Liquid exfoliation of electronic grade ultrathin tin(II) sulfide (SnS) with intriguing optical response

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) tin(II) monosulfide (SnS) with strong structural anisotropy has been proven to be a phosphorene analog. However, difficulty in isolating a very thin layer of SnS poses challenges in practical utilization. Here, we prepare ultrathin SnS via liquid-phase exfoliation. With transmission electron microscopy, we identify the buckled structure of 2D SnS. We employ temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy to elucidate electron–phonon interactions, which reveals a linear phonon shifts. The active Raman modes of ultrathin SnS exhibit higher sensitivity to temperature than other 2D materials. Moreover, we demonstrate strong light-matter interaction in ultrathin SnS using Z-scan and ultrafast spectroscopy. Rich exciton–exciton and coherent exciton–photon interactions arising from many-particle excited effects in ultrathin SnS eventually enhances the nonlinear optical properties. Our findings highlight the prospects for the synthesis of ultrathin anisotropic SnS towards the betterment of thermoelectric and photonic devices.