Emerging properties of non-crystalline phases of graphene and boron nitride based materials

Unlocking More Potentials in Two-Dimensional Space: Disorder Engineering in Two-Dimensional Amorphous Carbon

The theory of the nature of glass has been described as the deepest but unsolved problem in solid state theory. The fundamental understanding of the structural characteristics of glassy materials and disorder-property correspondence remains incomplete due to difficulties in fully characterizing disordered structures in three-dimensional materials. Recently, two-dimensional amorphous materials were treated as an atomic-level playground to uncover previously unknown structure-property relationships in vitreous materials. Here, we summarize recent research on one prototypical material, two-dimensional amorphous carbon, including atomic structural characterizations, controllable synthesis, exotic properties, and application potentials. Fundamental discrepancies only induced by the amorphous nature, when compared with crystalline materials, will be highlighted. Finally, we discuss the restricted definition of two-dimensional amorphous carbon, existing challenges, and future research directions.

Optoelectronic Current through Unbiased Monolayer Amorphous Carbon Nanojunctions

Monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC) is a recently synthesized disordered 2D carbon material. An ensemble of MAC nanofragments contains diverse manifestations of lattice disorder, and because of disorder the key unifying characteristic of this ensemble is poor electronic conductance. Curiously, our computational analysis of the electronic properties of MAC nanofragments revealed an additional commonality: a robust presence of charge-transfer character for electronic transitions from the occupied to virtual orbitals. This charge-transfer property suggests possible applications in optoelectronics. In this Letter, we demonstrate computationally that a laser pulse induces directional electronic currents in unbiased MAC nanojunctions and discuss the effects of pulse intensity on the magnitude of electron transfer.