN and sp2-hybridized BCN structures by chemical vapor deposition method and by a novel technique based on ion implantation of the constituent elements into metal foils followed by in-situ high-temperature annealing and nucleation of the material on the surface of the metal. Nucleation of a new phase under strongly non-equilibrium conditions such as irradiation and temperature gradients can be understood as self-organization which can be programmed by changing irradiation parameters and temperature to achieve the growth of the system with the desired properties. By combining experiments and theory, we will further study the properties of the new 2D materials and explore their possible applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices.