Thermally Induced Dehydrogenative Coupling of Organosilanes and H-Terminated Silicon Quantum Dots onto Germanane Surfaces

Covalently bonded organic monolayers play important roles in defining the solution processability, ambient stability, and electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as germanium nanosheets (GeNSs); they also hold promise of providing avenues for the fabrication of future generation electronic and optical devices. Functionalization of GeNSs normally involves surface moieties linked through covalent Ge–C bonds. In the present contribution we extend the scope of surface linkages to include Si–Ge bonding and present the first demonstration of heteronuclear dehydrocoupling of organosilanes to hydride-terminated GeNSs obtained from the deintercalation and exfoliation of CaGe2. We further exploit this new surface reactivity and demonstrate the preparation of directly bonded silicon quantum dot–Ge nanosheet hybrids.