The High Anisotropy of the Epitaxial Growth of the Well-Aligned SbSe Nanoribbons on Mica.

One-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures, which are different from those of bulk materials, have attracted considerable interest in either scientific research or practical application. Herein, the SbSe nanoribbons have been successfully synthesized by the epitaxial growth process on mica using the rapid physical vapor deposition method. The density of the SbSe nanoribbons increased quickly when the temperature decreased, and finally, the nanoribbons connected to each other and formed a network structure even in film. These nanoribbons were all well aligned along the preferred direction that either is parallel to each other or forms 60° angles. Further structural investigation demonstrated that the SbSe nanoribbons grew along the [001] directions, which are aligned along the directions [11̅0] and [100] or [100] and [110] on the mica surface. Then, an asymmetric lattice mismatch growth mechanism causing incommensurate heteroepitaxial lattice match between the SbSe and mica crystal structure was suggested. Furthermore, a polarized photodetector based on the film with the well-aligned SbSe nanoribbons was constructed, which illustrated strong photosensitivity and high anisotropic in-plane transport either in the dark or under light. The incommensurate heteroepitaxial growth method shown here may provide access to realize well-ordered nanostructures of other inorganic materials and promote the anisotropic photodetector industrialization.