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This work investigates the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) in ferromagnetic Fe/Pt bilayer systems, examining the role of Fe layer thickness and substrate type on spin current dynamics and signal characteristics. Thin Fe films (3-20 nm) were sputtered onto Si/SiO2 and Si(B) substrates and analyzed for their structural, magnetic, and spin transport behaviors. The study identifies an optimal Fe thickness below 5 nm for effective spin injection, corresponding to a spin diffusion length of 4.7 nm, a spin Hall angle of 0.094, and a spin injection coefficient of-1.6 V (K ohm m)(-1). Beyond 15 nm, the LSSE signal reverses due to dominant shunting effects. Substrate interactions significantly affect spin scattering, particularly at the Fe/Si(B) interface, where an insulating layer is necessary to stabilize magnetic and spin properties. These results provide insights into optimizing ferromagnetic metal-based LSSE systems for advanced spintronic applications.

The generation of pure spin current through thermal gradients, known as the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), has garnered significant interest in spintronics. In this study, we design and construct a permanent magnetic instrument setup to generate a variable external magnetic field using NdFeB permanent magnets to observe the SSE. The experimental setup is composed of three crucial components: the magnetic field, the temperature gradient, and electronic control systems. Si/yttrium iron garnet (YIG)/platinum (Pt) and Si/nickel (Ni) samples, prepared via sputtering techniques, were utilized for standard calibration purposes. The results show that the external magnetic field produced by NdFeB varies with the gap distance between the two magnetic poles, following an exponential decrease in field strength with increasing gap distance. The magnetic field at the center can be adjusted from +/- 20 to +/- 5000 Oe. The temperature gradient stabilizes after approximately 10 min, with a temperature difference ( Delta T ) between the heated and cooled sides ranging from 0 to 30 K. For instrument testing, we performed magnetic field and angle-dependent measurements on Si/YIG/Pt and Si/Ni samples. The results indicate that the magnetic field dependence of the permanent magnet instrument (PMI) does not exhibit the voltage loop switching seen with an alternative magnetic coil (AMC) but shows analogous behavior at high magnetic fields. Moreover, the angle dependence of both PMI and AMC yielded comparable results. In conclusion, our PMI setup procedures effectively facilitate the observation of the SSE.

We explore the manifestations of spin rotation in graphene in proximity with two different types of high-spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) materials (ferromagnetic Co and nominally diamagnetic WSe2). Using weak antilocalization (WAL) as a probe of the induced rotation, we demonstrate that spin interference exhibits a highly stochastic (nonself-averaging) character in the mesoscopic limit. At low temperatures (<20 K), the spin rotation is manifested as a zero-bias peak (or zero-bias anomaly, ZBA) in the differential conductance, a feature that, as expected for WAL, is suppressed by fairly modest magnetic fields (<∼102 mT). The ZBA moreover exhibits a stochastic variation when a gate voltage is used to sweep the Fermi level through the graphene bands, with ranges for which the antilocalization is either prominent or strongly suppressed. This mesoscopic character is exhibited by both of the studied systems, whose ZBA is also damped in similar fashion with increasing temperature. We thus provide fundamental insight into the nonensemble-averaged (nonself-averaged) character of spin interference in mesoscopic systems with strong SOC and, more specifically, into how the details of spin rotation are impacted by external gating. This understanding may ultimately enable the efficient modulation of spin currents in future spintronic devices.

Spin-Hall thermopiles have been previously proposed as a means to enhance the spin Seebeck effect (SSE). However, the use of platinum (Pt) for spin detection drives costs high and proves an impediment for scalability. In this work, a cost-effective spin-Hall thermopile constructed from opposite spin-Hall angle ferromagnets, cobalt (Co) and iron (Fe), is reported. The devices are fabricated using a standard sputter-coated yttrium iron garnet (YIG) substrate that serves as the spin injector, and thermally evaporated Co and Fe strips that enable spin detection. When serially connected to form a (YIG/Co, Fe) thermopile structure, measurements indicate a significant enhancement of the spin voltage that results from the additive spin contributions of the opposite spin-Hall angle ferromagnets and the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) that they exhibit. The YIG/Co, Fe thermopile reported here offers a cost-effective alternative to Pt-based thermopiles and the possibility of large-scale implementation to realize future thermoelectric generators.

