Piezoelectric Responses of Mechanically Exfoliated Two-Dimensional SnS₂ Nanosheets

The emergence of piezoelectric properties in two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has triggered the intensive research on using low dimensional materials for conversion of mechanical stimuli into electrical signals or vice versa. While the bulk intrinsically presents no piezoelectric property, the origin of the piezoelectric responses in their 2D thin planes is ascribed to the loss of centrosymmetry. There are also other categories of 2D layered materials such as post-transition metal dichalcogenides (PTMDs) that might be of interests, which have been confirmed theoretically and are yet to be fully explored experimentally. In this work, we investigate the thickness-dependent piezoelectric responses of 2D tin disulfide (SnS₂) nanosheets as a representative of layered PTMDs. The results indicate that the 2D SnS₂ nanosheets with a thickness of ∼4 nm present an effective out-of-plane piezoelectric response of 2 ± 0.22 pm/V. Furthermore, the thickness dependence of the piezoelectric behavior at a resonant frequency shows that the piezoelectric coefficient decreases with increasing the thickness of 2D SnS₂ nanosheets. Additionally, in reference to periodically poled lithium niobate piezoelectric crystal, the measured effective lateral piezoelectric coefficients at different voltages range from 0.61 to 1.55 pm/V with the average value at ∼1 pm/V. This study expands candidates for new piezoelectric materials in the 2D domain with comparable vertical and lateral coefficients, potentially opening a broader horizon for integration into sensors, actuators, and micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems.