Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy of Low-Dimensional Hybrid Materials

Electron microscopy and spectroscopy are widely used to characterize various low-dimensional materials. Identifying the atomic structures and/or measurements of local optical/vibrational properties are of great importance in designing nanoscale devices based on hybrid nanostructures. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) has been used for elemental identification in transmission electron microscopes (TEM) by using core-level excitations. Recent developments of monochromators after the e-beam guns have enabled us to access optical and vibrational information from the valence EELS ranges of nanometric materials. Here we show our latest studies to develop the possibilities of EELS applied for low-dimensional hybrid materials. Examples for atomic defects in hybrid TMDCs[1], layered structures of alkali metals/metal chlorides intercalated in bi-layer graphene[2, 3], the moire structueres of bi-layer graphene[4], isotopically heterogeneous graphene[5], and some forms of novel 1D/2D hybrid structures[6] will be shown.<br/><br/>References:<br/>[1] P. Gogoi et al., ACS Nano., (2019) 13, 9541-9550<br/>[2] Q. Liu et al., ACS Nano (2023) 17, 23659-23670<br/>[3] Y.-C. Lin et al., Nature Comm. (2024) 15:425<br/>[4] M. Liu et al., ACS Nano., (2023) 17, 18433-18440<br/>[5] R. Senga et al. Nature (2022) 603 68-73<br/>[6] J. Zhou et al. Nature (2022) 609 46-51<br/>[7] The authors acknowledge funding from JST-CREST and ERC MORE-TEM projects.