Control of electrically and optically active structural disorder in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Structural disorder affects the electronic structures of 2D TMDs, offering active control of their electrical and optical properties. The control requires knowledge about the correlation between structure and properties, and also techniques for introducing and stabilizing the structural disorder. The recent significant progress shows that the tunability of the structural disorder enables new functionalities of the 2D TMDs. Here we provide an up-to-date review of the current developments.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: 2D Materials and Applications · Graphene research and applications · Organic and Molecular Conductors Research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. Zhang, Y., Tan, Y. W., Stormer, H. L. & Kim, P. Experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect and Berry’s phase in graphene. Nature 438, 201–204 (2005).10.1038/nature04235 ↗
2. Geim, A. K. & Novoselov, K. S. The rise of graphene. Nat. Mater. 6, 183–191 (2007).10.1038/nmat1849 ↗
3. Novoselov, K. S. et al. Electric field in atomically thin carbon films. Science 306, 666–669 (2004).10.1126/science.1102896 ↗
4. Castro Neto, A. H., Guinea, F., Peres, N. M. R., Novoselov, K. S. & Geim, A. K. The electronic properties of graphene. Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 109–162 (2009).10.1103/RevModPhys.81.109 ↗
5. Cao, Y. et al. Unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene superlattices. Nature 556, 43–50 (2018).10.1038/nature26160 ↗
6. Novoselov, K. S., Mishchenko, A., Carvalho, A. & Castro Neto, A. H. 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures. Science 353, aac9439 (2016).10.1126/science.aac9439 ↗
7. Yankowitz, M. et al. Tuning superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene. Science 363, 1059–1064 (2019).10.1126/science.aav1910 ↗
8. Britnell, L. et al. Strong light-matter interactions in heterostructures of atomically thin films. Science 340, 1311–1314 (2013).10.1126/science.1235547 ↗
9. Akamatsu, T. et al. A van der Waals interface that creates in-plane polarization and a spontaneous photovoltaic effect. Science 372, 68–72 (2021).10.1126/science.aaz9146 ↗
10. Barré, E. et al. Optical absorption of interlayer excitons in transition-metal dichalcogenide heterostructures. Science 376, 6591 (2022).10.1126/science.abm8511 ↗
11. Lu, X. et al. Superconductors, orbital magnets and correlated states in magic-angle bilayer graphene. Nature 574, 653–657 (2019).10.1038/s41586-019-1695-0 ↗
12. Fiori, G. et al. Electronics based on two-dimensional materials. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 768–779 (2014).10.1038/nnano.2014.207 ↗
13. Manzeli, S., Ovchinnikov, D., Pasquier, D., Yazyev, O. V. & Kis, A. 2D transition metal dichalcogenides. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 1–15 (2017).10.1038/natrevmats.2017.33 ↗
14. Wang, Q. H., Kalantar-Zadeh, K., Kis, A., Coleman, J. N. & Strano, M. S. Electronics and optoelectronics of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. Nat. Nanotechnol. 7, 699–712 (2012).10.1038/nnano.2012.193 ↗
15. Lee, C. H. et al. Atomically thin p-n junctions with van der Waals heterointerfaces. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 676–681 (2014).10.1038/nnano.2014.150 ↗
16. Radisavljevic, B., Radenovic, A., Brivio, J., Giacometti, V. & Kis, A. Single-layer MoS2 transistors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 6, 147–150 (2011).10.1038/nnano.2010.279 ↗
17. Regan, E. C. et al. Emerging exciton physics in transition metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers. Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 778–795 (2022).10.1038/s41578-022-00440-1 ↗
18. Splendiani, A. et al. Emerging photoluminescence in monolayer MoS2. Nano Lett. 10, 1271–1275 (2010).10.1021/nl903868w ↗
19. Wang, G. et al. Colloquium: Excitons in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides. Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 021001 (2018).10.1103/RevModPhys.90.021001 ↗
