The reliable production of atomically-thin crystals with tailored properties is essential for exploring new science and implementing novel technologies in the 2-D limit. However, ongoing efforts are limited by the vague potential in scaling-up, restrictions on growth substrates and conditions, small sizes and instability of synthesized materials. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress in the discovery and production of tellurene (2-D form of elemental tellurium) with an intriguing chiral-chain structure. The solution-synthesized tellurene crystals exhibit process-tunable thickness from a monolayer to tens of nanometers, lateral sizes ~ 100m, and can be transferred to designer substrates. I will further discuss our findings in 2-D tellurene’s material properties, as well as our efforts in the prototypical device explorations with the acquired fundamental understandings of tellurene’s properties. Our results show that the air-stable tellurene, as an emerging 2-D material, exhibits a plethora of intriguing physical properties appealing for applications in electronics, optoelectronics, energy, sensors, and quantum devices.
Dr. Wenzhuo Wu is the Ravi and Eleanor Talwar Rising Star Assistant Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology from 2013-2015. Dr. Wu received his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in Materials Science and Engineering in 2013, M.E. in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2008, and B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2005 from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei. Dr. Wu’s research interests include design, manufacturing, and integration of 1-D and 2-D nanomaterials for applications in energy, nanoelectronics, wearable systems, and quantum devices. He was a recipient of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in 2016, the IOP Semiconductor Science and Technology Best Early Career Research in 2017, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Barbara M. Fossum Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2019.