Issue 3, 2023

Atomic scale insights into the epitaxial growth mechanism of 2D Cr3Te4 on mica

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials are of wide research interest owing to their promising applications in spintronic devices. Among them, chromium chalcogenide compounds are some of the limited available systems that present both high stability in air and high Curie temperatures. Epitaxial growth techniques based on chemical vapour deposition (CVD) have been demonstrated to be a robust method for growing 2D non-layered chromium chalcogenides. However, the growth mechanism is not well-understood. Here, we demonstrate the epitaxial growth of Cr3Te4 nanoplates with high quality on mica. Atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging reveals that the epitaxial growth is based on nanosized chromium oxide seed particles at the interface of Cr3Te4 and mica. The chromium oxide nanoparticle exhibits a coherent interface with both mica and Cr3Te4 with a lattice mismatch within 3%, suggesting that, as a buffer layer, chromium oxide can release the interfacial strain, and induce the growth of Cr3Te4 although there is a distinct oxygen-content difference between mica and Cr3Te4. This work provides an experimental understanding behind the epitaxial growth of 2D magnetic materials at the atomic scale and facilitates the improvement of their growth procedures for devices with high crystalline quality.

Graphical abstract: Atomic scale insights into the epitaxial growth mechanism of 2D Cr3Te4 on mica

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 nov 2022
Accepted
08 dez 2022
First published
15 dez 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 693-700

Atomic scale insights into the epitaxial growth mechanism of 2D Cr3Te4 on mica

H. Yang, A. Wu, H. Yi, W. Cao, J. Yao, G. Yang and Y. Zou, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 693 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00835A

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