Tantalum disulfide nanobelts: preparation, superconductivity and field emission

A large number of single-crystal line TaS2 nanobelts have been prepared via a two-step method. In this approach, TaS3 nanobelts as precursors were synthesized via chemical vapour transition (CVT), and pyrolysed into TaS2 nanobelts in vacuum. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the TaS2 nanobelts have a rectangular section of similar to 15 x 40 to 80 x 900 nm(2), and length up to several. centimetres. Magnetic measurement indicated that the TaS2 nanobelts have superconductivity at 2.7 K, and the superconducting transition temperature (T-c) is higher than that (T-c = 0.8 K) reported for the bulk 2H-TaS2. The current density in electron field ernission reached about 100 mu A cm(-2) at an applied field of about 27 V mu m(-1) so the nanobelts could be used as electronic field emitters.