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Mudd, Garry William (2016) III-VI metal chalcogenide semiconductor nanosheets and heterostructures. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation into the properties of III-VI metal chalcogenide semiconductor nanosheets and demonstrates their capability to enhance graphene-based optoelectronics. Strong quantization effects and tunable near-infrared-to-visible (NIR-to-VIS) photoluminescence emission are reported in mechanically exfoliated crystals of gamma-rhombohedral semiconducting InSe at room temperature. The optical properties of InSe nanosheets differ qualitatively from those reported for transition metal dichalcogenides and indicate a crossover from a direct-to-indirect band gap semiconductor when the InSe nanosheet thickness, L, is reduced to a few nanometres, corresponding to the emergence of a ‘Mexican hat’ energy dispersion for the valence band.

At low temperature, radiative recombination of photoexcited carriers bound at native donors and acceptors in nominally undoped InSe nanosheets is observed. A two-dimensional hydrogenic model for impurities is used to describe the increase in binding energy with decreasing L and reveals a strong sensitivity of the binding energy on the position of the impurities within the nanolayer.

The application of a magnetic field, B, perpendicular to the plane of InSe nanosheets induces a marked change of the observed optical spectrum. A transfer of intensity from a low-to-high energy component at high B corresponds to an indirect-to-direct band gap crossover, which arises from the Landau quantisation of the in-plane carrier motion and crossover between hole cyclotron orbits centred on closed edges of the valence band.

High broad-band (NIR-to-VIS) photoresponsivity is achieved in mechanically formed InSe–graphene van der Waals heterostructures, which exploit the broad-band transparency of graphene, the direct bandgap of InSe, and the favourable band line up of n-InSe with graphene. The photoresponse is dependent on the electron transit time through the InSe layer, as evaluated by a semiclassical model.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Patane, A. Beton, P.H. Eaves, L.
Keywords:	Indium Selenide, III-VI metal chalcogenides, graphene, InSe, heterostructures, van der Waals crystals.
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA1501 Applied optics. Phonics
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Science > School of Physics and Astronomy
Item ID:	33512
Depositing User:	Mudd, Garry
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2016 12:23
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2017 07:40
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/33512

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