High-yield exfoliation of ultrathin two-dimensional ternary chalcogenide nanosheets for highly sensitive and selective fluorescence DNA sensors

Abstract

High-yield preparation of ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets is of great importance for the further exploration of their unique properties and promising applications. Herein, for the first time, the high-yield and scalable production of ultrathin 2D ternary chalcogenide nanosheets, including Ta2NiS5 and Ta2NiSe5, in solution is achieved by exfoliating their layered microflakes. The size of resulting Ta2NiS5 and Ta2NiS5 nanosheets ranges from tens of nanometers to few micrometers. Importantly, the production yield of single-layer Ta2NiS5 nanosheets is very high, ca. 86%. As a proof-of-concept application, the single-layer Ta2NiS5 is used as a novel fluorescence sensing platform for the detection of DNA with excellent selectivity and high sensitivity (with detection limit of 50 pM). These solution-processable, high-yield, large-amount ternary chalcogenide nanosheets may also have potential applications in electrocatalysis, supercapacitors, and electronic devices.