The generation of spin voltage by heat, known as the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), involves the injection of spin current from a ferromagnetic to a normal metal. In this study, the shunting effect in SSE is investigated within a hybrid structure consisting of iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co) films deposited on a Si-wafer substrate using thermal evaporation [Si/Fe(500 nm)/Co(10 nm)]. Spin voltage measurements performed in the in-plane configuration revealed a voltage reversal in the Co film and Fe film. However, in the hybrid structure (Si/Fe/Co), the voltage signal exhibited consistent directionality. This intriguing observation hints at a potential shunting effect, wherein the voltage influence from the Fe layer contributes to the Co film. Consequently, it is deduced that a significant shunting effect occurs when the resistivity of Fe is approximately three orders of magnitude lower than that of the Co film. This insight sheds light on the intricate dynamics of spin thermoelectric applications, emphasizing the role of material properties in optimizing performance.

The assembly of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures using 2D material transfer systems has revolutionized the field of materials science, enabling the development of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices and the probing of emergent phenomena. The innovative vertical stacking methods enabled by these 2D material transfer systems are central to constructing complex devices, which are often challenging to achieve with traditional bottom-up nanofabrication techniques. Over the past decade, vdW heterostructures have unlocked numerous applications leading to the development of advanced devices, such as transistors, photodetectors, solar cells, and sensors. However, achieving consistent performance remains challenging due to variations in transfer processes, contamination, and the handling of air-sensitive materials, among other factors. Several of these challenges can be addressed through careful design considerations of transfer systems and through innovative modifications. This mini-review critically examines the current state of transfer systems, focusing on their design, cost-effectiveness, and operational efficiency. Special emphasis is placed on low-cost systems and glovebox integration essential for handling air-sensitive materials. We highlight recent advancements in transfer systems, including the integration of cleanroom environments within gloveboxes and the advent of robotic automation. Finally, we discuss ongoing challenges and the necessity for further innovations to achieve reliable, cleaner, and scalable vdW technologies for future applications.

This study investigates spin current generation in a Fe2TiSb/Y3Fe5O12 multi-layer thin film as prepared via the magnetron sputtering method. Comprehensive characterization techniques are employed to assess film properties, including X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, and Vibrating sample magnetometer. The Y3Fe5O12 material exhibits a polycrystalline ferromagnetic insulator behavior, while the 20 nm-thick Fe2TiSb film displays small ferromagnetic metal properties with an amorphous structure. Spin current analysis utilizes the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect configuration, considering magnetic field and temperature dependencies and the results show that spin conversion within the Fe2TiSb/Y3Fe5O12 structure is influenced by both the spin Seebeck effect and the anomalous Nernst effect, resulting in an overall spin signal enhancement. The spin Seebeck coefficient of Fe2TiSb/Y3Fe5O12 was approximately 0.103 μV/K within a magnetic field of 300 mT.

In this study, a simple yet versatile method is proposed for identifying the number of exfoliated graphene layers transferred on an oxide substrate from optical images, utilizing a limited number of input images for training, paired with a more traditional number of a few thousand well-published Github images for testing and predicting. Two thresholding approaches, namely the standard deviation-based approach and the linear regression-based approach, were employed in this study. The method specifically leverages the red, green, and blue color channels of image pixels and creates a correlation between the green channel of the background and the green channel of the various layers of graphene. This method proves to be a feasible alternative to deep learning-based graphene recognition and traditional microscopic analysis. The proposed methodology performs well under conditions where the effect of surrounding light on the graphene-on-oxide sample is minimum and allows rapid identification of the various graphene layers. The study additionally addresses the functionality of the proposed methodology with nonhomogeneous lighting conditions, showcasing successful prediction of graphene layers from images that are lower in quality compared to typically published in literature. In all, the proposed methodology opens up the possibility for the non-destructive identification of graphene layers from optical images by utilizing a new and versatile method that is quick, inexpensive, and works well with fewer images that are not necessarily of high quality.

