Growth and surface potential characterization of Bi2Te3 nanoplates

Abstract

Topological insulator Bi2Te3 nanoplates with hexagonal, triangular and truncated triangular nanostructures have been fabricated with thickness of ∼10 nm by vacuum vapor phase deposition method. The possible formation mechanism of Bi2Te3 nanoplates with different nanostructures has been proposed. We have examined the surface potentials of Bi2Te3 nanoplates using Kelvin probe force microscopy. The surface potential of Bi2Te3 nanoplates is determined to be about 482 mV on the SiO2/Si substrate, 88 mV and -112 mV on the n-doped and p-doped Si (111) substrates, respectively. The surface potential information provides insight into understanding electronic properties of Bi2Te3 nanoplates, which may open a new door to the exploration of the topological insulators

Effect of nanoscale size and medium on metal work function in oleylamine-capped gold nanocrystals

“…In the physics of metals this is described by the concept of work function. Therefore, in the absence of electric charging due to previous contact with different materials, the measurement of surface potential can be converted into a mapping of local work function of the sample surface 14 .…”

Spiral growth of topological insulator Sb2Te3 nanoplates

“…13,16,17 Currently, various methods have been employed to grow high quality of Bi 2 Te 3 , Bi 2 Se 3 , and Sb 2 Te 3 alloys in order to explore the TI properties of surface states. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Although spiral structures of topological films have been investigated by using hot wall epitaxy and molecular beam epitaxy methods, 25-27 the controlled synthesis and corresponding growth mechanism of crystalline with various regular spiral structures need to be further investigated. Moreover, understanding the spiral growth is useful for the exploration of promising applications of TIs, such as Majorana fermions and quantum computing.…”

Synthesis, characterization and electrostatic properties of WS2 nanostructures

“…The electrostatic properties of WS 2 nanostructures were investigated by Kelvin probe force microscopy, which has been widely applied to other layered materials such as graphene, 24 MoS 2 and topological insulators. [25][26][27] The uniform surface and charge distributions provide insight into the electronic properties of these WS 2 nanostructure-based devices.…”