Raman Spectroscopy, Photocatalytic Degradation and Stabilization of Atomically Thin Chromium Triiodide

Abstract

As a 2D ferromagnetic semiconductor with magnetic ordering, atomically thin chromium triiodide is the latest addition to the family of two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, realistic exploration of CrI3-based devices and heterostructures is challenging, due to its extreme instability under ambient conditions. Here we present Raman characterization of CrI3, and demonstrate that the main degradation pathway of CrI3 is the photocatalytic substitution of iodine by water. While simple encapsulation by Al2O3, PMMA and hexagonal BN (hBN) only leads to modest reduction in degradation rate, minimizing exposure of light markedly improves stability, and CrI3 sheets sandwiched between hBN layers are air-stable for >10 days. By monitoring the transfer characteristics of CrI3/graphene heterostructure over the course of degradation, we show that the aquachromium solution hole-dopes graphene.

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Cited by in corpus (49)

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• Fundamental Spin Interactions Underlying the Magnetic Anisotropy in the Kitaev Ferromagnet CrI${}_3$
• Gate-tunable spin waves in antiferromagnetic atomic bilayers
• Micromagnetometry of two-dimensional ferromagnets
• Linear magneto-electric phase in ultrathin MnPS${}_3$ probed by optical second harmonic generation
• In-plane magnetic domains and Néel-like domain walls in thin flakes of the room temperature CrTe${}_2$ van der Waals ferromagnet
• Oxidation of Monolayer WS${}_2$ in Ambient is a Photoinduced Process
• Interplay between spin proximity effect and charge-dependent exciton dynamics in MoSe${}_2$ / CrBr${}_3$ van der Waals heterostructures
• Distinct magneto-Raman signatures of spin-flip phase transitions in CrI3
• Probing defects and spin-phonon coupling in CrSBr via resonant Raman scattering
• Magnetic field-induced quantum phase transitions in a van der Waals magnet
• Observation of the polaronic character of excitons in a two-dimensional semiconducting magnet $\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{I}}_3$
• Observation of nonreciprocal magneto-optical scattering in nonencapsulated few-layered CrI3
• Strength of effective Coulomb interaction in two-dimensional transition-metal Halides MX${}_2$ and MX${}_3$ (M=Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni; X=Cl, Br, I)
• Nanoscale magnetism and magnetic phase transitions in atomically thin CrSBr
• Intrinsic ferromagnetism and restrictive thermodynamic stability in MA${}_2$N${}_4$ and Janus VSiGeN${}_4$ monolayers
• Gate-tunable proximity effects in graphene on layered magnetic insulators
• Tunable layered-magnetism-assisted magneto-Raman effect in a two-dimensional magnet $\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{I}}_3$
• Crossover between Photochemical and Photothermal Oxidations of Atomically Thin Magnetic Semiconductor CrPS4
• Ferroic orders in two-dimensional transition/rare-earth metal halides
• Ab initio calculation of the effective Coulomb interactions in MX2 (M=Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni; X=S, Se, Te): intrinsic magnetic ordering and Mott insulating phase
• Ferromagnetic interlayer coupling in CrSBr crystals irradiated by ions
• Exfoliation of 2D van der Waals crystals in ultrahigh vacuum for interface engineering
• Large-area van der Waals epitaxy and magnetic characterization of Fe${}_3$GeTe${}_2$ films on graphene
• Structural Monoclinicity and Its Coupling to Layered Magnetism in Few-Layer $\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{I}}_3$
• Tunneling current-controlled spin states in few-layer van der Waals magnets
• Large-area synthesis of ferromagnetic Fe${}_{5-x}$GeTe${}_2$/graphene van der Waals heterostructures with Curie temperature above room temperature
• Physical Vapor Transport Growth of Antiferromagnetic CrCl${}_3$ Flakes Down to Monolayer Thickness
• Atomic Resolution Imaging of CrBr${}_3$ using Adhesion-Enhanced Grids
• The surface degradation and its impact on the magnetic properties of bulk VI_3
• Oxidation kinetics and non-Marcusian charge transfer in dimensionally confined semiconductors
• Imaging strain-controlled magnetic reversal in thin CrSBr
• Resonant Raman Scattering of Few Layers CrBr${}_3$
• Suspended dry pick-up and flip-over assembly for van der Waals heterostructures with ultra-clean surfaces
• Large cross-polarized Raman signal in CrI${}_3$: A first-principles study
• Intrinsically patterned two-dimensional transition metal halides
• Parameter free treatment of a layered correlated van der Waals magnet: CrPS${}_4$
• Resonance Raman Scattering and Anomalous Anti-Stokes Phenomena in CrSBr
• Defect complexes in CrSBr revealed through electron microscopy and deep learning
• Magnetic Correlation Spectroscopy in CrSBr
• Gate control of 2D magnetism in tri- and four-layers $\mathrm{Cr}{\mathrm{I}}_3$/graphene heterostructures
• Magnetic Proximity Effect in 2D Ferromagnetic CrBr3/Graphene van der Waals Heterostructures
• Atomic imaging of 2D transition metal dihalides
• Tailored Vapor Deposition Unlocks Large-Grain, Wafer-Scale Epitaxial Growth of 2D Magnetic CrCl3
• Current-induced CrI3 surface spin-flop transition probed by proximity magnetoresistance in Pt
• Strain-Induced Half-Metallicity and Giant Wiedemann-Franz Violation in Monolayer NiI${}_2$
• Valence Modifications in Hygroscopic VI3 Degraded Crystals via Soft X-Ray Synchrotron Radiation
• Activated Migration of Localized Ligand-Field Excitons in Atomically Thin CrCl3