Ultra-thin trigonal selenium nanoribbons developed from series-wound beads

Ultra-thin t-Se nanoribbons are produced simply and conveniently via a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. The nanoribbons are highly crystalline and grow preferentially along the c-axis, with an average thickness of 15 nm (see Figure) and lengths up to several hundreds of micrometers. The intermediates in the formation are series-wound beads, which develop into 1D nanostructures confined by the anisotropic crystal structure of t-Se during cooling.