Tellurium-assisted growth of large-scale atom-thin insulating amorphous carbon on insulating substrates
Monolayer amorphous carbon (a-C), an atom-thin two-dimensional (2D) carbon amorphous material, has attracted significant attention due to its structural and transport properties. Here, we report a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach for directly synthesizing monolayer a-C films on insulating substrates, achieving high control over their size, thickness, and fabrication. The synthesized films exhibit a complete coverage over a 2-inch wafer, with high uniformity. Our theoretical analysis reveals the critical role of tellurium in promoting the growth of monolayer a-C on the substrate. Moreover, quantum tunneling measurements at liquid helium temperature were conducted on the a-C films, confirming the samples' homogeneity and their insulating behavior. This work provides a promising strategy for direct synthesis of atom-thin insulating amorphous materials and deepens our understanding of quantum phenomena and electronic properties in low-dimensional disordered materials.
Authors
- Xiaowei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8658-7399)
- Ruihuan Duan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4999-9735)
- P. Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1108-3994)
- Xiaoxu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9746-3770)
- Mickael L. Perrin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3172-889X)
- Mengyao Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0262-4895)
- Xuedong Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9319-7302)
- Zhaolong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6172-5713)
- Beng Kang Tay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3776-3648)
- Zhuhua Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6406-0959)
- Kostya S. Novoselov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4972-5371)
- Jiefu Yang
- Wu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6803-1095)
- Kongyang Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1941-1032)
- Qundong Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3846-396X)
- Xin Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6431-731X)
- Jiawei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4011-3950)
- Jian Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7584-3799)
- Zihao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2169-1456)
- Ang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5967-0626)
- Zheng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8825-7198)
- Wei Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4049-9569)
- Chao Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1589-855X)
- Zhili Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8637-9952)
- Dundong Yuan
- Yao Wu
- Ya Deng
- Xingli Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2411-7804)
Institutions
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Peking University (CN)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics (CN)
- Peking University Shenzhen Hospital (CN)
- National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (CN)
- Ministry of Education (BD)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (CH)
- Southeast University (CN)
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63872-7
- Primary Topic
- Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Research Foundation
- National Research Foundation Singapore
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Ministry of Education, India
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Bộ Giáo dục và Ðào tạo
- Info-communications Media Development Authority
- Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities