Intercalation of Q1D Semiconductor Materials with Chiral Molecules for Emergent Electronic Property Analysis

As electronic components shrink to nanometer scales, they encounter challenges such as quantum tunneling, current leakage, and reduced charge-carrier mobility, all of which degrade device performance and reliability. To address these limitations, a novel field of electronics—spintronics—has emerged. Unlike conventional electronics, spintronics leverages both electron charge and spin to store and transfer information, potentially enabling faster and more energy-efficient data processing. While spintronic devices often use external magnetic fields to manipulate spin states and filter spin-polarized electrons, several hurdles remain. These include achieving consistent spin selectivity at microscopic scales, reducing power consumption, and avoiding structural degradation during fabrication. Such challenges hinder the effective implementation of solid-state spintronic devices in modern electronics.
To harness the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect in solid-state devices, our group developed a chiral molecular intercalated superlattice (CMIS) architecture. These structures consist of self-assembled chiral molecular layers intercalated between two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystal sheets. By stabilizing chiral molecules within a solid-state lattice, CMIS structures offer a promising pathway to engineer a new class of 2D materials with tunable, deterministic electronic properties—potentially advancing the performance and integration of spintronic devices.
Using X-ray diffraction, we characterized and analyzed Molybdenum Trioxide (MoO3) that we grew into single and polycrystals via chemical transport. We then intercalated the crystals with left-hand α-Phenylethylamine (s-(-)-1-MBA) chiral molecules for 72 hours at constant temperature and pressure to create a MoO3/s-MBA CMIS structure. We repeated X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm a negative 2𑁜 degree shift, indicating an increased spacing between crystallographic layers and successful intercalation. Furthermore, we plan to repeat the process with the right-hand α-phenylethylamine (r-MBA) molecule and compare our results.