Spontaneous Polarity Flipping in a 2D Heterobilayer Induced by Fluctuating Interfacial Carrier Flows.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34382814.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01356.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Polarity often refers to the charge carrier type of a semiconductor or the charging state of a functional group, generally dominating their functionality and performance. Herein we uncover a spontaneous and stochastic polarity-flipping phenomenon in monolayer WSe<sub>2</sub>, which randomly switches between the <i>n</i>-type and <i>p</i>-type states and is essentially triggered by fluctuating carrier flows from or to the adjacent WS<sub>2</sub> monolayer. We have traced such fluctuating carrier flows by interfacial photocurrent measurements in a zero-bias two-terminal device. Such polarity flipping results in switching between the negative and positive correlations between the emission intensities of WS<sub>2</sub> and WSe<sub>2</sub> in the heterobilayer, which is further well-controlled by the electrostatic gate-tuning experiments in a capacitor-structure device. Our work not only demonstrates giant and intermittent carrier flows through long-range coupling in 2D heterostructures and a consequent spontaneous polarity flipping phenomenon but also provides a two-emitter system with a switchable correlation sign that could project future applications in optical logic devices.