@article{ec00fda8e4ef405f946182ac74046272,
title = "Atom-by-atom imaging of moir{\'e} transformations in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides",
abstract = "Understanding the atomic-scale mechanisms that govern the structure of interfaces is critical across materials systems but particularly so for two-dimensional (2D) moir{\'e} materials. Here, we image, atom-by-atom, the thermally induced structural evolution of twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides using in situ transmission electron microscopy. We observe low-temperature, local conversion of moir{\'e} superlattice into nanoscale aligned domains. Unexpectedly, this process occurs by nucleating a new grain within one monolayer, whose crystal orientation is templated by the other. The aligned domains grow through collective rotation of moir{\'e} supercells and hopping of 5|7 defect pairs at moir{\'e} boundaries. This provides mechanistic insight into the atomic-scale interactions controlling moir{\'e} structures and illustrates the potential to pattern interfacial structure and properties of 2D materials at the nanoscale.",
author = "Yichao Zhang and Baek, {Ji Hwan} and Lee, {Chia Hao} and Yeonjoon Jung and Hong, {Seong Chul} and Gillian Nolan and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Lee, {Gwan Hyoung} and Huang, {Pinshane Y.}",
note = "Acknowledgments: Part of this work was carried out in the Materials Research laboratory at the University of illinois Urbana-champaign. K.W. and t.t. acknowledge support from World Premier international Research center initiative (WPi), MeXt, Japan. G.-h.l. acknowledges support from the creative-Pioneering Researchers Program, the Research institute of Advanced Materials (RiAM), institute of engineering Research (ieR), institute of Applied Physics (iAP), and inter-University Semiconductor Research center (iSRc) at the Seoul national University. Funding: this work was supported by department of energy grant de-Sc0020190 (P.Y.h.); JSPS KAKenhi grants 20h00354, 21h05233, and 23h02052 (K.W. and t.t.); and Korean national Research Foundation grants 2021R1A2c3014316, 2021M3F3A2A01037858, and 2017R1A5A1014862 (G.-h.l.). Author contributions: conceptualization: P.Y.h. and G.-h.l. Methodology: Y.Z., J.-h.B., c.-h.l., Y.J., S.c.h., G.n., K.W., and t.t. investigation: Y.Z., c.-h.l., and G.n. visualization: Y.Z. Funding acquisition: P.Y.h. and G.-h.l. Project administration: P.Y.h. and G.-h.l. Supervision: P.Y.h. and G.-h.l. Writing\u2014original draft: Y.Z. and P.Y.h. Writing\u2014review and editing: Y.Z., J.-h.B., c.-h.l., Y.J., S.c.h., G.n., K.W., t.t., G.-h.l., and P.Y.h. Competing interests: the authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions of the paper are present in the paper, Supplementary Materials, and Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10058870.",
year = "2024",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1126/sciadv.adk1874",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "10",
journal = "Science Advances",
issn = "2375-2548",
publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",
number = "13",
}