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Local probe of the interlayer coupling strength of few-layers SnSe by contact-resonance atomic force microscopy

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Abstract

The interlayer bonding in two-dimensional (2D) materials is particularly important because it is not only related to their physical and chemical stability but also affects their mechanical, thermal, electronic, optical, and other properties. To address this issue, we report the direct characterization of the interlayer bonding in 2D SnSe using contact-resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM) in this study. Site-specific CR spectroscopy and CR force spectroscopy measurements are performed on both SnSe and its supporting SiO2/Si substrate comparatively. Based on the cantilever and contact mechanic models, the contact stiffness and vertical Young’s modulus are evaluated in comparison with SiO2/Si as a reference material. The interlayer bonding of SnSe is further analyzed in combination with the semi-analytical model and density functional theory calculations. The direct characterization of interlayer interactions using this non-destructive methodology of CR-AFM would facilitate a better understanding of the physical and chemical properties of 2D layered materials, specifically for interlayer intercalation and vertical heterostructures.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China (Grant Nos. 2016YFA0200700 and 2018YFE0202700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 21622304, 61674045, 11604063, 11622437, 11974422, 61911540074, 11804247, and 61674171), Strategic Priority Research Program, Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, and Instrument Developing Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant Nos. XDB30000000, QYZDB-SSW-SYS031, and YZ201418). Z. H. Cheng was supported by Distinguished Technical Talents Project and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Research Funds of Renmin University of China (Grant Nos. 18XNLG01 and 19XNQ025). Calculations were performed at the Physics Lab of High-Performance Computing of Renmin University of China and Shanghai Supercomputer Center.

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  1. These two authors contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Zhi-Yue Zheng & Xiao-Jun Liu

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Functional Materials & Micro-nano Devices, Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China

    Yu-Hao Pan, Rui Xu, Le Lei, Wei Ji & Zhi-Hai Cheng

  3. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Teng-Fei Pei, Li-Hong Bao & Hong-Jun Gao

  4. Key Laboratory of Inorganic Functional Materials and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Kun-Qi Xu

  5. CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Sabir Hussain

  6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Sabir Hussain

  7. China North Vehicle Research Institute, Beijing, China

    Yu-Hao Pan

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  1. Zhi-Yue Zheng
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  11. Wei Ji
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei Ji or Zhi-Hai Cheng.

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This article can also be found at http://journal.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/10.1007/s11467-020-0994-0.

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Zheng, ZY., Pan, YH., Pei, TF. et al. Local probe of the interlayer coupling strength of few-layers SnSe by contact-resonance atomic force microscopy. Front. Phys. 15, 63505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-020-0994-0

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