Researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences, Charles University, and other institutions have published a study in the journal Advanced Materials that explores the unique properties of a new material, USe₃, which could have implications for the energy sector, particularly in the development of advanced semiconductors.
The team, led by Aljoscha Söll and including Valentino Jadrisko, Sourav Dey, and others, investigated USe₃, a van der Waals (vdW) material that exhibits strong in-plane anisotropy. This means that its properties, such as charge transport and optical responses, vary depending on the direction within the material. While similar behaviors have been observed in transition-metal trichalcogenides (TMTCs), USe₃ represents a heavier analog that has not been extensively studied.
Using polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy, the researchers revealed that USe₃ exhibits strong in-plane anisotropy. They also investigated how strain affects the material’s phonon modes and quantified the direction-dependent charge-carrier mobility through transport measurements on field-effect devices. First-principles calculations based on density-functional theory supported their experimental findings, providing a theoretical foundation for their observations.
The practical applications of this research for the energy sector lie in the development of low-dimensional semiconductors. USe₃’s combination of strong in-plane anisotropy and f-electron physics could lead to the creation of advanced semiconductors with unique properties. These semiconductors could be used in various energy applications, such as more efficient solar cells, advanced thermoelectric materials for waste heat recovery, and novel electronic devices for energy storage and conversion.
The study, titled “Anisotropic Phonon Dynamics and Directional Transport in Actinide van der Waals Semiconductor USe₃,” was published in the journal Advanced Materials. The research highlights the potential of exploring heavier analogs of well-studied materials to uncover new properties that could drive innovation in the energy sector.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.