2D Germanene-Based Nanomaterials for Energy Applications

The new family of single-atom-thin two dimenional （ 2D ） germanium-based materials with the graphene-like atomic arrangement, germanene and hydrogen terminated germanene (GeH), have shown great potential for electronic and optical device applications due to their large band gap and easily tailed electronic properties. The related remarkable chemical, physical and electronic properties could be regarded as a necessary condition for their promising applications in the area of energy storage and conversion. However, the systematic developments and investigations of the germanane and germanene based nanomaterials and the related applications are still urgently lacking. In this doctoral research, the germanene-based nanomaterials could be original synthsized via the topochemical deintercalation method, and their outstanding properties and potential applications were intensively studied. For the first work, the GeH nanosheets could be produced with the lateral size of tens of microns, and the related basic properties of GeH nanosheets have been investigated. In addition, the intrinsic mechanical properties of GeH nanosheets have also been investigated via atomic force microscope (AFM), which possess Young’s modulus of around 0.36±0.0069 TPa through nanoindentation experiment, exceeding the values in graphene oxide and Ti3C2Tx reported before.