Direct visualization of out-of-equilibrium structural transformations in atomically thin chalcogenides
npj 2D Materials and Applications | Published 12 June 2020 | Full Article
"My name is Natalia Acero and I’m a rising senior in VIPER studying chemical engineering and physics. I have been working in Dr. Deep Jariwala’s lab since summer of my freshman year. Because it was such a new, small group, I learned the basics along with my peers and was allowed to take on my own projects, as well as develop skills working closely with a post-doc, Pawan Kumar, in a second project. Working with atomically thin chalcogenides has opened our minds as to what can be achieved in the world of nanotechnology and we kept challenging ourselves to truly learn from what we have been working on. These materials grow in layers and by using them at different thicknesses, it behavior changes. The aim of the group has been to collect more information on these materials, as a lot of it is still unknown, to optimize geometries designed with them. This paper shows the results we collected when we checked for a temperature effect on the stability and degradation/impurities of MoS2. A lot of the techniques involving transferring and manipulating transition metal dichalcogenides includes changes in temperatures, so knowing how to avoid any damage to the structure is extremely important. These are great steps to keep understanding how these materials interact and the incredible potential they have on so many fields." - Natalia Acero (VIPER '21)