title: Elastic properties of van der Waals epitaxy grown bismuth telluride 2D nanosheets.
abstract: Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets prepared by van der Waals epitaxy were successfully detached, transferred, and suspended for nano-indentation measurements to be performed on freestanding circular nanosheets. The Young's modulus acquired by fitting linear elastic behaviors of 26 samples (thickness: 5-14 nm) is only 11.7-25.7 GPa, significantly smaller than the bulk in-plane Young's modulus (50-55 GPa). Compliant and robust Bi2Te3 2D nanosheets suggest the feasibility of the elastic strain engineering of topological surface states.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. htwang@eng.ua.edu.
authors.forename: Lingling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Haoming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Quentarius
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buettner
authors.forename: Jinhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Paulo T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.forename: Hung-Ta
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Wang