journal article·2023-05

Single-atom vibrational spectroscopy with chemical-bonding sensitivity

Mingquan Xu, De-Liang Bao, Aowen Li, Meng Gao, Dongqian Meng, Ang Li, Shixuan Du, Gang Su, Stephen J. Pennycook, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Wu Zhou

Nature Materials· Volume 22· Issue 5
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Abstract

Correlation of lattice vibrational properties with local atomic configurations in materials is essential for elucidating functionalities that involve phonon transport in solids. Recent developments in vibrational spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscope have enabled direct measurements of local phonon modes at defects and interfaces by combining high spatial and energy resolution. However, pushing the ultimate limit of vibrational spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscope to reveal the impact of chemical bonding on local phonon modes requires extreme sensitivity of the experiment at the chemical-bond level. Here we demonstrate that, with improved instrument stability and sensitivity, the specific vibrational signals of the same substitutional impurity and the neighbouring carbon atoms in monolayer graphene with different chemical-bonding configurations are clearly resolved, complementary with density functional theory calculations. The present work opens the door to the direct observation of local phonon modes with chemical-bonding sensitivity, and provides more insights into the defect-induced physics in graphene.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides · Surface and Thin Film Phenomena · Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

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