Structural modification in swift heavy ion irradiated muscovite mica

Two-layer monoclinic （2M） muscovite mica sheets with a thickness of 12 μm are irradiated with Sn ions at room temperature with electronic energy loss （dE/dx）e of 14.7 keV/nm. The ion fiuence is varied between 1 ×10^11 and 1 ×10^13 ions/cm^2. Structural transition in irradiated mica is investigated by x-ray diffraction （XRD）. The main diffraction peaks shift to the high angles, and the inter-planar distance decreases due to swift heavy ion （SHI） irradiation. Dehydration takes place in mica during SHI irradiation and mica with one-layer monoclinic （1M） structure is thought to be generated in 2M mica after SHI irradiation. In addition, micro stress and damage cross section in irradiated mica are analyzed according to XRD data. High resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） is used on the irradiated mica to obtain the detailed information about the latent tracks and structural modifications directly. The latent track in mica presents an amorphous zone surrounded by strain contrast shell, which is associated with the residual stress in irradiated mica.

Muscovite mica as a universal platform for flexible electronics

During recent years,flexible electronics that are highlybendable,foldable,stretchable and twistable without sacrificing their functional performances have attracted a great number of researchers and engineers[1e5],and the rapid development of flexible electronics has promised to revolutionize the consumer electronics[6].For example,wearable devices[7],foldable displays[8],implanted systems[3]and brain-machine interfaces[9]have been emerged as innovative technologies.What is more,flexoelectricity and anomalous polarization behavior have been observed and manipulated[10,11],thanks to the flexibility rendered at the materials,structures,and devices level.

Enhanced thermal transport across monolayer MoS2

Characterizing the thermal properties of MoS2 is important for the design of electronic devices based on this material. We used frequency domain thermoreflectance to study the cross-plane thermal transport in mechanically exfoliated MoS2 samples supported on SiO2 and muscovite mica substrates. The thickness of MoS2 ranged between one and five layers, and the MoS2 layers were sandwiched between a metal layer and the substrate. In the case of mica, heat transport into the substrate remained the same whether or not a monolayer of MoS2 was present, whereas, for SiO2, heat transport was reduced by surface roughness. We observed a significant improvement in heat transport across monolayer MoS2 as compared to few layer MoS2. For MoS2 on SiO2, the effective thermal interface conductance was improved by more than three times if a monolayer was used. For MoS2 on mica, the thermal interface conductance was approximately two times better for monolayer MoS2. This implies that monolayer MoS2 has superior thermal properties and can be used in electronic devices as an intermediate layer between two materials. Additionally, we also report on the measurement of anisotropic thermal conductivity in bulk MoS2 and mica.