Zhongnan Guo

Bio: Zhongnan Guo is an academic researcher from University of Science and Technology Beijing. The author has contributed to research in topics: Magnetic susceptibility & Band gap. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 22 publications receiving 126 citations.

Chemical Intercalations in Layered Transition Metal Chalcogenides: Syntheses, Structures, and Related Properties

Abstract: Transition metal chalcogenides (TMChs) have recently attracted a great deal of interest in the chemical and physical research fields. These compounds have a common crystal structure: they usually consist of two-dimensional or quasi-two-dimensional layers stacked along the direction perpendicular to the layers. The combination between layers is generally by van der Waals interaction or weak chemical bonding, making the layered chalcogenides potential hosts for intercalation. Alkali metals, alkaline earths, rare earths, and organic groups or compounds can be intercalated into the structure as spacing layers, resulting in a variety of new compounds and exhibiting interesting physical and chemical properties. In this review, we introduce and summarize the latest advances in chemical intercalation and the role of these spacing layers in TMChs, and their relation to relevant properties. Especially, we focus on the developments of chemical intercalation in Fe chalcogenide superconductors to understand the effect...

Hexagonal SiC with spatially separated active sites on polar and nonpolar facets achieving enhanced hydrogen production from photocatalytic water reduction

Abstract: Sufficient spatial separation of photo-generated electrons and holes plays a significant role in affecting the efficiency for solar energy conversion. Non-equivalent facets of a catalyst are known to possess different charge distribution properties. Here, we report that hexagonal 6H-SiC, a metal-free, environmentally friendly, polar semiconductor, exhibits different charge distribution and photocatalytic properties on naturally occurring Si-{0001} and {10-10} facets. Very strong selectivity of metals in situ photodeposition occurs in these two facets, demonstrating that the photo-excited electrons are assembled only on polar Si-{0001} facets while the holes are assembled on non-polar {10-10} facets. Consequently, reduction reactions occur only on the Si-{0001} facets with noble metals, and meantime oxidation occurs only in {10-10} with metal oxide. We show that the activity of photocatalytic water splitting is significantly enhanced by this kind of selective depositions resulting from the charge spatial separation. The underlying mechanism is investigated in terms of experimental evidence and first principles calculations. Our results demonstrate that the utilization of facets with opposite catalytic characteristics could be a feasible means to enhance the photocatalytic performance in diverse semiconducting materials. This is, in particular, of interest for polar semiconductors, as their particles always naturally occur in both polar facets and non-polar ones without needing facet engineering.

Efficient Heterojunctions via the in Situ Self-Assembly of BiVO4 Quantum Dots on SiC Facets for Enhanced Photocatalysis

Abstract: Constructing a highly efficient heterojunction for photogenerated charges separation is essential to photocatalysis for solar energy conversion. In this work, we prepare an efficient photocatalyst, SiC/QD-BiVO4 composite, through in situ self-assembly method. This effective heterojunction is constructed by controlling QD-BiVO4 orientated deposition on certain facets of SiC. Efficient electron–hole separation is achieved by this heterojunction which resulted from the following two effects. One is that the selective distribution of QD-BiVO4 on SiC facets, rather than random deposition, reduces the transfer path length of photoexcited carriers. The other one is that the negative shift of the conduction band of BiVO4 quantum dots increases the electric potential difference in the built-in field, which accelerates the carriers’ transfer rate at the interface. Consequently, the O2 production is enhanced to 2096 μmol h–1 g–1 in SiC/QD-BiVO4 photocatalyst. Moreover, the degradation rate of RhB is doubled. Our wor...

Black Phosphorus Field-effect Transistors

Abstract: Two-dimensional crystals have emerged as a class of materials that may impact future electronic technologies. Experimentally identifying and characterizing new functional two-dimensional materials is challenging, but also potentially rewarding. Here, we fabricate field-effect transistors based on few-layer black phosphorus crystals with thickness down to a few nanometres. Reliable transistor performance is achieved at room temperature in samples thinner than 7.5 nm, with drain current modulation on the order of 10(5) and well-developed current saturation in the I-V characteristics. The charge-carrier mobility is found to be thickness-dependent, with the highest values up to ∼ 1,000 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) obtained for a thickness of ∼ 10 nm. Our results demonstrate the potential of black phosphorus thin crystals as a new two-dimensional material for applications in nanoelectronic devices.

Chiral magnetic effect in ZrTe 5

Abstract: The chiral magnetic effect is the generation of electric current induced by chirality imbalance in the presence of magnetic field. It is a macroscopic manifestation of the quantum anomaly in relativistic field theory of chiral fermions (massless spin 1/2 particles with a definite projection of spin on momentum) – a dramatic phenomenon arising from a collective motion of particles and antiparticles in the Dirac sea. The recent discovery of Dirac semimetals with chiral quasi-particles opens a fascinating possibility to study this phenomenon in condensed matter experiments. Here we report on the first observation of chiral magnetic effect through the measurement of magneto-transport in zirconium pentatelluride, ZrTe₅. Our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments show that this material’s electronic structure is consistent with a 3D Dirac semimetal. We observe a large negative magnetoresistance when magnetic field is parallel with the current. The measured quadratic field dependence of the magnetoconductance is a clear indication of the chiral magnetic effect. Furthermore, the observed phenomenon stems from the effective transmutation of Dirac semimetal into a Weyl semimetal induced by the parallel electric and magnetic fields that represent a topologically nontrivial gauge field background.

Reversed active sites boost the intrinsic activity of graphene‐like cobalt selenide for hydrogen evolution

Abstract: Optimizing the hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy (ΔGH ) of active sites is essential to improve the overpotential of the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We doped graphene-like Co0.85 Se with sulfur and found that the active sites are reversed (from cationic Co sites to anionic S sites), which contributed to an enhancement in electrocatalytic HER performance. The optimal S-doped Co0.85 Se composite has an overpotential of 108 mV (at 10 mA cm-2 ) and a Tafel slope of 59 mV dec-1 , which exceeds other reported Co0.85 Se-based electrocatalysts. The doped S sites have much higher activity than the Co sites, with a hydrogen adsorption Gibbs free energy (ΔGH ) close to zero (0.067 eV), which reduces the reaction barrier for hydrogen production. This work provides inspiration for optimizing the intrinsic HER activity of other related transition metal chalcogenides.