Halide-Mediated Low-Temperature van der Waals-Templated Synthesis of Single-Crystalline BiSCl Nanowires

BiSCl has been reported as a promising candidate for photoelectric materials in solar cells and photoelectric detectors. Herein, we report a direct low-temperature templated scalable transformation from Bi2S3 to single-crystalline BiSCl. Benefiting from the chain-like lattice and abundant van der Waals gaps, we propose that continuous intercalation and diffusion of BiCl3 facilitate lattice reconstruction and the formation of the BiSCl phase. Ex situ Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission microscopy characterizations indicate that the conversion process is highly controllable and yields high-quality BiSCl nanowire crystals. Notably, the proposed low-temperature synthesis is highly compatible with semiconductor micro/nanofabrication processes. To evaluate its potential, the photoelectric properties of a BiSCl nanowire photoconductive device transformed from a Bi2S3 device were investigated, which output a considerably good performance. These results reveal the advantages of the method to synthesize BiSCl nanostructures and its availability in expanding to other materials systems.