Toward Single Atom Chains with Exfoliated Tellurium

Hugh O H Churchill; Gregory J Salamo; Shui-Qing Yu; Takayuki Hironaka; Xian Hu; Jeb Stacy; Ishiang Shih

doi:10.1186/s11671-017-2255-x

Toward Single Atom Chains with Exfoliated Tellurium

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Aug 10;12(1):488. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-2255-x.

Authors

Hugh O H Churchill^{1

2}, Gregory J Salamo^{3

4}, Shui-Qing Yu^{4

5}, Takayuki Hironaka^{4

5}, Xian Hu^{3

4}, Jeb Stacy³, Ishiang Shih⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA. churchill@uark.edu.
² Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA. churchill@uark.edu.
³ Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA.
⁴ Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA.
⁵ Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA.
⁶ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0G4, Canada.

Abstract

We demonstrate that the atom chain structure of Te allows it to be exfoliated as ultra-thin flakes and nanowires. Atomic force microscopy of exfoliated Te shows that thicknesses of 1-2 nm and widths below 100 nm can be exfoliated with this method. The Raman modes of exfoliated Te match those of bulk Te, with a slight shift (4 cm^-1) due to a hardening of the A₁ and E modes. Polarized Raman spectroscopy is used to determine the crystal orientation of exfoliated Te flakes. These experiments establish exfoliation as a route to achieve nanoscale trigonal Te while also demonstrating the potential for fabrication of single atom chains of Te.

Keywords: 1D layered material; Atom chain; Exfoliation; Tellurium.