20. Mak, K. F. & Shan, J. Photonics and optoelectronics of 2D semiconductor transition metal dichalcogenides. Nat. Photonics 10, 216–226 (2016).10.1038/nphoton.2015.282 ↗
21. Wang, C., You, L., Cobden, D. & Wang, J. Towards two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectrics. Nat. Mater. 22, 542–552 (2023).10.1038/s41563-022-01422-y ↗
22. Novoselov, K. S. et al. Two-dimensional atomic crystals. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 10451–10453 (2005).10.1073/pnas.0502848102 ↗
23. Coleman, J. N. et al. Two-dimensional nanosheets produced by liquid exfoliation of layered materials. Science 331, 568–571 (2011).10.1126/science.1194975 ↗
24. Smith, R. J. et al. Large-scale exfoliation of inorganic layered compounds in aqueous surfactant solutions. Adv. Mater. 23, 3944–3948 (2011).10.1002/adma.201102584 ↗
25. Zhan, Y., Liu, Z., Najmaei, S., Ajayan, P. M. & Lou, J. Large-area vapor-phase growth and characterization of MoS2 atomic layers on a SiO2 substrate. Small 8, 966–971 (2012).10.1002/smll.201102654 ↗
26. Liu, K. K. et al. Growth of large-area and highly crystalline MoS2 thin layers on insulating substrates. Nano Lett. 12, 1538–1544 (2012).10.1021/nl2043612 ↗
27. Kuc, A., Zibouche, N. & Heine, T. Influence of quantum confinement on the electronic structure of the transition metal sulfide TS2. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter Mater. Phys. 83, 245213 (2011).10.1103/PhysRevB.83.245213 ↗
28. Mak, K. F., Lee, C., Hone, J., Shan, J. & Heinz, T. F. Atomically thin MoS2: a new direct-gap semiconductor. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 136805 (2010).10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.136805 ↗
29. Xia, F., Wang, H., Xiao, D., Dubey, M. & Ramasubramaniam, A. Two-dimensional material nanophotonics. Nat. Photonics 8, 899–907 (2014).10.1038/nphoton.2014.271 ↗
30. Rivera, P. et al. Valley-polarized exciton dynamics in a 2D semiconductor heterostructure. Science 351, 688–691 (2016).10.1126/science.aac7820 ↗
31. Yu, H., Wang, Y., Tong, Q., Xu, X. & Yao, W. Anomalous light cones and valley optical selection rules of interlayer excitons in twisted heterobilayers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 187002 (2015).10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.187002 ↗
32. Yin, Z. et al. Single-layer MoS2 phototransistors. ACS Nano 6, 74–80 (2012).10.1021/nn2024557 ↗
33. Li, M. et al. Imperfection-enabled memristive switching in van der Waals materials. Nat. Electron. 6, 491–505 (2023).10.1038/s41928-023-00984-2 ↗
34. Wang, H. et al. Integrated circuits based on bilayer MoS2 transistors. Nano Lett. 12, 4674–4680 (2012).10.1021/nl302015v ↗
35. Geim, A. K. & Grigorieva, I. V. Van der Waals heterostructures. Nature 499, 419–425 (2013).10.1038/nature12385 ↗
36. Liu, Y. et al. Van der Waals heterostructures and devices. Nat. Rev. Mater. 1, 1–17 (2016).10.1038/natrevmats.2016.42 ↗
37. Radisavljevic, B. & Kis, A. Mobility engineering and a metal-insulator transition in monolayer MoS2. Nat. Mater. 12, 815–820 (2013).10.1038/nmat3687 ↗
38. Zhang, Q., Wee, A. T. S., Liang, Q., Zhao, X. & Liu, M. Defect engineering of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides: applications, challenges, and opportunities. ACS Nano 15, 2165–2181 (2021).10.1021/acsnano.0c09666 ↗
39. Zhang, S. et al. Defect structure of localized excitons in a WSe2 monolayer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 046101 (2017).10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.046101 ↗
40. Rhodes, D., Chae, S. H., Ribeiro-Palau, R. & Hone, J. Disorder in van der Waals heterostructures of 2D materials. Nat. Mater. 18, 541–549 (2019).10.1038/s41563-019-0366-8 ↗
41. Zou, X. & Yakobson, B. I. An open canvas—2D materials with defects, disorder, and functionality. Acc. Chem. Res 48, 73–80 (2015).10.1021/ar500302q ↗
42. Luo, R. et al. Probing functional structures, defects, and interfaces of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides by electron microscopy. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34, 2307625 (2024).10.1002/adfm.202307625 ↗
