Deciphering Edge Effects in Exfoliated Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Nanoribbons

Transition metal dichalcogenide nanoribbons are predicted to have distinct morphology-dependent optical, electronic, and magnetic properties when compared to their monolayer counterparts. However, their method of preparation may drastically change their properties based on edge configuration and the presence of adsorbates or dangling bonds. We employed a gold-assisted mechanical exfoliation technique to obtain MoS₂ and WSe₂ nanoribbons with one pristine zig-zag edge and one torn edge. Then we compare the ribbon edges and the body to expose the influence of nanoribbon edge density on electrical transport characteristics in fabricated field-effect transistors, the edge termination-induced differential doping across exfoliated nanoribbons (electrostatic force microscopy), and the impact of edge structure on the band gap (tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy).