Nanomechanics of individual aerographite tetrapods

R.A., O.L. and K.S. would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support under schemes AD 183/17-1 and SFB 986-TP-B1, respectively, and the Graphene FET Flagship. R.M. and D.E. would like to thank for financial support from Latvian Council of Science, no. 549/2012. N.M.P. is supported by the European Research Council (ERC PoC 2015 SILKENE no. 693670) and by the European Commission H2020 under the Graphene Flagship (WP14 ‘Polymer Composites’, no. 696656) and under the FET Proactive (‘Neurofibres’ no. 732344). S.S. acknowledges support from SILKENE

Role of Nanoelectromechanical Switching in the Operation of Nanostructured Bi2Se3 Interlayers between Conductive Electrodes

We demonstrate a simple low-cost method of preparation of layered devices for opto- and thermoelectric applications. The devices consist Of a functional Bi2Se3 layer of randomly oriented nanoplates and flexible nanobelts enclosed between two flat indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. The number of functional interconnections between the ITO electrodes and correspondingly the efficiency of the device can be increased by gradual nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switching of flexible individual Bi2Se3 nanobelts in the circuit. NEM switching is achieved through applying an external voltage to the device. For the first time, we investigate in situ NEM switching and breakdown parameters of Bi2Se3 nanobelts, visualize the processes occurring in the device under the influence of applied external voltage, and establish the limitations to the possible operational conditions

Sensing properties of assembled Bi2S3 nanowire arrays

Bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanowires were grown in porous aluminium oxide template and a selective chemical etching was applied to transfer the nanowires to a solution. Well aligned nanowire arrays were assembled on pre-patterned silicon substrates employing dielectrophoresis. Electron beam lithography was used to connect aligned individual nanowires to the common macroelectrode. In order to evaluate the conductometric sensing performance of the Bi2S3 nanowires, current–voltage characteristics were measured at different relative humidity (RH) levels (5–80%) / argon medium. The response of the Bi2S3 nanowires depending of RH is found to be considerably different from those reported for other types of nanowire RH sensor devices