Abstract
Gallium telluride (GaTe) one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) materials have drawn much attention for high-performance optoelectronic applications because it possesses a direct bandgap for all thickness. We report the morphology-controlled vapor phase growth of 1D GaTe nanowires and 2D GaTe nanosheets by a simple physical vapor transport (PVT) approach. The surface morphology, crystal structure, phonon vibration modes, and optical property of samples were characterized and studied. The growth temperature is a key synthetic factor to control sample morphology. The 1D GaTe single crystal monoclinic nanowires were synthesized at 550 °C. The strong interlayer interaction and high surface migration of adatoms on c-sapphire enable the assembly of 1D nanowires into 2D nanosheet under 600 °C. Based on the characterization results demonstrated, we propose the van der Waals growth mechanism of 1D nanowires and 2D nanosheets. Moreover, the visible-light photocatalytic activity of 1D nanowires and 2D nanosheets was examined. Both 1D and 2D GaTe nanostructures exhibit visible-light active photocatalytic activity, suggesting that the GaTe nanostructures may be promising materials for visible light photocatalytic applications.
Highlights
We report the morphology-controlled synthesis of 1D and 2D Gallium telluride (GaTe) nanostructures through the simple physical vapor transport (PVT) approach
The morphology-controlled synthesis of 1D GaTe nanowires could be obtained at a growth temperature of 550 ◦ C, while the 2D GaTe nanosheets were synthesized under 600 ◦ C
Considering to the high melting point of GaTe (824 ◦ C), using the low melting point materials: gallium and tellurium as evaporation source provides a steady supply of Ga and Te vapor pressure and allows the precise morphology control of the growth of GaTe 1D nanowires and 2D nanosheets
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Owing to their fascinating physical and chemical properties, the emergence of twodimensional (2D) semiconductor materials has attracted considerable interest in the field of optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, chemical sensors, photocatalysts, and energy-related applications [1,2,3,4]. The 2D nanostructures are high-quality and exhibit superior physical properties and high-performance optoelectronic devices were reported, the morphology cannot be well controlled and the size of the sample is normally very small. The bottom-up method including chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor transport (PVT) of synthesizing 2D nanostructures, offers advantages in control of morphologies, layer thickness, and crystallinity, which alters material properties and is highly desired for practical applications [22,23,24,25]. Based on the characterization results, we propose the van der Waals growth mechanism of 1D GaTe nanowires and
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