Disclosed is a negative electrode current collector for an anode-free lithium metal battery. The negative electrode current collector includes a PdTe.sub.2 layer and an intermediate layer to inhibit the growth of lithium dendrite, resulting in significant improves in lifespan and performance of the lithium metal battery. The negative electrode current collector further includes an ion conductive layer to improve the performance of the lithium metal battery.

The present disclosure relates to a preparation method of a niobium diselenide (NbSe.sub.2) film with ultra-low friction and low electrical noise under sliding electrical contact in vacuum. The method uses a direct current (DC) closed field magnetron sputtering method for preparation. Through process design of low deposition pressure and low sputtering energy, on one hand, a purity of an NbSe.sub.2 sputtered product is kept, generation of interference phases such as NbSe.sub.3 is avoided, and electrical conductivity of the sputtered NbSe.sub.2 film is greatly improved, and on the other hand, a nanocrystalline/amorphous superlattice composite structure is formed, and excellent mechanical and lubricating properties are achieved. Under sliding electrical contact in vacuum, compared with those of a common electroplated gold coating, a friction coefficient of the film is reduced to 0.02 from 0.25, a wear life is prolonged by at least 7 times, and the electrical noise is reduced by about 50%.

A method for growing a transition metal dichalcogenide layer involves arranging a substrate having a first transition metal contained pad is arranged in a chemical vapor deposition chamber. A chalcogen contained precursor is arranged upstream of the substrate in the chemical vapor deposition chamber. The chemical vapor deposition chamber is heated for a period of time during which a transition metal dichalcogenides layer, containing transition metal from the first transition metal contained pad and chalcogen from the chalcogen contained precursor, is formed in an area adjacent to the first transition metal contained pad.

The present disclosure generally relates to bilayer metal dichalcogenides, to processes for forming bilayer metal dichalcogenides, and to uses of bilayer metal dichalcogenides in devices for quantum electronics. In an aspect, a device is provided. The device includes a gate electrode, a substrate disposed over at least a portion of the gate electrode, and a bottom layer including a first metal dichalcogenide, the bottom layer disposed over at least a portion of the substrate. The device further includes a top layer including a second metal dichalcogenide, the top layer disposed over at least a portion of the bottom layer, the first metal dichalcogenide and the second metal dichalcogenide being the same or different. The device further includes a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed over at least a portion of the top layer.

Disclosed herein are thermoreflectance enhancement coatings and methods of making and use thereof.

Provided are a chalcogenide-based material, and a switching element and a memory device that include the same. The chalcogenide-based material includes: a chalcogenide material and a dopant. The chalcogenide material includes Ge, Sb, and Se. The dopant includes at least one metal or metalloid element selected from In, Al, Sr, and Si, an oxide of the metal or metalloid element, or a nitride of the metal or metalloid element.

The tantalum-doped molybdenum disulfide/tungsten disulfide (MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2) multi-layer film includes a titanium transition layer, a titanium/tantalum/molybdenum disulfide/tungsten disulfide (Ti/Ta/MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2) multi-layer gradient transition layer, and a tantalum-doped MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2 multi-layer layer which are successively laminated in a thickness direction. The preparation method includes: successively depositing the titanium transition layer, the Ti/Ta/MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2 multi-layer gradient transition layer, and the tantalum-doped MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2 multi-layer layer on the surface of a matrix by adopting a magnetron sputtering technology to obtain the tantalum-doped MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2 multi-layer film. The tantalum-doped MoS.sub.2/WS.sub.2 multi-layer film has good matrix binding strength, hardness and elasticity modulus, good friction and abrasion performance, good temperature self-adopting performance, heat and humidity resistance, and high temperature oxidization resistance under an atmospheric environment at different temperatures, and can meet the requirements of stable lubrication and long-life service of aerospace vehicles.

Described herein is a submerged-plasma process for the production of amorphous and nanocrystalline nanostructured materials, depending on processing conditions, from precursors that can be in the liquid or injected into the plasma or both.

An optical device as described herein includes a host substrate fabricated from a dielectric material transparent in the Infrared range. Additionally, the optical device as discussed herein includes multiple elements disposed on the host substrate. The multiple elements are spaced apart from each other on the host substrate in accordance with a desired pattern. Each of the multiple elements disposed in the host substrate is fabricated from a second material having a refractive index of greater than 4.5. Such an optical device provides an improvement over conventional optical devices that operate in the Infrared range.

Provided are a method for preparing a high-performance wafer-level lead sulfide near infrared photosensitive thin film. Firstly, a surface of the selected substrate material is cleaned; next, a vaporized oxidant is introduced into a vacuum evaporation chamber under a high background vacuum degree, and a PbS thin film is deposited on the clean substrate surface to obtain a microstructure with medium particle, loose structure and consistent orientation. Finally, under a given temperature and pressure, a high-performance wafer-level PbS photosensitive thin film is obtained by sensitizing the film prepared at step S2 using iodine vapor carried by a carrier gas. This preparation method is simple, low-cost and repeatable. The PbS photosensitive thin film has a high photoelectric detection rate. The 600K blackbody room temperature peak detection rate is >8×1010 Jones. The corresponding non-uniformity in a wafer-level photosensitive surface is <5%, satisfying the requirements of preparation of a PbS Mega-pixel-level array imaging system.