In this article, we report on a low-cost instrument for the versatile measurement of spin caloritronics phenomena such as the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), and anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Solenoid coils provide a uniform variable magnetic field while the sample was sandwiched between thermal baths and measured in a vacuum chamber. Our results show excellent magnetic field uniformity (±0.37 mT) within the magnet gap and high stability of the generated temperature difference (±0.07 K). For verifying the effectiveness of our instrument, Yttrium Iron garnet (YIG)/Co structure was used to measure the SSE, AMR, and AHE, while a SiO2/Co structure was used for measuring the ANE. Our SSE measurements of the YIG/Co structure were found to be comparable with that of a commercially available instrument. We can therefore conclude that our low-cost and versatile instrument can be used to effectively observe spin Caloritronics phenomena.

Stacking of graphene with hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) can dramatically modify its bands from their usual linear form, opening a series of narrow minigaps that are separated by wider minibands. While the resulting spectrum offers strong potential for use in functional (opto)electronic devices, a proper understanding of the dynamics of hot carriers in these bands is a prerequisite for such applications. In this work, we therefore apply a strategy of rapid electrical pulsing to drive carriers in graphene/h-BN heterostructures deep into the dissipative limit of strong electron-phonon coupling. By using electrical gating to move the chemical potential through the "Moiré bands", we demonstrate a cyclical evolution between metallic and semiconducting states. This behavior is captured in a self-consistent model of non-equilibrium transport that considers the competition of electrically driven inter-band tunneling and hot-carrier scattering by strongly non-equilibrium phonons. Overall, our results demonstrate how a treatment of the dynamics of both hot carriers and hot phonons is essential to understanding the properties of functional graphene superlattices.

In this study, the influence of growth temperature variation on the synthesis of MoS2 using a direct MoO2 precursor was investigated. The research showed that the growth temperature had a strong impact on the resulting morphologies. Below 650 °C, no nucleation or growth of MoS2 occurred. The optimal growth temperature for producing continuous MoS2 films without intermediate-state formation was approximately 760 °C. However, when the growth temperatures exceeded 800 °C, a transition from pure MoS2 to predominantly intermediate states was observed. This was attributed to enhanced diffusion of the precursor at higher temperatures, which reduced the local S:Mo ratio. The diffusion equation was analyzed, showing how the diffusion coefficient, diffusion length, and concentration gradients varied with temperature, consistent with the experimental observations. This study also investigated the impact of increasing the MoO2 precursor amount, resulting in the formation of multilayer MoS2 domains at the outermost growth zones. These findings provide valuable insights into the growth criteria for the effective synthesis of clean and large-area MoS2, thereby facilitating its application in semiconductors and related industries.

In this study, we report on the observation of spin current in opposite spin Hall angle materials of polycrystalline bulk-Fe3O4/Co and polycrystalline bulk-Fe3O4/Fe spin Seebeck effect (SSE) devices. In contrast to prior works, a facile and low-cost hot-pressing powder metallurgy process was employed to manufacture the polycrystalline bulk-Fe3O4 samples. The crystal structure, magnetization properties, and electrical resistivity characterizations of the fabricated bulk-Fe3O4, which were performed using x-ray diffraction, vibration sample microscope, and four-point probe, respectively, revealed excellent agreement with those of conventional Fe3O4. By taking advantage of the fact that the SSE signal in our devices is typically contaminated with the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), we show that the total thermo-voltage obtained from our devices can be enhanced by the significant ANE signals exhibited by the Co and Fe spin detectors. Importantly, the ANE contributions could be filtered out from the main signal by independent measurements of the ANE voltage in SiO2/Co and SiO2/Fe systems, thereby allowing the approximate extraction of the SSE voltage. Our experiments reveal that the polarity of the measured ANE (and pure SSE voltages) are opposite to each other in the bulk-Fe3O4/Co and bulk-Fe3O4/Fe structures, thus proving the opposite spin-hall angles character of these materials. The findings of this work provide a pathway for further exploration of methods through which the thermo-voltage output in future spin-Hall thermopile devices may be improved using materials manufactured via a facile, low-cost, and easily scalable process.

