TY - JOUR
T1 - Electronic Polarizability as the Fundamental Variable in the Dielectric Properties of Two-Dimensional Materials
AU - Tian, Tian
AU - Scullion, Declan
AU - Hughes, Dale
AU - Li, Lu Hua
AU - Shih, Chih Jen
AU - Coleman, Jonathan
AU - Chhowalla, Manish
AU - Santos, Elton J.G.
N1 - Funding Information:
C.J.S. and T.T. are grateful for financial support from ETH startup funding. L.H.L. thanks the financial support from Australian Research Council (ARC) via Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE160100796). E.J.G.S. acknowledges the use of computational resources from the U.K. Materials and Molecular Modelling Hub for access to THOMAS supercluster, which is partially funded by EPSRC (EP/P020194/1), and CIRRUS Tier-2 HPC Service (ec019 Cirrus Project) at EPCC ( http://www.cirrus.ac.uk ) funded by the University of Edinburgh and EPSRC (EP/P020267/1). The Department for the Economy (USI 097) is acknowledged for funding support.
PY - 2020/2/12
Y1 - 2020/2/12
N2 - The dielectric constant, which defines the polarization of the media, is a key quantity in condensed matter. It determines several electronic and optoelectronic properties important for a plethora of modern technologies from computer memory to field effect transistors and communication circuits. Moreover, the importance of the dielectric constant in describing electromagnetic interactions through screening plays a critical role in understanding fundamental molecular interactions. Here, we show that despite its fundamental transcendence, the dielectric constant does not define unequivocally the dielectric properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials due to the locality of their electrostatic screening. Instead, the electronic polarizability correctly captures the dielectric nature of a 2D material which is united to other physical quantities in an atomically thin layer. We reveal a long-sought universal formalism where electronic, geometrical, and dielectric properties are intrinsically correlated through the polarizability, opening the door to probe quantities yet not directly measurable including the real covalent thickness of a layer. We unify the concept of dielectric properties in any material dimension finding a global dielectric anisotropy index defining their controllability through dimensionality.
AB - The dielectric constant, which defines the polarization of the media, is a key quantity in condensed matter. It determines several electronic and optoelectronic properties important for a plethora of modern technologies from computer memory to field effect transistors and communication circuits. Moreover, the importance of the dielectric constant in describing electromagnetic interactions through screening plays a critical role in understanding fundamental molecular interactions. Here, we show that despite its fundamental transcendence, the dielectric constant does not define unequivocally the dielectric properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials due to the locality of their electrostatic screening. Instead, the electronic polarizability correctly captures the dielectric nature of a 2D material which is united to other physical quantities in an atomically thin layer. We reveal a long-sought universal formalism where electronic, geometrical, and dielectric properties are intrinsically correlated through the polarizability, opening the door to probe quantities yet not directly measurable including the real covalent thickness of a layer. We unify the concept of dielectric properties in any material dimension finding a global dielectric anisotropy index defining their controllability through dimensionality.
KW - Dielectric screening
KW - dielectric anisotropy
KW - electronic polarizability
KW - first priciples simulations
KW - scaling relation
KW - two-dimensionalmaterial
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02982
DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02982
M3 - Article
C2 - 31888332
AN - SCOPUS:85078657980
VL - 20
SP - 841
EP - 851
JO - Nano Letters
JF - Nano Letters
SN - 1530-6984
IS - 2
ER -