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The predicted strong piezoelectricity for monolayers of group IV monochalcogenides, together with their inherent flexibility, makes them likely candidates for developing flexible nanogenerators. Within this group, SnS is a potential choice for such nanogenerators due to its favourable semiconducting properties. To date, access to large-area and highly crystalline monolayer SnS has been challenging due to the presence of strong inter-layer interactions by the lone-pair electrons of S. Here we report single crystal across-the-plane and large-area monolayer SnS synthesis using a liquid metal-based technique. The characterisations confirm the formation of atomically thin SnS with a remarkable carrier mobility of~35 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and piezoelectric coefficient of~26 pm V −1. Piezoelectric nanogenerators fabricated using the SnS monolayers demonstrate a peak output voltage of~150 mV at 0.7% strain. The stable and flexible monolayer SnS can be implemented into a variety of systems for efficient energy harvesting.

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In past years carbon nanotubes have been the subject of intensive experimental and theoretical efforts, probing their structural, energetic, mechanical, and electronic properties. Recently the successful synthesis of silicon nanotubes (SiNT) has been reported, making these once-hypothetical structures a new candidate for future nanodevices. Presented here is an ab-initio study of the energetics of infinite armchair and zigzag SiNT structures. The zigzag and armchair nanotubes studied here have been structurally relaxed prior to the calculation of the cohesive and strain energy for each chirality. The structural and energetic properties are then discussed. This constitutes part of an ongoing study examining the importance of chirality in the energetic and electronic properties of silicon nanotubes. Understanding the dependence of the properties of silicon nanotubes on their diameters and chirality is important, if they are to be successfully integrated into the nanodevices of the future.

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