Precise Tuning of Band Structures and Electron Correlations by van der Waals Stacking of One-dimensional W6Te6 Wires

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 20; no. 12; pp. 8866 - 8873
• Main Authors: Deng, Jinghao, Huo, Da, Bai, Yusong, Guo, Yanping, Pan, Zemin, Lu, Shuangzan, Cui, Ping, Zhang, Zhenyu, Zhang, Chendong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 09-12-2020
• Subjects: semiconductor-to-metal transition; quasi one-dimensional materials; Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid; van der Waals stacking; transitional metal monochalcogenide
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03897

Stacking of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) atomic sheets has been established as a powerful approach to fabricating new materials with broad versatilities and emergent functionalities. Here we demonstrate a bottom-up approach to fabricating isolated single W6Te6 wires and their lateral assemblies, offering a unique platform for investigating the elegant role of vdW coupling in 1D systems with atomic precision. We find experimentally and theoretically a single W6Te6 wire is a 1D semiconductor with a band gap of ∼60 meV, and a semiconductor-to-metal transition takes place upon interwire vdW stacking. The metallic multiwires exhibit strong Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid characteristics with the correlation parameter g varying from g = 0.086 for biwire to g = 0.136 for six-wire assemblies, all much reduced from the Fermi liquid regime (g = 1). The present study demonstrates wire-by-wire vdW stacking is a versatile means for fabrication of 1D systems with tunable electronic properties.