1 research outputs found
Exfoliation of Quasi-Stratified Bi<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> Crystals into Micron-Scale Ultrathin Corrugated Nanosheets
There
is ongoing interest in exploring new two-dimensional materials
and exploiting their functionalities. Here, a top-down approach is
used for developing a new morphology of ultrathin nanosheets from
highly ordered bismuth sulfide crystals. The efficient chemical delamination
method exfoliates the bulk powder into a suspension of corrugated
ultrathin sheets, despite the fact that the Bi<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> fundamental layers are made of atomically thin ribbons that are
held together by van der Waals forces in two dimensions. Morphological
analyses show that the produced corrugated sheets are as thin as 2.5
nm and can be as large as 20 μm across. Determined atomic ratios
indicate that the exfoliation process introduces sulfur vacancies
into the sheets, with a resulting stoichiometry of Bi<sub>2</sub>S<sub>2.6</sub>. It is hypothesized that the nanoribbons were cross-linked
during the reduction process leading to corrugated sheet formation.
The material is used for preparing field effect devices and was found
to be highly p-doped, which is attributed to the substoichiometry.
These devices show a near-linear response to the elevation of temperature.
The devices demonstrate selective and relatively fast response to
NO<sub>2</sub> gas when tested as gas sensors. This is the first report
showing the possibility of exfoliating planar morphologies of metal
chalcogenide compounds such as orthorhombic Bi<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>, even if their stratified crystal structures constitute van der
Waals forces within the fundamental planes