Abstract
Rhenium disulfide (ReS2) differs fundamentally from other group-VI transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) due to its low structural symmetry, which results in its optical and electrical anisotropy. Although vertical growth is observed in some TMDs under special growth conditions, vertical growth in ReS2 is very different in that it is highly spontaneous and substrate-independent. In this study, the mechanism that underpins the thermodynamically favorable vertical growth mode of ReS2 is uncovered. It is found that the governing mechanism for ReS2 growth involves two distinct stages. In the first stage, ReS2 grows parallel to the growth substrate, consistent with conventional TMD growth. However, subsequent vertical growth is nucleated at points on the lattice where Re atoms are “pinched” together. At such sites, an additional Re atom binds with the cluster of pinched Re atoms, leaving an under-coordinated S atom protruding out of the ReS2 plane. This under-coordinated S is “reactive” and binds to free Re and S atoms, initiating growth in a direction perpendicular to the ReS2 surface. The utility of such vertical ReS2 arrays in applications where high surface-to-volume ratio and electric-field enhancement are essential, such as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, field emission, and solar-based disinfection of bacteria, is demonstrated.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1801286 |
| Journal | Advanced Functional Materials |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 30 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 25 2018 |
Funding
D.G. and A.Y. contributed equally to this work. D.G. acknowledges the support from Microfabrication Clean Room and the Center for Future Energy Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. D.G, Y.C and T.W. acknowledge the support of the Howard Isermann Fellowship from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. N.K., S.-F.S., and V.M. acknowledge funding support from the U.S. National Science Foundation D.G. and A.Y. contributed equally to this work. D.G. acknowledges the support from Microfabrication Clean Room and the Center for Future Energy Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. D.G, Y.C and T.W. acknowledge the support of the Howard Isermann Fellowship from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. N.K., S.-F.S., and V.M. acknowledge funding support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Award No. 1608171). The electron microscopy portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility (J.A.H. and J.C.I.). This manuscript was authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). A funding statement was added to the acknowledgements on July 25, 2018, following initial publication on early view.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Center for Future Energy Systems | |
| DOE Public Access Plan | |
| Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | |
| Department of Energy Office of Science | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| U.S. Government | |
| U.S. National Science Foundation | 1608171 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
Keywords
- ReS nanosheets
- field emission
- photocatalysis
- solar water disinfection
- vertical growth mechanism
