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Low-Dimensional Materials: Design and Optoelectronic Properties

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical and Photonic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 2368

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Felice Gesuele

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Dipartimento di Fisica “Ettore Pancini”, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Napoli, Italy
Interests: Raman spectroscopy; photoluminescence spectroscopy; ultrafast spectroscopy; 2D materials; confocal microscopy; near-field optical microscopy; ultrafast electron and phonon dynamics; excitons; polaritons
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Low-dimensional materials such as zero-dimensional quantum dots, one-dimensional carbon nanotubes, and two-dimensional materials show an electronic wavefunction confined in one or more of their dimensions. These spatial constraints lead to quantum size effects which strongly modify their electronic and optical properties with respect to their bulk counterparts. These remarkable optoelectronic properties make them integral to the advancement of optoelectronic devices.

Quantum dots represent a milestone for the whole field of nanotechnology due to their exceptional photoluminescence and size-tunable electronic properties. Nowadays, their applications are numerous, including their use as quantum light sources, bio-imaging agents, ultra-sensitive photodetectors, and fourth-generation photovoltaics.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and hexagonal boron nitride offer strong light–matter interactions, many-body effects, tunable band gaps, and novel excitonic effects at room temperature. Moreover, they are the building blocks from which tailored van der Waals heterostructures are formed, with control at the monolayer level. This offers unprecedented opportunities for engineering their bandgaps for fundamental science applications.

We hope that this Special Issue can act as a forum for a discussion of the latest findings related to the design, synthesis, and optoelectronics of low-dimensional materials and their applications in practical devices.

Full research papers, short communications, and reviews are welcomed.

Dr. Felice Gesuele
Guest Editor

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Keywords

quantum dots
carbon nanotubes
2D materials
van der Waals heterostructures
excitons
light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
photodetectors
bio-imaging
fourth-generation photovoltaic devices
single-photon sources

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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19 pages, 3404 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Auger Recombination and Carrier-Surface Optical Phonon Interaction in Van Der Waals Heterostructures Composed of Graphene and 2D Transition Metal Chalcogenides

by Mounira Mahdouani, Ramzi Bourguiga and Spiros Gardelis

Materials 2025, 18(3), 720; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18030720 - 6 Feb 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 707

Abstract

We perform a theoretical investigation of the electron–surface optical phonon (SOP) interaction in Van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) formed by monolayer graphene (1LG) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), using eigenenergies obtained from the tight-binding Hamiltonian for electrons. Our analysis reveals that the SOP interaction strength strongly depends on the specific TMDC material. TMDC layers generate localized SOP modes near the 1LG/TMDC interface, serving as effective scattering centers for graphene carriers through long-range Fröhlich coupling. This interaction leads to resonant coupling of electronic sub-levels with SOP, resulting in Rabi splitting of the electronon energy levels. We further explore the influence of different TMDCs, such as WS₂, WSe₂, MoS₂, and MoSe₂, on transport properties such as SOP-limited mobility, resistivity, conductivity, and scattering rates across various temperatures and charge carrier densities. Our analysis confirms that at elevated temperatures and low carrier densities, surface optical phonon scattering becomes a dominant factor in determining resistivity. Additionally, we investigate the Auger recombination process at the 1LG/TMDC interface, showing that both Auger and SOP scattering rates increase significantly at room temperature and higher, ultimately converging to constant values as the temperature rises. In contrast, their impact is minimal at lower temperatures. These results highlight the potential of 1LG/TMDC-based vdWHs for controlling key processes, such as SOP interactions and Auger recombination, paving the way for high-performance nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Dimensional Materials: Design and Optoelectronic Properties)

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18 pages, 2990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Theoretical Study of the Electron–Surface Optical Phonon Interaction in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Deposited on SiC and hexagonal BN Dielectric Substrates in the Vicinity of the Points K₊(K₋) of the Brillouin Zone

by Mounira Mahdouani, Ramzi Bourguiga and Spiros Gardelis

Materials 2024, 17(22), 5552; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17225552 - 14 Nov 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1244

Abstract

We theoretically investigated the electron–surface optical phonon interaction across the long-range Fröhlich coupling in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, such as WS₂, WSe₂, MoS₂, and MoSe₂ monolayers, on

S i C

and hexagonal BN dielectric substrates. We [...] Read more.

S i C

and hexagonal BN dielectric substrates. We employed the effective Hamiltonian in the

{K_{+} (K}_{-})

valley of the hexagonal Brillouin zone to assess the electronic energy shifts induced by the interaction between electronic states and surface polar optical phonons. Our results indicate that the interaction between electrons and surface optical phonons depends upon the polar nature of the substrate. We have also calculated the polaronic oscillator strength, as well as the polaronic scattering rate of the lower polaron state in monolayer WS₂, WSe₂, MoS₂, and MoSe₂ on

S i C

and hexagonal BN dielectric substrates. As a result, we have theoretically proved the following: firstly, the enhancement of the polaronic scattering rate with temperature, and secondly, the notable influence of the careful selection of surrounding dielectrics on both the polaronic oscillator strength and the polaronic scattering rate. Thus, optimal dielectrics would be those exhibiting both elevated optical phonon energy and a high static dielectric constant. Full article