Raman spectrum of layered tilkerodeite (Pd2HgSe3) topological insulator: the palladium analogue of jacutingaite (Pt2HgSe3).

The layered mineral tilkerodeite (Pd2HgSe3), the palladium analogue of jacutingaite (Pt2HgSe3), is a promising quantum spin hall insulator for low-power nanospintronics. In this context, a fast and reliable assessment of its structure is key for exploring fundamental properties and architecture of new Pd2HgSe3-based devices. Here, we investigate the first-order Raman spectrum in high-quality, single-crystal bulk tilkerodeite, and analyze the wavenumber relation to its isostructural jacutingaite analogue. By using polarized Raman spectroscopy, symmetry analysis, and first-principles calculations, we assigned all the Raman-active phonons in tilkerodeite, unveiling their wavenumbers, atomic displacement patterns, and symmetries. Our calculations used several exchange-correlation functionals within the density functional perturbation theory framework, reproducing both structure and Raman-active phonon wavenumbers in excellent agreement with experiments. Also, it was found that the influence of the spin-orbit coupling can be neglected in the study of these properties. Finally, we compared the wavenumber and atomic displacement patterns of corresponding Raman-active modes in tilkerodeite and jacutingaite, and found that the effect of the Pd and Pt masses can be neglected on reasoning their wavenumber differences. From this analysis, tilkerodeite is found to be mechanically weaker than jacutingaite against the atomic displacement patterns of these modes. Our findings advance the understanding of the structural properties of a recently discovered layered topological insulator, fundamental to further exploring its electronic, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties, and for device fabrication.

Temperature-dependent phonon dynamics and anharmonicity of suspended and supported few-layer gallium sulfide.

Phonons play a fundamental role in the electronic and thermal transport of 2D materials which is crucial for device applications. In this work, we investigate the temperature-dependence of A[Formula: see text] and A[Formula: see text] Raman modes of suspended and supported mechanically exfoliated few-layer gallium sulfide (GaS), accessing their relevant thermodynamic Grüneisen parameters and anharmonicity. The Raman frequencies of these two phonons soften with increasing temperature with different [Formula: see text] temperature coefficients. The first-order temperature coefficients θ of A[Formula: see text] mode is ∼ -0.016 cm-1/K, independent of the number of layers and the support. In contrast, the θ of A[Formula: see text] mode is smaller for two-layer GaS and constant for thicker samples (∼ -0.006 2 cm-1 K-1). Furthermore, for two-layer GaS, the θ value is ∼ -0.004 4 cm-1 K-1 for the supported sample, while it is even smaller for the suspended one (∼ -0.002 9 cm-1 K-1). The higher θ value for supported and thicker samples was attributed to the increase in phonon anharmonicity induced by the substrate surface roughness and Umklapp phonon scattering. Our results shed new light on the influence of the substrate and number of layers on the thermal properties of few-layer GaS, which are fundamental for developing atomically-thin GaS electronic devices.

Optical absorption in complexes of abasic DNA with noble-metal nanoclusters by first principles calculations.

Abasic sites (AP site) in a DNA duplex have been experimentally used to produce fluorescent Ag nanoclusters (NC) with a small number of atoms (n ≤ 6). These AP-DNA:NC complexes act as biological makers that help to locate genes associated with diseases related to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), for example. Abasic sites are the most common SNP genetic variation, and their detection may help predict a host of genetically determined diseases. In this work, we report a theoretical study of the optical absorption spectra of AP-DNA:Ag4 and AP-DNA:Au4 complexes using a fully ab initio methodology. We consider several different base environments for the noble-metal nanocluster occupying the AP site, and compute the absorption spectra of sixteen AP-DNA:Ag4 and sixteen AP-DNA:Au4 complexes. We find that optical absorption in the AP-DNA:Ag4 complexes tends to concentrate in the green-to-violet range of frequencies (2.50 eV ≤ hω ≤ 3.2 eV) and that AP-DNA:Au4 complexes display absorption peaks in the violet-to-ultraviolet interval (hω ≥ 3.0 eV). An analysis of the optical absorption mechanisms in these complexes shows that they can be of local, charge-transfer, or hybrid nature, i.e., AP-DNA:NC complexes display the full variety of optical absorption processes in molecular systems. In particular, we identify both charge-transfer and hybrid processes involving several DNA bases surrounding the NC. Importantly, we find that even sequences where the Ag4 cluster is not in a guanine rich neighborhood display absorption peaks in the visible-light spectrum. Moreover, we obtain that the maximum intensities of the absorption peaks in complexes with pyrimidine vacancies are generally higher than those in complexes with purine vacancies. Regarding the selectivity of single-vacancy AP-DNA to specific noble-metal nanocluster sizes, our calculations show that the four-atom Ag4 (Au4) species fits naturally and binds into the AP-site in a single-vacancy AP-DNA.

Ultra-weak interlayer coupling in two-dimensional gallium selenide.

Beyond-graphene two-dimensional (2D) materials are envisioned as the future technology for optoelectronics, and the study of group IIIA metal monochalcogenides (GIIIAMMs) in 2D form is an emerging research field. Bulk gallium selenide (GaSe) is a layered material of this family which is widely used in nonlinear optics and is promising as a lubricant. The interlayer coupling in few-layer GaSe is currently unknown, and the stability of different polytypes is unclear. Here we use symmetry arguments and first-principles calculations to investigate the phase stability, interlayer coupling, and the Raman and infrared activity of the low-frequency shear and breathing modes expected in few-layer GaSe. Strategies to distinguish the number of layers and the ß and ε polytypes are discussed. These symmetry results are valid for other isostructural few-layer GIIIAMM materials. Most importantly, by using a linear chain model, we show that the shear and breathing force constants reveal an ultra-weak interlayer coupling at the nanoscale in GaSe. These results suggest that ß and ε few-layer GaSe show similar lubricant properties to those observed for few-layer graphite. Our analysis opens new perspectives about the study of interlayer interactions and their role in the mechanical and electrical properties of these new 2D materials.

Charge-transfer optical absorption mechanism of DNA:Ag-nanocluster complexes.

Optical properties of DNA:Ag-nanoclusters complexes have been successfully applied experimentally in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. Nevertheless, the mechanisms behind their optical activity remain unresolved. In this work, we present a time-dependent density functional study of optical absorption in DNA:Ag_{4}. In all 23 different complexes investigated, we obtain new absorption peaks in the visible region that are not found in either the isolated Ag_{4} or isolated DNA base pairs. Absorption from red to green are predominantly of charge-transfer character, from the Ag_{4} to the DNA fragment, while absorption in the blue-violet range are mostly associated to electronic transitions of a mixed character, involving either DNA-Ag_{4} hybrid orbitals or intracluster orbitals. We also investigate the role of exchange-correlation functionals in the calculated optical spectra. Significant differences are observed between the calculations using the PBE functional (without exact exchange) and the CAM-B3LYP functional (which partly includes exact exchange). Specifically, we observe a tendency of charge-transfer excitations to involve purines bases, and the PBE spectra error is more pronounced in the complexes where the Ag cluster is bound to the purines. Finally, our results also highlight the importance of adding both the complementary base pair and the sugar-phosphate backbone in order to properly characterize the absorption spectrum of DNA:Ag complexes.