Edge Defect-Free Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Sheets with Nearly Direct Band Gaps from a True One-Dimensional Van der Waals NbSe Material.

Dangling-bond-free two-dimensional (2D) materials can be isolated from the bulk structures of one-dimensional (1D) van der Waals materials to produce edge-defect-free 2D materials. Conventional 2D materials have dangling bonds on their edges, which act as scattering centers that deteriorate the transport properties of carriers. Highly anisotropic 2D sheets, made of 1D van der Waals NbSe material, have three planar structures depending on the cutting direction of the bulk NbSe crystal. To investigate the applications of these 2D NbSe sheets, we calculated the band structures of the three planar sheets and observed that two sheets had nearly direct band gaps, which were only slightly greater (0.01 eV) than the indirect band gaps. These energy differences were smaller than the thermal energy at room temperature. The 2D NbSe plane with an indirect band gap had the shortest interchain distance for selenium ions among the three planes and exhibited significant interchain interactions on the conduction band. The interchain strain induced an indirect-to-direct band gap transition in the 2D NbSe sheets. These 2D sheets of NbSe with direct band gaps also had different band structures because of different interactions between chains, implying that they can have different charge mobilities. We expect these dangling-bond-free 2D NbSe sheets to be applied in optoelectronic devices because they allow for nearly direct band gaps. They can also be used in mechanical sensors because the band gaps can be controlled by varying the interchain strain.