Free-standing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been gaining popularity for its use in supercapacitors and battery applications due its facile synthesis, multi-layered structure, and high-current carrying capacity. Pertinent to the successful implementation of such applications, however, is the need to develop a thorough understanding of the electrical properties of such materials when subject to high applied electric fields. In this work, we undertake a detailed study of high-field electrical properties of mm-scale, lightly-reduced, rGO papers. Our results reveal that the I–V curves exhibit substantial nonlinearity with associated hysteresis that depends strongly on the applied electric field. The nonlinear behaviour which was interpreted using conventional transport models of Fowler–Nordheim tunnelling and space charge limited conduction revealed that while these models provided good qualitative fits to our data, they were quantitatively lacking, thus leaving the issue of high-field transport mechanisms in rGO open for debate. Careful I–V cycling experiments with measurement time-delay introduced between cycles revealed that the observed hysteresis contained recoverable and non-recoverable parts that we identified as arising from charge trapping and Joule heating effects, respectively. Time-dependent measurements showed that these effects were characterized by two distinct time scales. Importantly, the Joule heating was found to cause a permanent conductivity improvement in the rGO via the ‘current annealing’ effect by effectively eliminating oxygenated groups from the rGO. The analysis of the electrical breakdown in our samples resembled a thermal runaway-like event that resulted in premature damage to the rGO. Finally, we investigated the low-field resistivity in the 80 K–300 K temperature range. The reduced activation energy analysis revealed a robust power law behaviour below 230 K, while deviating from this trend at higher temperatures. For samples that received current annealing treatment, a reduced value for the power law exponent was obtained, confirming the effective lowering of disordered regions.

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations are a ubiquitous signature of phase-coherent transport in small conductors, exhibiting universal character independent of system details. In this Letter, however, we demonstrate a pronounced breakdown of this universality, due to the interplay of local and remote phenomena in transport. Our experiments are performed in a graphene-based interaction-detection geometry, in which an artificial magnetic texture is induced in the graphene layer by covering a portion of it with a micromagnet. When probing conduction at some distance from this region, the strong influence of remote factors is manifested through the appearance of giant conductance fluctuations, with amplitude much larger than e^{2}/h. This violation of one of the fundamental tenets of mesoscopic physics dramatically demonstrates how local considerations can be overwhelmed by remote signatures in phase-coherent conductors.

The low evaporation temperature and carcinogen classification of commonly used molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) precursor render it unsuitable for the safe and practical synthesis of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Furthermore, as evidenced by several experimental findings, the associated reaction constitutes a multistep process prone to the formation of uncontrolled amounts of intermediate MoS2−yOy phase mixed with the MoS2 crystals. Here, molybdenum dioxide (MoO2), a chemically more stable and safer oxide than MoO3, was utilized to successfully grow cm-scale continuous films of monolayer MoS2. A high-resolution optical image stitching approach and Raman line mapping were used to confirm the composition and homogeneity of the material grown across the substrate. A detailed examination of the surface morphology of the continuous film revealed that, as the gas flow rate increased by an order of magnitude, the grain-boundary separation dramatically reduced, implying a transition from a kinetically to thermodynamically controlled growth. Importantly, the single-step vapor-phase sulfurization (VPS) reaction of MoO2 was shown to suppress intermediate state formations for a wide range of experimental parameters investigated and is completely absent, provided that the global S:Mo loading ratio is set higher than the stoichiometric ratio of 3:1 required by the VPS reaction.

We report on a corroborative study of the structural, morphological and electrical property alterations of free-standing graphene oxide (GO) papers subject to thermal reduction. Structural analysis performed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman techniques prove that the onset of major structural changes, characterized by removal of oxygen functionalities, occur in the 200–300 °C temperature range. The results are corroborated with related morphological changes observed using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. Elemental analysis shows the GO paper reduced at 600 °C to contain an 85 wt. % carbon content and a remnant oxygen level of 13.31 wt. %. At the highest reduction temperatures, we see evidence of vacancy-type defects impeding the overall effectiveness of the reduction process. Detailed electrical resistance measurements and current–voltage (I-V) profiling conducted using four-point probe method reveals a several orders of magnitude drop in the sample resistance once the reduction temperature exceeds 200 °C, in good agreement with the structural and morphological changes. The fundamental insights revealed through these studies will be important for future applications where the electrical and mechanical properties of free-standing GO and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are exploited in practical devices. Graphical abstract

