Surfactant‐Free Ultrasonication‐Assisted Synthesis of 2d Tellurium Based on Metastable 1T'‐MoTe₂

Abstract

Elemental two‐dimensional materials (E2DMs) have been attracting considerable attention owing to their chemical simplicity and excellent/exotic properties. However, the lack of robust chemical synthetic methods seriously limits their potential. Here, we report a surfactant‐free liquid‐phase synthesis of high‐quality 2D tellurium based on ultrasonication‐assisted exfoliation of metastable 1T'‐MoTe2. The as‐grown 2D tellurium nanosheets exhibit excellent single crystallinity, ideal 2D morphology, surfactant‐free surface, and negligible 1D by‐products. Furthermore, a unique growth mechanism based on the atomic escape of Te atoms from metastable transition metal dichalcogenides and guided 2D growth in the liquid phase was proposed and verified. 2D tellurium‐based field‐effect transistors show ultrahigh hole mobility exceeding 1000 cm2·V−1·s−1 at room temperature attributing to the high crystallinity and surfactant‐free surface, and exceptional chemical and operational stability using both solid‐state dielectric and liquid‐state electrical double layer. The facile ultrasonication‐assisted synthesis of high‐quality 2D tellurium paves the way for further exploration of E2DMs and expands the scope of liquid‐phase exfoliation (LPE) methodology towards the controlled wet‐chemical synthesis of functional nanomaterials.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved