Freestanding few-layer sheets of a dual topological insulator

Abstract The emergence of topological insulators (TIs) raised high expectations for their application in quantum computers and spintronics. Being bulk semiconductors, nontrivial topology at the electronic bandgap enables dissipation-free charge spin transport protected metallic surface states. For application, crystalline thin films are requested sufficient quantity. A suitable approach is liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) TI crystals that have layered structures. Bi 2 TeI a weak 3D TI, which leads to edge states side facets crystal, as well insulator, responsible top bottom faces. We developed an effective, scalable protocol LPE freestanding nanoflakes from crystals. By heat treatment sonication isopropyl alcohol poly(vinylpyrrolidone), sheets with thickness ~50 nm were obtained can therefore be considered further processing toward microelectronic applications.