Efficient and stable blue quantum dot light-emitting diode.

The visualization of accurate colour information using quantum dots has been explored for decades, and commercial products employing environmentally friendly materials are currently available as backlights1. However, next-generation electroluminescent displays based on quantum dots require the development of an efficient and stable cadmium-free blue-light-emitting device, which has remained a challenge because of the inferior photophysical properties of blue-light-emitting materials2,3. Here we present the synthesis of ZnSe-based blue-light-emitting quantum dots with a quantum yield of unity. We found that hydrofluoric acid and zinc chloride additives are effective at enhancing luminescence efficiency by eliminating stacking faults in the ZnSe crystalline structure. In addition, chloride passivation through liquid or solid ligand exchange leads to slow radiative recombination, high thermal stability and efficient charge-transport properties. We constructed double quantum dot emitting layers with gradient chloride content in a light-emitting diode to facilitate hole transport, and the resulting device showed an efficiency at the theoretical limit, high brightness and long operational lifetime. We anticipate that our efficient and stable blue quantum dot light-emitting devices can facilitate the development of electroluminescent full-colour displays using quantum dots.

Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties in a New Silicon Crystal Si24 with Intrinsic Nanoscale Porous Structure.

Thermoelectric device is a promising next-generation energy solution owing to its capability to transform waste heat into useful electric energy, which can be realized in materials with high electric conductivities and low thermal conductivities. A recently synthesized silicon allotrope of Si24 features highly anisotropic crystal structure with nanometer-sized regular pores. Here, based on first-principles study without any empirical parameter we show that the slightly doped Si24 can provide an order-of-magnitude enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit at room temperature, compared with the cubic diamond phase of silicon. We ascribe the enhancement to the intrinsic nanostructure formed by the nanopore array, which effectively hinders heat conduction while electric conductivity is maintained. This can be a viable option to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit without further forming an extrinsic nanostructure. In addition, we propose a practical strategy to further diminish the thermal conductivity without affecting electric conductivity by confining rattling guest atoms in the pores.

Controlling energy gap of bilayer graphene by strain.

Using the first principles calculations, we show that mechanically tunable electronic energy gap is realizable in bilayer graphene if different homogeneous strains are applied to the two layers. It is shown that the size of the energy gap can be simply controlled by adjusting the strength and direction of these strains. We also show that the effect originates from the occurrence of strain-induced pseudoscalar potentials in graphene. When homogeneous strains with different strengths are applied to each layer of bilayer graphene, transverse electric fields across the two layers can be generated without any external electronic sources, thereby opening an energy gap. The results demonstrate a simple mechanical method of realizing pseudoelectromagnetism in graphene and suggest a maneuverable approach to fabrication of electromechanical devices based on bilayer graphene.

Anomalous optical phonon splittings in sliding bilayer graphene.

We study the variations of electron-phonon coupling and their spectroscopic consequences in response to the sliding of two layers in bilayer graphene using first-principles calculations and a model Hamiltonian. Our study shows that the long wavelength optical phonon modes change in a sensitive and unusual way depending on the symmetry as well as the parity of sliding atomic structures and that, accordingly, Raman- and infrared-active optical phonon modes behave differently upon the direction and size of the sliding. The renormalization of phonon modes by the interlayer electronic coupling is shown to be crucial to explain their anomalous behavior upon the sliding. Also, we show that the crystal symmetry change due to the sliding affects the polarized Stokes Raman scattering intensity, which can be utilized to detect tiny misalignment of graphene layers using spectroscopic tools.

Self-assembled metal atom chains on graphene nanoribbons.

Electronic and magnetic properties of alkali and alkaline-earth metal doped graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are studied by the pseudopotential density functional method. Strong site dependence is observed in metal adsorption on GNRs, and the adsorbed metal atoms are found to spontaneously form atomic chains in a particular form of GNRs. Such doped GNRs exhibit intriguing magnetic properties such as hysteresis and spin compensation as metal atoms switch from one edge to another at alternating gate voltages. Our study shows that the metal atoms can be used as reagents that can identify the edge atomic structures of GNRs and also as gate-driven spin valves that control the spin current in GNRs.