Open Access

ARTICLE

Mixed Salt-Assisted Growth of Large-Size Ultrathin SnS₂ Nanosheets and Their Anisotropy Study

Yulong Lian¹, Ruiqiang Wang¹, Ziyan Ding¹, Jinyang Liu^1,2,3,*
1 College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
2 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, Fuzhou, China
3 Fujian Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Solar Energy Conversion and Energy Storage, Fuzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Jinyang Liu. Email:

Chalcogenide Letters https://doi.org/10.32604/cl.2026.083268

Received 31 March 2026; Accepted 08 May 2026; Published online 18 May 2026

Abstract

The morphological regularity, thickness uniformity, and size controllability of two-dimensional materials play a crucial role in regulating their physicochemical properties. However, achieving a synergistic balance among these three factors remains a key challenge in the field. In this study, through a systematic investigation of 36 salt-assisted growth systems, we discovered that CsCl promotes the lateral growth of SnS₂, while KI optimizes the crystal morphology. Using a CsCl/KI mixed salt system, we successfully grew triangular, ultrathin, large-area SnS₂ nanosheets with a size exceeding 200 μm and a thickness of only 1.8 nm. Angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy (ARPRS) revealed that SnS₂ nanosheets transferred onto SiO₂ substrates exhibit intrinsic in-plane isotropy. In contrast, SnS₂ nanosheets grown directly on mica substrates display a 90° periodic variation in Raman peak intensity with polarization angle, indicating significant in-plane anisotropy. This anisotropy arises from interfacial stress induced by lattice mismatch between the mica substrate and SnS₂, which breaks the intrinsic symmetry of the material. In addition, the transition of SnS₂ nanosheets from in-plane optical isotropy to anisotropy were confirmed by the polarized optical microscopy characterization. These results demonstrate that the mixed salt-assisted growth strategy provides a new approach for synergistically controlling the size, shape and thickness of two-dimensional materials and offers a novel method for inducing anisotropic property in intrinsically isotropic two-dimensional materials through lattice mismatch.

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Keywords

Mixed salt; SnS₂ nanosheets; angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy; anisotropy

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