Isolation of Single-Wired Transition-Metal Monochalcogenides by Carbon Nanotubes

Masataka Nagata; Shivani Shukla; Yusuke Nakanishi; Zheng Liu; Yung-Chang Lin; Takuma Shiga; Yuto Nakamura; Takeshi Koyama; Hideo Kishida; Tsukasa Inoue; Naoyuki Kanda; Shun Ohno; Yuki Sakagawa; Kazu Suenaga; Hisanori Shinohara

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b05074

Isolation of Single-Wired Transition-Metal Monochalcogenides by Carbon Nanotubes

Nano Lett. 2019 Aug 14;19(8):4845-4851. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b05074. Epub 2019 Mar 5.

Authors

Masataka Nagata¹, Shivani Shukla², Yusuke Nakanishi^{1

3

4}, Zheng Liu^{5

6}, Yung-Chang Lin⁶, Takuma Shiga⁷, Yuto Nakamura⁸, Takeshi Koyama⁸, Hideo Kishida⁸, Tsukasa Inoue¹, Naoyuki Kanda¹, Shun Ohno⁹, Yuki Sakagawa¹⁰, Kazu Suenaga⁶, Hisanori Shinohara^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry , Nagoya University , Nagoya 464-8602 , Japan.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania 15213-3815 , United States.
³ Institute for Advanced Research , Nagoya University , Nagoya 464-8602 , Japan.
⁴ Department of Physics , Tokyo Metropolitan University , Tokyo 192-0397 , Japan.
⁵ National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) , Nagoya 463-8560 , Japan.
⁶ National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) , Tsukuba 305-8565 , Japan.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering , The University of Tokyo , Tokyo 113-8656 , Japan.
⁸ Department of Applied Physics , Nagoya University , Nagoya 464-8603 , Japan.
⁹ Gifu High School , Gifu 500-8889 , Japan.
¹⁰ Ichinomiya High School , Ichinomiya 491-8533 , Japan.

PMID: 30798600
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b05074

Abstract

The successful isolation of single layers from two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW)-layered materials has opened new frontiers in condensed matter physics and materials science. Their discovery and unique properties laid the foundation for exploring 1D counterparts. However, the isolation of 1D vdW-wired materials has thus far remained a challenge, and effective techniques are demanded. Here we report the facile synthesis of isolated transition-metal monochalcogenide MoTe nanowires by using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as molds. Individual nanowires are perfectly separated by CNTs with a minimal interaction, enabling detailed characterization of the single wires. Transmission electron microscopy revealed unusual torsional motion of MoTe nanowires inside CNTs. Confinement of 1D vdW-wired materials to the nanotest tubes might open up possibilities for exploring unprecedented properties of the nanowires and their potential applications such as electromechanical switching devices.

Keywords: Transition-metal monochalcogenides; atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy; nanotubes; one-dimensional van der Waals materials; template synthesis.