Metal chalcogenide nanorings for temperature-strain dual-mode sensing.

ABSTRACT

Most metal chalcogenides exhibit layered structures and anisotropic morphologies such as nanosheets, nanoplates, and nanotubes, as well as nanosheet-assembled nanoflowers. Unconventional morphologies such as nanorings may bring appealing properties to functional materials, but they have not been realized with metal chalcogenides. Herein, we report that Sn0.2Mo0.8S2 nanorings with a mixed 1T/2H phase were synthesized by etching SnS2 cores from Sn1-xMoxS2/SnS2 lateral heterostructures. Flexible electronic sensors based on these Sn0.2Mo0.8S2 nanorings exhibited excellent temperature and strain sensing performance, with a negative temperature coefficient of resistance of -0.013 °C-1 and a minimum detectable strain of 0.09%. In addition, the dual-functional flexible electronic sensors with easy fabrication and good wearability showed great promise for tracking human activities and monitoring inapparent health-related signals.