Issue 2, 2021

Unveiling surface charge on chalcogen atoms toward the high aspect-ratio colloidal growth of two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides

Abstract

Controlling surface energies of each facet is essential for the anisotropic growth of two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs). However, it is a challenge due to stronger binding energies of ligand head groups to the edge facets compared to the planar facets. Herein, we demonstrate that the adsorption of ligands on metal positions can induce partial electron localization on the chalcogen sites, and then accelerate metal–chalcogen bond formation for enhanced anisotropic growth of nanosheets. And only in the case of trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO)-adsorbed nanosheets, surface polarization can be unveiled on the surface of the colloidal nanosheets due to restricted development of nonpolar ligand shells by the steric effects of the ligands. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculation results reveal that the decrease of surface energy on the (100) edge facets as well as the increase on the (001) basal facets by the adsorption of triorganylphosphine oxide also contribute to the preferentially lateral growth. As a result, various 2D TMCs, including MoSe2, WSe2, and SnSe2 synthesized with TOPO, show enhanced anisotropic growth.

Graphical abstract: Unveiling surface charge on chalcogen atoms toward the high aspect-ratio colloidal growth of two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Sep 2020
Accepted
30 Nov 2020
First published
08 Dec 2020

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 1291-1302

Unveiling surface charge on chalcogen atoms toward the high aspect-ratio colloidal growth of two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides

Y. Cho, T. A. Le, H. Kim, Y. Hong, H. Hwang, G. H. Park, S. Seo and H. Lee, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 1291 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR06448C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements