Graphene nanoribbons (GNR) were generated in ethanol solution by unzipping pyrrolidine-functionalized carbon nanotubes under mild conditions. Evaporation of the solvent resulted in regular few-layer stacks of graphene nanoribbons observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction. The experimental interlayer distance (0.49-0.56 nm) was confirmed by computer modelling (0.51...

Layered molybdenum disulfide has demonstrated great promise as a low-cost alternative to platinum-based catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen production from water. Research effort on this material has focused mainly on synthesizing highly nanostructured molybdenum disulfide that allows the exposure of a large fraction of active edge sites. Here we report a promising microwave-assisted strateg...

Transmission and analytical electron microscopy have been used to characterize the numerous lenticular fissures which were observed in electron micrographs of paragonite. Observations with a very weak electron beam revealed that there were no fissures in the original paragonite and that the degree of damage is a function of exposure to the beam. AEM analysis revealed that there is significant l...

Water diffusion within smectite clay interlayers is reduced by confinement and hence is highly determined by the interlayer spacings that are adopted during swelling. However, a molecular understanding of the short- and long-range forces governing interlayer water structure and dynamics is lacking. Using molecular dynamics simulations of water intercalated between pyrophyllite (smectite prototy...

Manipulation of lattice strain is emerging as a powerful means to modify the properties of low-dimensional materials. Most approaches rely on external forces to induce strain, and the role of interlayer van der Waals (vdW) coupling in generating strain profiles in homobilayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) films is rarely considered. Here, by applying atomic-resolution electron microsco...

A modified version of the interlayer tunneling model, including interlayer single particle hopping (ISPH), is considered as a phenomenological model to describe cuprate superconductors. The effective ISPH (teff ⊥ ) is taken along with a probability factor P , that involves the normal state pseudogap (Eg). This makes t eff ⊥ to mimic experimental observations that, ISPH is small in the underdope...

We investigate the quantum phase transitions of bosonic polar molecules in a two-dimensional double layer system. We show that an interlayer bound state of dipoles (dimers) can be formed when the dipole strength is above a critical value, leading to a zero-energy resonance in the interlayer s-wave scattering channel. In the positive detuning side of the resonance, the strong repulsive interlaye...

A reversible plating/stripping of a dendrite-free metallic-sodium anode with a reduced anode/ceramic interfacial resistance is created by a thin interfacial interlayer formed in situ or by the introduction of a dry polymer film. Wetting of the sodium on the interfacial interlayer suppresses dendrite formation and growth at different discharge/charge C-rates. All-solid-state batteries were obtai...

Recent experimental progress in producing ultracold polar molecules with a net electric dipole moment opens up possibilities for realizing quantum phases governed by the long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions. In this work we predict the existence of experimentally observable broken-symmetry states with spontaneous interlayer coherence in cold polar molecule bilayers. These exoti...

Organic thin-film transistors for high frequency applications require large transconductances in combination with minimal parasitic capacitances. Techniques aiming at eliminating parasitic capacitances are prone to produce a mismatch between electrodes, in particular gaps between the gate and the interlayer electrodes. While such mismatches are typically undesirable, we demonstrate that, in fac...