One-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides lateral heterostructures

Heterostructure is a well-established technique to utilize different constituting materials to accomplish novel properties like efficient light-emitting and high-quality electron tunneling. Recent experiments have successfully synthesized one-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures and discovered plenty of superior properties benefiting from the dimension reduction. Inspired by the success of the van der Waals counterpart, we propose the one-dimensional lateral heterostructure based on the transition metal dichalcogenides nanotube. Molecular simulations show that the misfit strain is restricted to the radial direction due to the one-dimensional tubular confined structure, and the regular exponential distribution for the radial misfit strain can be well interpreted by a mechanics model. Besides the normal exponential distribution, there also exists an abnormal strain distribution within a narrow domain nearby the interface, in which the structure of larger lattice constant is stretched instead of compressed by the misfit strain. The abnormal misfit strain is owing to the interplay between several bending interactions and the stretching interaction. Possible experiments for this new type of heterostructure are discussed based on current experimental techniques.