Surrounding sensitive electronic properties of Bi₂Te₃ nanoplates-potential sensing applications of topological insulators.

Significant efforts have been paid to exploring the fundamental properties of topological insulators (TIs) in recent years. However, the investigation of TIs as functional materials for practical device applications is still quite limited. In this work, electronic sensors based on Bi2Te3 nanoplates were fabricated and the sensing performance was investigated. On exposure to different surrounding environments, significant changes in the conducting properties were observed by direct electrical measurements. These results suggest that nanostructured TIs hold great potential for sensing applications.