Width-dependent continuous growth of atomically thin quantum nanoribbons from nanoalloy seeds in chalcogen vapor

XF Li and S Wyss and E Yanev and QJ Li and S Wu and YW Sun and RR Unocic and J Stage and M Strasbourg and LM Sassi and YX Zhu and J Li and Y Yang and J Hone and N Borys and PJ Schuck and AR Harutyunyan, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 15, 10080 (2024).

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54413-9

Nanoribbons (NRs) of atomic layer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can boost the rapidly emerging field of quantum materials owing to their width-dependent phases and electronic properties. However, the controllable downscaling of width by direct growth and the underlying mechanism remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate the vapor-liquid-solid growth of single crystal of single layer NRs of a series of TMDs (MeX2: Me = Mo, W; X = S, Se) under chalcogen vapor atmosphere, seeded by pre- deposited and respective transition metal-alloyed nanoparticles that also control the NR width. We find linear dependence of growth rate on supersaturation, known as a criterion for continues growth mechanism, which decreases with decreasing of NR width driven by the Gibbs-Thomson effect. The NRs show width-dependent photoluminescence and strain- induced quantum emission signatures with up to approximate to 90% purity of single photons. We propose the path and underlying mechanism for width-controllable growth of TMD NRs for applications in quantum optoelectronics. Size control in quantum materials by direct growth is still difficult to achieve. Here, the authors present the width- dependent growth of single-layer nanoribbons of transition metal dichalcogenides from nanoalloy seeds, achieving strain-induced quantum emission with a purity of up to 90 % for single photons.

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