Related papers: Grain boundary strain localization in CdTe solar c…
The role of defects in two-dimensional semiconductors and how they affect the intrinsic properties of these materials have been a wide researched topic over the past decades. Optical characterization such as photoluminescence and Raman…
The interplay between the diffusion-controlled dynamics of a solidification front and the trajectory of a grain boundary groove at the solid-liquid interface is studied by means of thin-sample directional solidification experiments of a…
Dislocation and grain boundary melting are studied in three dimensions using the Phase Field Crystal method. Isolated dislocations are found to melt radially outward from their core, as the localized excess elastic energy drives a power law…
Interstellar abundance determinations from fits to X-ray absorption edges often rely on the incorrect assumption that scattering is insignificant and can be ignored. We show instead that scattering contributes significantly to the…
Strain engineering offers unique control to manipulate the electronic band structure of two-dimensional materials (2DMs) resulting in an effective and continuous tuning of the physical properties. Ad-hoc straining 2D materials has…
While cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin films are being used in solar cell prototyping for decades, the recent advent of two-dimensional (2D) materials challenges the fundamental limit for thickness of conventional CdTe layers. Here, we report…
The functionality of materials is determined by their composition and microstructure, that is, the distribution and orientation of crystalline grains, grain boundaries and the defects within them. The characterisation of the material's…
Grain rotation and grain boundary (GB) sliding are two important mechanisms for grain coarsening and plastic deformation in nanocrystalline materials. They are in general coupled with GB migration and the resulting dynamics, driven by…
Polar discontinuities and structural changes at oxide interfaces can give rise to a large variety of electronic and ionic phenomena. Related effects have been intensively studied in epitaxial systems, including ferroelectric domain walls…
In alloys, solute segregation at grain boundaries is classically attributed to three driving forces: a high solution enthalpy, a high size mismatch, and a high difference in interfacial energy. These effects are generally cast into a single…
Segregation to grain boundaries affects their cohesion, corrosion and embrittlement and plays a critical role in heterogeneous nucleation. In order to quantitatively study segregation and phase separation at grain boundaries, we derive a…
Grain boundaries (GBs) in complex oxides play critical roles in governing their functional properties, which are intrinsically linked to their three-dimensional (3D) atomic configurations and local chemical environments that can deviate…
Topological defects in graphene, dislocations and grain boundaries, are still not well understood despites the considerable number of experimental observations. We introduce a general approach for constructing dislocations in graphene…
Grain boundaries are topological defects that often have a disordered character. Disorder implies that understanding general trends is more important than accurate investigations of individual grain boundaries. Here we present trends in the…
Conventional strategies for enhancing creep resistance often rely on grain boundary strengthening, yet this approach can inadvertently promote premature grain boundary fracture. This study presents a subtractive alloy design strategy for…
Grain boundaries, the two-dimensional (2D) defects between differently oriented crystals, control mechanical and transport properties of materials. Our fundamental understanding of grain boundaries is still incomplete even after nearly a…
This work presents an automated three-point bending apparatus that can be used to study strain engineering and straintronics in two-dimensional materials. We benchmark the system by reporting reproducible strain tuned micro-reflectance,…
Using molecular dynamics simulations and first principles calculations, we have studied the structure and mechanical strength of tilt grain boundaries in graphene sheets that arise during CVD growth of graphene on metal substrates.…
Solute segregation along grain boundaries (GBs) profoundly affects their thermodynamic and kinetic behaviors in polycrystalline materials. Recently, the spectral approach has emerged as a powerful tool to predict GB segregation. However,…
We have characterized the structure of 176 different single-layer graphene grain boundaries using $>$1000 experimental HRTEM images using a semi-automated structure processing routine. We introduce a new algorithm for generating grain…