Tuning the Fermi level (EF) in Bi2Te3 topological-insulator (TI) films is demonstrated on controlling the temperature of growth with molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE).

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A 2-μm-long Ni ion-chelated DNA molecule (Ni-DNA) was found for the first time to possess both memcapacitor and memristor properties; this Ni-DNA molecule is known as a dual memory circuit element (memelement). As a memelement, the state of impedance on Ni-DNA is proportional to the unit number of Ni ions containing a base pair complex (Ni-bp), which is determined by the previously applied external voltage. Interestingly, the impedances of Ni-DNA change in response to a change in the sweeping frequencies of the external bias. Our simulation results also indicate that changes in the effective resistance and capacitance of Ni-bp may be attributed to changes in the Ni ion redox species in the Ni-bp of a Ni-DNA nanowire. Therefore, the working mechanism of a nanowire-type memcapacitor and memristor is revealed. In summary, the Ni-DNA nanowire is shown to be a multi-dimensional memory device, whose memory state depends on the length of DNA and applied external voltages/frequencies.

The geometric and electronic properties of Bi-adsorbed monolayer graphene, enriched by the strong effect of a substrate, are investigated by first-principles calculations. The six-layered substrate, corrugated buffer layer, and slightly deformed monolayer graphene are all simulated. Adatom arrangements are thoroughly studied by analyzing the ground-state energies, bismuth adsorption energies, and Bi-Bi interaction energies of different adatom heights, inter-adatom distance, adsorption sites, and hexagonal positions. A hexagonal array of Bi atoms is dominated by the interactions between the buffer layer and the monolayer graphene. An increase in temperature can overcome a ∼50 meV energy barrier and induce triangular and rectangular nanoclusters. The most stable and metastable structures agree with the scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. The density of states exhibits a finite value at the Fermi level, a dip at ∼-0.2 eV, and a peak at ∼-0.6 eV, as observed in the experimental measurements of the tunneling conductance.

Geometric and electronic properties of folded graphene nanoribbons (FGNRs) are investigated by first-principles calculations. These properties are mainly dominated by the competition or cooperation among stacking, curvature and edge effects.For the zigzag FGNRs, the more stable structures are revealed to be AB stackings, while for the armchair types, AA stackings are more stable. The interlayer interactions and hybridization of four orbitals lead to smaller energy gaps, anti-crossing bands, and more band-edge states. Specifically, the broken mirror symmetry in the odd-AB stacked zigzag FGNRs is responsible for the spin-up and spin-down splitting subbands. All FGNRs are direct-gap semiconductors except that the edge-edge interactions cause the even-AA stacked zigzag FGNRs to exhibit a pair of metallic linear bands. The width-dependent energy gaps in the armchair FGNRs can be classified into six groups. Furthermore, there exist rich features in density of states, including the form, number, intensity and energy of the special structures.