Universal Oriented van der Waals Epitaxy of 1D Cyanide Chains on Hexagonal 2D Crystals

Abstract

The atomic or molecular assembly on 2D materials through the relatively weak van der Waals interaction is quite different from the conventional heteroepitaxy and may result in unique growth behaviors. Here, it is shown that straight 1D cyanide chains display universal epitaxy on hexagonal 2D materials. A universal oriented assembly of cyanide crystals (AgCN, AuCN, and Cu0.5Au0.5CN) is observed, where the chains are aligned along the three zigzag lattice directions of various 2D hexagonal crystals (graphene, h‐BN, WS2, MoS2, WSe2, MoSe2, and MoTe2). The potential energy landscape of the hexagonal lattice induces this preferred alignment of 1D chains along the zigzag lattice directions, regardless of the lattice parameter and surface elements as demonstrated by first‐principles calculations and parameterized surface potential calculations. Furthermore, the oriented microwires can serve as crystal orientation markers, and stacking‐angle‐controlled vertical 2D heterostructures are successfully fabricated by using them as markers. The oriented van der Waals epitaxy can be generalized to any hexagonal 2D crystals and will serve as a unique growth process to form crystals with orientations along the zigzag directions by epitaxy.

Single-Crystalline Metallic Films Induced by van der Waals Epitaxy on Black Phosphorus

“…Moreover, an unusual van der Waals epitaxy process may occur during the assembly of metal atoms on the BP's surface due to its puckered structure [34][35][36] . This process may lead to the formation of assembly structure, which is different from those obtained on other hexagonal 2D materials, such graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) 11,[37][38][39][40] .…”

Commensurate Assembly of C60 on Black Phosphorus for Mixed‐Dimensional van der Waals Transistors

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Moreover, 2D materials have also been used as templates for the fabrication of various vdW heterostructures hosting other functional materials, including inorganic nanostructures and organic molecules. [4,5,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] In particular, hybrid heterostructures of organic molecular assemblies on 2D materials have demonstrated their utility in functional device applications, such as vertical transistors and photodetectors. [13][14][15]18,[20][21][22]27,28] Black phosphorus (BP), an elemental layered crystal made of phosphorus, possesses excellent charge carrier mobility and a tunable band structure via thickness control or application of a vertical electrical field.…”

Van der Waals heterostructures with one-dimensional atomic crystals

“…2D vdW layered materials have been extensively studied as the substrate for epitaxy growth [101][102][103][104][105][106][107]. Their chemically inert and dangling-bond-free surface also enable 1D atomic crystals to be easily integrated via weak vdW interaction [108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120].…”