Improving the stability and optical properties of germanane via one-step covalent methyl-termination

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Abstract

Two-dimensional van der Waals materials have shown great promise for a variety of electronic, optoelectronic, sensing and energy conversion applications. Since almost every atom in these two-dimensional crystals is exposed to the surface, covalent surface termination could provide a powerful method for the controlled tuning of material properties. Here we demonstrate a facile, one-step metathesis approach that directly converts CaGe2 crystals into mm-sized crystals of methyl-terminated germanane (GeCH 3). Replacing -H termination in GeH with -CH3 increases the band gap by ~0.1 eV to 1.7 eV, and produces band edge fluorescence with a quantum yield of ~0.2%, with little dependence on layer thickness. Furthermore, the thermal stability of GeCH3 has been increased to 250°C compared with 75°C for GeH. This one-step metathesis approach should be applicable for accessing new families of two-dimensional van der Waals lattices that feature precise organic terminations and with enhanced optoelectronic properties. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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Jiang, S., Butler, S., Bianco, E., Restrepo, O. D., Windl, W., & Goldberger, J. E. (2014). Improving the stability and optical properties of germanane via one-step covalent methyl-termination. Nature Communications, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4389

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