Atomic Resolution Imaging of Highly Air-Sensitive Monolayer and Twisted-Bilayer WTe2

Fang Yuan, Yanyu Jia, Guangming Cheng, Ratnadwip Singha, Shiming Lei, Nan Yao, Sanfeng Wu, Leslie M. Schoop

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bulk Td-WTe2 is a semimetal, while its monolayer counterpart is a two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator. Recently, electronic transport resembling a Luttinger liquid state was found in twisted-bilayer WTe2 (tWTe2) with a twist angle of ∼5°. Despite the strong interest in 2D WTe2 systems, little experimental information is available about their intrinsic microstructure, leaving obstacles in modeling their physical properties. The monolayer, and consequently tWTe2, are highly air-sensitive, and therefore, probing their atomic structures is difficult. In this study, we develop a robust method for atomic-resolution visualization of monolayers and tWTe2 obtained through mechanical exfoliation and fabrication. We confirm the high crystalline quality of mechanically exfoliated WTe2 samples and observe that tWTe2 with twist angles of ∼5 and ∼2° retains its pristine moiré structure without substantial deformations or reconstructions. The results provide a structural foundation for future electronic modeling of monolayer and tWTe2 moiré lattices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6868-6874
Number of pages7
JournalNano Letters
Volume23
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 9 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Bioengineering
  • General Materials Science

Keywords

  • air-sensitive
  • atomic resolution imaging
  • moiré patterns
  • monolayer WTe
  • scanning transmission electron microscopy
  • twisted bilayer WTe

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