Solvothermal Growth of Moiré Superlattices in Antimony Telluride Spiral-Type Nanoplates

Moiré superlattices (MSLs) of van der Waals (vdW) materials have been found to host emergent quantum phenomena associated with high electron correlations, and while the study of MSLs has surged in recent years, the difficulty of fabricating these structures remains high. In the present research, a one-pot, colloidal solution-liquid-solid (SLS) synthesis procedure for antimony telluride (Sb₂Te₃) spiral-type nanoplates (STNPs) is adapted to create several distinct nanostructures. In particular, Sb₂Te₃ MSLs are synthesized with observed twist angles up to 0.52°. Emphasis is given to modifications of the typical reaction procedure that lead to visible and controllable changes in the resulting nanostructures, observed primarily using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The simple and scalable synthesis methods put forward in this research hope to facilitate future investigation into the electronic properties of Sb₂Te₃ MSLs.