Engineering Interlayer Electron-Phonon Coupling in WS2/BN Heterostructures

Yifei Li, Xiaowei Zhang, Jinhuan Wang, Xiaoli Ma, Jin An Shi, Xiangdong Guo, Yonggang Zuo, Ruijie Li, Hao Hong, Ning Li, Kai Xu, Xinyu Huang, Huifeng Tian, Ying Yang, Zhixin Yao, Peichi Liao, Xiao Li, Junjie Guo, Yuang Huang, Peng GaoLifen Wang, Xiaoxia Yang, Qing Dai, Enge Wang, Kaihui Liu, Wu Zhou, Xiaohui Yu, Liangbo Liang, Ying Jiang, Xin Zheng Li, Lei Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

In van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, the interlayer electron-phonon coupling (EPC) provides one unique channel to nonlocally engineer these elementary particles. However, limited by the stringent occurrence conditions, the efficient engineering of interlayer EPC remains elusive. Here we report a multitier engineering of interlayer EPC in WS2/boron nitride (BN) heterostructures, including isotope enrichments of BN substrates, temperature, and high-pressure tuning. The hyperfine isotope dependence of Raman intensities was unambiguously revealed. In combination with theoretical calculations, we anticipate that WS2/BN supercells could induce Brillouin-zone-folded phonons that contribute to the interlayer coupling, leading to a complex nature of broad Raman peaks. We further demonstrate the significance of a previously unexplored parameter, the interlayer spacing. By varying the temperature and high pressure, we effectively manipulated the strengths of EPC with on/off capabilities, indicating critical thresholds of the layer-layer spacing for activating and strengthening interlayer EPC. Our findings provide new opportunities to engineer vdW heterostructures with controlled interlayer coupling.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2725-2733
Number of pages9
JournalNano Letters
Volume22
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 13 2022

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. U1932153, 11974001, 11934003, 52025023, 51991342, 11888101, 52125307, 52021006), the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFA0307800, 2021YFA1400500), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Z190011), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (QYZDB-SSW-JSC019), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB28000000). We acknowledge the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at Peking University for the use of an electron microscope. L.L. acknowledges work at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility.

FundersFunder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CASQYZDB-SSW-JSC019
U.S. Department of Energy
National Natural Science Foundation of China51991342, 52021006, 11888101, 11974001, 52025023, U1932153, 11934003, 52125307
Chinese Academy of SciencesXDB28000000
Natural Science Foundation of Beijing MunicipalityZ190011
National Key Research and Development Program of China2021YFA1400500, 2019YFA0307800

    Keywords

    • electron-phonon coupling
    • high-pressure engineering
    • interlayer spacing
    • isotope engineering
    • vdW heterostructure

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