Giant Elasto-Optic Response of Gallium Selenide on Flexible Mica

Barker, T.; Gray, A.; Weir, M.P.; Sharp, J.S.; Kenton, A.; Kudrynskyi, Z.R.; Rostami, H.; Patané, A.

Abstract

Understanding the bending behaviour of a crystal onto a flexible platform is crucial for flexible electronics. The Young’s modulus, a measure of how easily a material deforms, plays a critical role in the coupled deformation of a crystal on a flexible substrate, as well as the transfer of strain from the substrate onto the layer. Here, we report on the bending behaviour of gallium selenide (GaSe), a van der Waals semiconductor with a small Young’s modulus and strain-dependent electronic band structure. A controllable, reproducible uniaxial strain, ε, is applied to nanometer-thick GaSe layers via their bending on a mica substrate. The spectral shift ∆E of the room temperature photoluminescence emission corresponds to a strain coefficient ∆E/ε of up to ~100 eV, the largest value reported in the literature to date. This is accompanied by coupled electronic and vibrational states under strain-induced resonant excitation conditions, as probed by Raman spectroscopy.

Citation

Barker, T., Gray, A., Weir, M., Sharp, J., Kenton, A., Kudrynskyi, Z., Rostami, H., & Patané, A. (2025). Giant Elasto-Optic Response of Gallium Selenide on Flexible Mica. npj Flexible Electronics, 9, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-024-00375-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 8, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jan 4, 2025
• Publication Date: Jan 4, 2025
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 7, 2025
• Journal: npj Flexible Electronics
• Print ISSN: 2397-4621
• Electronic ISSN: 2397-4621
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Article Number: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-024-00375-3
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/42832013
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41528-024-00375-3