Nanotube-Templated Growth of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Nanoribbons

Due to their sizable bandgap and layer-dependent properties, the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are of interest for a variety of electronic and optoelectronic applications.¹ While much research in the field of 2D materials has focused on the emergent properties as a result of confinement to two dimensions, further confinement into quasi-one-dimensional nanoribbons is expected to provide a further handle for tuning the electronic structure.^2,3 In this work, we have employed a bottom-up gas-phase synthesis within carbon nanotubes to template the growth of TMD nanoribbons. By growing the materials within nanotubes we can create nanoribbons with variety of widths. The nanotubes also provide protection from degradation due to oxidation or solvents enabling the facile handling and study of air-sensitive materials.

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2. Wang, Z.; Li, H.; Liu, Z.; Shi, Z.; Lu, J.; Suenaga, K.; Joung, S.-K.; Okazaki, T.; Gu, Z.; Zhou, J.; et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 13840–13847.
3. Chen, Y.; Cui, P.; Ren, X.; Zhang, C.; Jin, C.; Zhang, Z.; Shih, C.-K. Nat. Commun. 2017, 8, 15135.