Mesoporous Semiconductive Bi2Se3 Films

Bi2Se3 is a semiconductive materialpossessinga bandgap of 0.3 eV, and its unique band structure has paved the wayfor diverse applications. Herein, we demonstrate a robust platformfor synthesizing mesoporous Bi2Se3 films withuniform pore sizes via electrodeposition. Block copolymer micellesact as soft templates in the electrolyte to create a 3D porous nanoarchitecture.By controlling the length of the block copolymer, the pore size isadjusted to 9 and 17 nm precisely. The nonporous Bi2Se3 film exhibits a tunneling current in a vertical directionof 52.0 nA, but upon introducing porosity (9 nm pores), the tunnelingcurrent increases significantly to 684.6 nA, suggesting that the conductivityof Bi2Se3 films is dependent on the pore structureand surface area. The abundant porous architecture exposes a largersurface area of Bi2Se3 to the surrounding airwithin the same volume, thereby augmenting its metallic properties.