43. Zhou, W. et al. Intrinsic structural defects in monolayer molybdenum disulfide. Nano Lett. 13, 2615–2622 (2013).10.1021/nl4007479 ↗
44. Liu, Z. et al. Identification of active atomic defects in a monolayered tungsten disulphide nanoribbon. Nat. Commun. 2, 1–5 (2011).10.1038/ncomms1224 ↗
45. Gyu Shin, B. et al. Indirect bandgap puddles in monolayer MoS2 by substrate-induced local strain. Adv. Mater. 28, 9378–9384 (2016).10.1002/adma.201602626 ↗
46. Luo, Y. et al. In situ nanoscale imaging of moiré superlattices in twisted van der Waals heterostructures. Nat. Commun. 11, 1–7 (2020).10.1038/s41467-020-18109-0 ↗
47. McGilly, L. J. et al. Visualization of moiré superlattices. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 580–584 (2020).10.1038/s41565-020-0708-3 ↗
48. Weston, A. et al. Atomic reconstruction in twisted bilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 592–597 (2020).10.1038/s41565-020-0682-9 ↗
49. Naik, M. H. & Jain, M. Ultraflatbands and shear solitons in Moiré patterns of twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 266401 (2018).10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.266401 ↗
50. Shabani, S. et al. Deep moiré potentials in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers. Nat. Phys. 17, 720–725 (2021).10.1038/s41567-021-01174-7 ↗
51. Regan, E. C. et al. Mott and generalized Wigner crystal states in WSe2/WS2 moiré superlattices. Nature 579, 359–363 (2020).10.1038/s41586-020-2092-4 ↗
52. Saito, R., Tatsumi, Y., Huang, S., Ling, X. & Dresselhaus, M. S. Raman spectroscopy of transition metal dichalcogenides. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 28, 353002 (2016).10.1088/0953-8984/28/35/353002 ↗
53. Zhang, X. et al. Phonon and Raman scattering of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides from monolayer, multilayer to bulk material. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44, 2757–2785 (2015).10.1039/C4CS00282B ↗
54. Addou, R. & Wallace, R. M. Using photoelectron spectroscopy in the integration of 2D materials for advanced devices. J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 231, 94–103 (2019).10.1016/j.elspec.2018.01.006 ↗
55. Chubarov, M., Choudhury, T. H., Zhang, X. & Redwing, J. M. In-plane x-ray diffraction for characterization of monolayer and few-layer transition metal dichalcogenide films. Nanotechnology 29, 055706 (2018).10.1088/1361-6528/aaa1bd ↗
56. Su, S. et al. Scanning probe microscopies for characterizations of 2D materials. Small Methods 8, 2400211 (2024).10.1002/smtd.202400211 ↗
57. Haider, M. et al. A spherical-aberration-corrected 200 kV transmission electron microscope. Ultramicroscopy 75, 53–60 (1998).10.1016/S0304-3991(98)00048-5 ↗
58. Haider, M. et al. Electron microscopy image enhanced. Nature 392, 768–769 (1998).10.1038/33823 ↗
59. Batson, P. E., Dellby, N. & Krivanek, O. L. Sub-ångstrom resolution using aberration corrected electron optics. Nature 418, 617–620 (2002).10.1038/nature00972 ↗
60. Krivanek, O. L., Dellby, N. & Lupini, A. R. Towards sub-Å electron beams. Ultramicroscopy 78, 1–11 (1999).10.1016/S0304-3991(99)00013-3 ↗
61. Hong, J. et al. Exploring atomic defects in molybdenum disulphide monolayers. Nat. Commun. 6, 1–8 (2015).10.1038/ncomms7293 ↗
62. Lin, Z. et al. Defect engineering of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. 2D Mater. 3, 022002 (2016).10.1088/2053-1583/3/2/022002 ↗
63. Vancsó, P. et al. The intrinsic defect structure of exfoliated MoS2 single layers revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Sci. Rep. 6, 1–7 (2016).10.1038/srep29726 ↗
64. Edelberg, D. et al. Approaching the intrinsic limit in transition metal diselenides via point defect control. Nano Lett. 19, 4371–4379 (2019).10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b00985 ↗
65. Lin, Y. C. et al. Realizing large-scale, electronic-grade two-dimensional semiconductors. ACS Nano 12, 965–975 (2018).10.1021/acsnano.7b07059 ↗
