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Direct growth of single-metal-atom chains

    Recently, Prof. Zheng Liu (NTU), Prof. Yongmin He (HNU), Prof. Chunlin Jia (ER-C), and Prof. Zhuhua Zhang (NJU) developed a chemical vapor co-deposition method to construct a wafer-scale network of platinum SMACs in atom-thin films. The research “Direct growth of single-metal atom chains” was published online in Nature Synthesis.

    The obtained atomic chains possess an average length of up to ~17 nm and a high density of over 10 wt.%. Interestingly, as a consequence of the electronic delocalization of platinum atoms along the chain, this atomically coherent one-dimensional channel delivers a metallic behaviour, as revealed by electronic measurements, first-principles calculations and complex network modelling. Our strategy is potentially extendable to other transition metals such as cobalt, enriching the toolbox for manufacturing SMACs and paving the way for the fundamental study of one-dimensional systems and the development of devices comprising monoatomic chains.

(a) Schematic of the fabrication process of Pt SMACs. (b-c) The Pt SMACs/MoS₂ film from wafer-scale to nanoscale (b) and the atomic structure of Pt SMACs in monolayer (right) and bilayer (left) MoS₂, respectively (c).