Cypher s

The thickness measurements were conducted on atomic force microscopy (Asylum Research Cypher-S) in the tapping mode. The absorption spectra of QD solutions were measured by using a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer (Agilent Cary-5000). The PL spectra were measured by a fluorescence spectrometer (Edinburgh Instruments FLS920). Transmission electron microscope images were obtained by using Hitachi 7700 operated at 80 keV.

A Lab Ram HR800 from HORIBA spectrometer and an Olympus ×100 objective lens were used for Raman measurements. All the polarized Raman measurements were illuminated with a 514.5 nm wavelength laser of 1.25 mW power under ×100 objective. A linear polarizer (Thorlabs) was used for polarized Raman measurements. The TEM and EDS measurements were performed by JEOL JEM2100F TEM with EX-24063JGT EDS. AFM and PFM measurements were performed using PFM mode by Cypher S from Asylum Research.

Atomic force microscopy measurements were performed on freshly exfoliated highly oriented pyrolitic graphite using Bruker Dimension Icon and Asylum Research Cypher-S atomic force microscopes in tapping mode.

AFM imaging was performed by Asylum Research Cypher S with AC160TS tip. In C-AFM mode, we used ASYELEC-01 tip with Ti/Ir coating and the holder 901.730. The bias was applied from sample to tip with a current limit of ±20 nA and noise of 1.5 pA.

TEM and high-resolution TEM studies were carried out to measure the lattice constant of TiS₃ nanoribbon via using Titan 80-300, FEI microscope. The thickness of samples was measured by AFM (Cypher S, Asylum Research, Oxford Instruments). The width and length of specimens were obtained from scanning electron microscopy (Helios NanoLab 600i, FEI, USA) images. The XPS measurement was performed by Al Kα source that provides monochromatic x-rays at 1486.6 eV. Narrow-scan spectra of concerned regions were recorded to analyze the chemical binding states of corresponding elements. The obtained binding energies were calibrated with the contaminant C_1s peak at 284.6 eV. The narrow-scan spectra were fitted through a Gaussian–Lorentzian product function.

After 15 min incubation the mica surface was dried in N₂ stream. AFM images were collected in noncontact mode with a Cypher S instrument (Asylum Research, Santa Barbara, CA) at 1 Hz line-scanning rate in air, using a silicon cantilever (OMCL AC-160TS, Olympus, Japan) oscillated at its resonance frequency (300–320 Hz). Temperature during the measurements was 29 ± 1°C. AFM amplitude-contrast images are shown in this paper. AFM images were analyzed by using the built-in algorithms of the AFM driver software (IgorPro, WaveMetrics Inc., Lake Oswego, OR). Particle statistics was done by analyzing a 10 × 10 μm height-contrast image with n = 1162 particles. Maximum height values were taken as height of particles; rectangularity was calculated as the ratio of the particle area to the area of a nonrotated inscribing rectangle. The closer a particle is to a rectangle the closer this value is to unity.