Low ligand field strength ion (I⁻) mediated 1D inorganic material MoI₃: Synthesis and application to photo-detectors

A new type of 1D inorganic material, MoI₃, which can be separated into individual 1D chains, was synthesized through a vapor transport reaction between molybdenum and iodine. High-purity and centimeter-scale large MoI₃ crystals were obtained by controlling the growth temperature and the stoichiometric ratio between molybdenum and iodine. Their semiconductor characteristics were confirmed by measuring the electrical conductivity as a function of temperature (conductivity increased with increased temperature across the range −70 to 30 °C). Furthermore, it was confirmed that MoI₃ with a 1.27 eV band gap can be separated to a few nanometer scale through mechanical and chemical exfoliation methods and can be used as a photodetector in the near IR (less than 1000 nm)-to-visible light region. This novel 1D material is expected to play an important role in the development of additional low-dimensional materials and in advanced nano-optoelectronic devices.