Aromatic Silicon Nanoclusters

Based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we show that small nanoclusters of about 1 nm size spontaneously generated in a low-temperature silane plasma do not possess tetrahedral structures, but are ultrastable. Apparently small differences in the cluster structure result in substantial modifications in their electric, magnetic, and optical properties, without the need for any […]

Non-Covalent functionalization of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Fe-/Co-porphyrin and Co-phthalocyanine for Field-Effect Transistor Applications

This work reports the non-covalent functionalization of SWNTs with Fe-porphyrin, Co-porphyrin and Co-phthalocyanine molecules. The functionalized SWNTs were first characterized using Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. Observations down to nanoscale resolution were also performed by atomic force microscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopies. The spectroscopic methods evidenced an electronic interaction between the […]

Two-dimensional silicon: silicene

INTRODUCTION Silicon based approaches have attracted enormous attention since the first steps of nanotechnology have become a reality [1]. The fruitful results obtained for graphene [2,3] gave new momentum to the research in two dimensional (2D) materials [4,5]. Being directly compatible with existing semiconductor technologies, silicon in a 2D configuration, namely ‘silicene’, has received a […]