Research in van der Waals heterostructures has been rapidly progressing in the past decade, thanks to the art of sequential and deterministic placement of one two-dimensional (2D) material over another. The successful creation of heterostructures however has relied largely on expensive transfer systems that are not easily accessible to researchers. Although a few reports on low-cost systems have recently surfaced, the full functionality, portability features, and overall effectiveness of such systems are still being explored. In this work, we present an "all-inone" low-cost transfer setup that is compact, lightweight, and portable and which can be quickly installed with a facile and do it yourself (DIY)-style anaerobic glovebox option that performs at par with commercial anaerobic systems. The "installable" glovebox option means the user has the convenience of quickly converting the working environment into an inert one when air-sensitive 2D materials are used. The lowest RH values obtained in our glovebox is <3%, and the O-2 levels rapidly drop from 21% to less than 0.1% in just a few minutes of purging the chamber with inert gas. The transfer system is also equipped with a light-weight PID-controlled substrate heating option that can be easily assembled within just a few hours. We test the versatility of our low-cost system by the successful creation of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-encapsulated graphene and hBN-encapsulated molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) heterostructures using the hot pickup technique and graphene-hBN, MoS2-hBN, twisted MoS2, and twisted MoS2 on hBN stacks using the wetting technique, and a MoS2-hBN-graphene vertical tunneling heterostructure was formed using a combination approach. The effectiveness of the DIY glovebox is proven with the demonstration of extended stability of freshly exfoliated black phosphorous (BP) flakes, their encapsulation between thin hBN layers, and the formation of electrically contacted BP devices with a protective hBN top layer. At an overall price point of approximately 1000 $, the versatile setup presented here is expected to further contribute to the growth of research in 2D materials, in particular, for researchers initially faced with overcoming a huge entry-level threshold to work in the field of 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures.

The differential conductance of graphene is shown to exhibit a zero-bias anomaly at low temperatures, arising from a suppression of the quantum corrections due to weak localization and electron interactions. A simple rescaling of these data, free of any adjustable parameters, shows that this anomaly exhibits a universal, temperature- (T) independent form. According to this, the differential conductance is approximately constant at small voltages (V < k(B)T/e), while at larger voltages it increases logarithmically with the applied bias. For theoretical insight into the origins of this behaviour, which is inconsistent with electron heating, we formulate a model for weak-localization in the presence of nonequilibrium transport. According to this model, the applied voltage causes unavoidable dispersion decoherence, which arises as diffusing electron partial waves, with a spread of energies defined by the value of the applied voltage, gradually decohere with one another as they diffuse through the system. The decoherence yields a universal scaling of the conductance as a function of eV/k(B)T, with a logarithmic variation for eV/k(B)T > 1, variations in accordance with the results of experiment. Our theoretical description of nonequilibrium transport in the presence of this source of decoherence exhibits strong similarities with the results of experiment, including the aforementioned rescaling of the conductance and its logarithmic variation as a function of the applied voltage.

The differential conductance of graphene is shown to exhibit a zero-bias anomaly at low temperatures, arising from a suppression of the quantum corrections due to weak localization and electron interactions. A simple rescaling of these data, free of any adjustable parameters, shows that this anomaly exhibits a universal, temperature- ($T$) independent form. According to this, the differential conductance is approximately constant at small voltages ($V<k_BT/e$), while at larger voltages it increases logarithmically with the applied bias, reflecting a quenching of the quantum corrections. For theoretical insight into the origins of this behavior, we formulate a model for weak-localization in the presence of nonlinear transport. According to this, the voltage applied under nonequilibrium induces unavoidable dephasing, arising from a self-averaging of the diffusing electron waves responsible for transport. By establishing the manner in which the quantum corrections are suppressed in graphene, our study will be of broad relevance to the investigation of nonequilibrium transport in mesoscopic systems in general. This includes systems implemented from conventional metals and semiconductors, as well as those realized using other two-dimensional semiconductors and topological insulators.