Coulomb engineering of the bandgap and excitons in two-dimensional materials

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Archana Raja - , Columbia University, Stanford University, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) (Author)
  • Andrey Chaves - , Columbia University, Universidade Federal do Ceará (Author)
  • Jaeeun Yu - , Columbia University (Author)
  • Ghidewon Arefe - , Columbia University (Author)
  • Heather M. Hill - , Columbia University, Stanford University (Author)
  • Albert F. Rigosi - , Columbia University, Stanford University (Author)
  • Timothy C. Berkelbach - , The University of Chicago (Author)
  • Philipp Nagler - , University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Christian Schüller - , University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Tobias Korn - , University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Colin Nuckolls - , Columbia University (Author)
  • James Hone - , Columbia University (Author)
  • Louis E. Brus - , Columbia University (Author)
  • Tony F. Heinz - , Columbia University, Stanford University, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) (Author)
  • David R. Reichman - , Columbia University (Author)
  • Alexey Chernikov - , Columbia University, University of Regensburg (Author)

Abstract

The ability to control the size of the electronic bandgap is an integral part of solid-state technology. Atomically thin two-dimensional crystals offer a new approach for tuning the energies of the electronic states based on the unusual strength of the Coulomb interaction in these materials and its environmental sensitivity. Here, we show that by engineering the surrounding dielectric environment, one can tune the electronic bandgap and the exciton binding energy in monolayers of WS2 and WSe2 by hundreds of meV. We exploit this behaviour to present an in-plane dielectric heterostructure with a spatially dependent bandgap, as an initial step towards the creation of diverse lateral junctions with nanoscale resolution.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number15251
JournalNature communications
Volume8
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2017
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 28469178