Synthesis of 2D Germanane (GeH): a New, Fast, and Facile Approach

Theodosis Giousis, Georgia Potsi, Antonios Kouloumpis, Konstantinos Spyrou, Yiannis Georgantas, Nikolaos Chalmpes, Konstantinos Dimos, Myrsini-Kiriaki Antoniou, Georgios Papavassiliou, Athanasios B. Bourlinos, Hae Jin Kim, Vijay Kumar Shankarayya Wadi, Saeed Alhassan, Majid Ahmadi, Bart J. Kooi, Graeme Blake, Daniel M. Balazs, Maria A. Loi, Dimitrios Gournis*, Petra Rudolf

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Germanane (GeH), a germanium analogue of graphane, has recently attracted considerable interest because its remarkable combination of properties makes it an extremely suitable candidate to be used as 2D material for field effect devices, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis. Up to now, the synthesis of GeH has been conducted by substituting Ca by H in a beta-CaGe2 layered Zintl phase through topochemical deintercalation in aqueous HCl. This reaction is generally slow and takes place over 6 to 14 days. The new and facile protocol presented here allows to synthesize GeH at room temperature in a significantly shorter time (a few minutes), which renders this method highly attractive for technological applications. The GeH produced with this method is highly pure and has a band gap (E-g) close to 1.4 eV, a lower value than that reported for germanane synthesized using HCl, which is promising for incorporation of GeH in solar cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)360-365
Number of pages6
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume60
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4-Jan-2021

Keywords

  • germanane
  • semiconductors
  • synthesis
  • topotatic de-intercalation
  • two-dimensional materials

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