Raman Spectroscopy of Two-Dimensional Bi2TexSe3 − x Platelets Produced by Solvothermal Method

Abstract

In this paper, we report a facile solvothermal method to produce both binary and ternary compounds of bismuth chalcogenides in the form of Bi2TexSe3 − x. The crystal morphology in terms of geometry and thickness as well as the stoichiometric ratio can be well controlled, which offers the opportunities to systematically investigate the relationship between microstructure and phonon scattering by Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra of four compounds, i.e., Bi2Se3, Bi2Se2Te, Bi2SeTe2 and Bi2Te3, were collected at four different excitation photon energies (2.54, 2.41, 1.96, and 1.58 eV). It is found that the vibrational modes are shifted to higher frequency with more Se incorporation towards the replacement of Te. The dependence of Raman vibrational modes on excitation photon energy was investigated. As the excitation photon energy increases, three Raman vibrational modes (A1g1, Eg2 and A1g2) of the as-produced compounds move to low frequency. Three Infrared-active (IR-active) modes were observed in thin topological insulators (TIs) crystals.