Photoinduced edge-specific nanoparticle decoration of two-dimensional tungsten diselenide nanoribbons

• Published in: Communications chemistry Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 166
• Main Authors: Murastov, Gennadiy, Aslam, Muhammad Awais, Tran, Tuan-Hoang, Lassnig, Alice, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Wurster, Stefan, Nachtnebel, Manfred, Teichert, Christian, Sheremet, Evgeniya, Rodriguez, Raul D., Matkovic, Aleksandar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 14.08.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/299/890; 639/301/357/354; 639/638/542/970; 639/925/357/1018; 639/925/930/543; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Coupling; Decoration; Flakes; Fluence; Heterojunctions; Heterostructures; Laser arrays; Microscopy; Nanoparticles; Nanoribbons; Optoelectronics; Photocatalysis; Plasmonics; Raman spectroscopy; Selenides; Silver; Tunable lasers; Tungsten compounds; Two dimensional materials
• ISSN: 2399-3669; 2399-3669
• DOI: 10.1038/s42004-023-00975-6

Metallic nanoparticles are widely explored for boosting light-matter coupling, optoelectronic response, and improving photocatalytic performance of two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, the target area is restricted to either top or bottom of the 2D flakes. Here, we introduce an approach for edge-specific nanoparticle decoration via light-assisted reduction of silver ions and merging of silver seeds. We observe arrays of the self-limited in size silver nanoparticles along tungsten diselenide WSe 2 nanoribbon edges. The density of nanoparticles is tunable by adjusting the laser fluence. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy are used to investigate the size, distribution, and photo-response of the deposited plasmonic nanoparticles on the quasi-one-dimensional nanoribbons. We report an on-surface synthesis path for creating mixed-dimensional heterostructures and heterojunctions with potential applications in opto-electronics, plasmonics, and catalysis, offering improved light matter coupling, optoelectronics response, and photocatalytic performance of 2D materials. Metallic nanoparticles are widely explored for boosting light-matter coupling of 2D materials, however, the target area for nanoparticle deposition is typically restricted to either the top or the bottom of 2D flakes. Here, the authors show tunable, edge-specific nanoparticle decoration using a laser, achieving arrays of silver nanoparticles that are self-limited in size along tungsten diselenide nanoribbon edges.