Environmental stability of 2D anisotropic tellurium containing nanomaterials: anisotropic to isotropic transition

O molecules forms Te-O bonds at the outermost layers of GaTe which leads to newly emerging Raman peaks, a much reduced Schottky junction current density, and an anisotropic to isotropic structural transition. These findings offer fresh interpretation of the aging mechanisms for these material systems, provide new interpretation of the Raman spectrum of aged GaTe which was previously presumed to be of the hexagonal phase, and introduce an anisotropic to isotropic transformation effect induced by molecular interactions on the surface.