A gate-free monolayer WSe2 pn diode.

Interest in bringing p- and n-type monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) into contact to form rectifying pn diode has thrived since it is crucial to control the electrical properties in two-dimensional (2D) electronic and optoelectronic devices. Usually this involves vertically stacking different TMDs with pn heterojunction or, laterally manipulating carrier density by gate biasing. Here, by utilizing a locally reversed ferroelectric polarization, we laterally manipulate the carrier density and created a WSe2 pn homojunction on the supporting ferroelectric BiFeO3 substrate. This non-volatile WSe2 pn homojunction is demonstrated with optical and scanning probe methods and scanning photoelectron micro-spectroscopy. A homo-interface is a direct manifestation of our WSe2 pn diode, which can be quantitatively understood as a clear rectifying behavior. The non-volatile confinement of carriers and associated gate-free pn homojunction can be an addition to the 2D electron-photon toolbox and pave the way to develop laterally 2D electronics and photonics.

Flexible Multiferroic Bulk Heterojunction with Giant Magnetoelectric Coupling via van der Waals Epitaxy.

Magnetoelectric nanocomposites have been a topic of intense research due to their profound potential in the applications of electronic devices based on spintronic technology. Nevertheless, in spite of significant progress made in the growth of high-quality nanocomposite thin films, the substrate clamping effect still remains a major hurdle in realizing the ultimate magnetoelectric coupling. To overcome this obstacle, an alternative strategy of fabricating a self-assembled ferroelectric-ferrimagnetic bulk heterojunction on a flexible muscovite via van der Waals epitaxy is adopted. In this study, we investigated the magnetoelectric coupling in a self-assembled BiFeO3 (BFO)-CoFe2O4 (CFO) bulk heterojunction epitaxially grown on a flexible muscovite substrate. The obtained heterojunction is composed of vertically aligned multiferroic BFO nanopillars embedded in a ferrimagnetic CFO matrix. Moreover, due to the weak interaction between the flexible substrate and bulk heterojunction, the interface is incoherent and, hence, the substrate clamping effect is greatly reduced. The phase-field simulation model also complements our results. The magnetic and electrical characterizations highlight the improvement in magnetoelectric coupling of the BFO-CFO bulk heterojunction. A magnetoelectric coupling coefficient of 74 mV/cm·Oe of this bulk heterojunction is larger than the magnetoelectric coefficient reported earlier on flexible substrates. Therefore, this study delivers a viable route of fabricating a remarkable magnetoelectric heterojunction and yet flexible electronic devices that are robust against extreme conditions with optimized performance.