Monocrystalline Antimonene Nanosheets via Physical Vapor Deposition

Abstract Among the family of elemental 2D materials, antimonene is predicted to have a desirable combination of bandgap tunability and exceptional physical properties. However, there is a lack of a facile synthesis technique to prepare high‐quality antimonene with large aspect ratios on standard SiO 2 substrates, hindering wide scale exploration of this material. Here, a physical vapor deposition process to controllably achieve millimeter‐scale, β‐phase, monocrystalline antimonene nanosheets on a SiO 2 dielectric substrate is reported. The temperature gradient across the deposition tube is exploited to realize either large‐area nanosheets or single antimonene crystals on‐demand. The composition and quality of the nanosheets and crystals is assessed using spectroscopy, diffraction, and microscopy techniques which suggest the formation of the β‐phase allotrope. The band structure of as‐synthesized nanosheets which matches the theoretically calculated values is experimentally extracted. Finally, contrary to earlier reports, the oxidation of antimonene under ambient conditions over a period of time indicating the need for further experimental studies of the material's stability is revealed. The reported controllable growth of antimonene nanosheets and single crystals on conventional dielectric substrates opens a spectrum of possible applications of this material in electronics and optoelectronics devices.