J. Phys. Chem. C 130, 6653–6662 (2026) (2026)
Manyu Wang, Chang Li, Bingxian Shi, Shuo Mi, Xiaoxiao Pei, Shumin Meng, Yanyan Geng, Fei Pang, Rui Xu, Li Huang, Wei Ji, Hong-Jun Gao, Peng Cheng*, Le Lei*, and Zhihai Cheng*
Abstract:
Controlling mesoscale and nanoscale material structures and properties through self-organized atomic behavior is essential for atomic-scale manufacturing. However, direct and visual studies of the cross-scale effects of such atomic self-organization on mesoscopic structures remain scarce. Herein, we report the intertwined atomic-nanoscale-mesoscale structures via the intralayer Fe-chains in the sandwich-like layered FePd2Te2 crystal by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The hierarchical orthogonal corrugated morphologies are directly revealed and attributed to their chain-orientation-determined twinning-domain effect. Both Fe-chains of the middle-sublayer and two kinds of Te atoms of the top-sublayer are further atomically resolved, indicating the critical effects of Pd atoms/voids on the intralayer anisotropic Fe-chains and the interlayer structural alignment. The thermally induced and strain-related structural transitions of the surface layer are further investigated and discussed based on the proposed filling model of Pd-voids by the intralayer Pd atoms. Our work not only provides a deep understanding of this exotic layered magnetic material but also will inspire more perspectives for tailoring its anisotropic atomic-to-mesoscale structures and properties.
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