66. Min, J., Kim, J. H. & Kang, J. Chalcogen vacancy engineering of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides for electronic applications. ACS Appl Nano Mater. 7, 26377–26396 (2023).10.1021/acsanm.3c06263 ↗
67. Wang, S., Robertson, A. & Warner, J. H. Atomic structure of defects and dopants in 2D layered transition metal dichalcogenides. Chem. Soc. Rev. 47, 6764–6794 (2018).10.1039/C8CS00236C ↗
68. Schuler, B. et al. Large spin-orbit splitting of deep in-gap defect states of engineered sulfur vacancies in monolayer WS2. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 076801 (2019).10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.076801 ↗
69. McDonnell, S., Addou, R., Buie, C., Wallace, R. M. & Hinkle, C. L. Defect-dominated doping and contact resistance in MoS2. ACS Nano 8, 2880–2888 (2014).10.1021/nn500044q ↗
70. Qiu, H. et al. Hopping transport through defect-induced localized states in molybdenum disulphide. Nat. Commun. 4, 1–6 (2013).10.1038/ncomms3642 ↗
71. Tosun, M. et al. Air-stable n-doping of WSe2 by anion vacancy formation with mild plasma treatment. ACS Nano 10, 6853–6860 (2016).10.1021/acsnano.6b02521 ↗
72. Zhang, X. et al. Single-atom vacancy doping in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. Acc. Mater. Res. 2, 655–668 (2021).10.1021/accountsmr.1c00097 ↗
73. Zhang, Z. et al. Optically active chalcogen vacancies in monolayer semiconductors. Adv. Opt. Mater. 10, 2201350 (2022).10.1002/adom.202201350 ↗
74. Chow, P. K. et al. Defect-induced photoluminescence in monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. ACS Nano 9, 1520–1527 (2015).10.1021/nn5073495 ↗
75. Moody, G. et al. Microsecond valley lifetime of defect-bound excitons in monolayer WSe2. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 057403 (2018).10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.057403 ↗
76. Xu, N. et al. Lattice vacancy induced energy renormalization of photonic quasiparticles in two-dimensional semiconductors. ACS Nano 17, 16904–16911 (2023).10.1021/acsnano.3c03996 ↗
77. He, Y. M. et al. Single quantum emitters in monolayer semiconductors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 497–502 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.75 ↗
78. Chakraborty, C., Kinnischtzke, L., Goodfellow, K. M., Beams, R. & Vamivakas, A. N. Voltage-controlled quantum light from an atomically thin semiconductor. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 507–511 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.79 ↗
79. Koperski, M. et al. Single photon emitters in exfoliated WSe2 structures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 503–506 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.67 ↗
80. Srivastava, A. et al. Optically active quantum dots in monolayer WSe2. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 491–496 (2015).10.1038/nnano.2015.60 ↗
81. Palacios-Berraquero, C. et al. Large-scale quantum-emitter arrays in atomically thin semiconductors. Nat. Commun. 8, 1–6 (2017).10.1038/ncomms15093 ↗
82. Parto, K., Azzam, S. I., Banerjee, K. & Moody, G. Defect and strain engineering of monolayer WSe2 enables site-controlled single-photon emission up to 150K. Nat. Commun. 12, 1–8 (2021).10.1038/s41467-021-23709-5 ↗
83. Klein, J. et al. Site-selectively generated photon emitters in monolayer MoS2 via local helium ion irradiation. Nat. Commun. 10, 1–8 (2019).10.1038/s41467-019-10632-z ↗
84. Singh, A. & Singh, A. K. Atypical behavior of intrinsic defects and promising dopants in two-dimensional WS2. Phys. Rev. Mater. 5, 084001 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.084001 ↗
85. Lin, Y.-C. et al. Controllable thin-film approaches for doping and alloying transition metal dichalcogenides monolayers. Adv. Sci. 8, 2004249 (2021).10.1002/advs.202004249 ↗
86. Li, H. et al. Growth of alloy MoS2xSe2(1-x) nanosheets with fully tunable chemical compositions and optical properties. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 3756–3759 (2014).10.1021/ja500069b ↗
87. Dumcenco, D. O., Kobayashi, H., Liu, Z., Huang, Y. S. & Suenaga, K. Visualization and quantification of transition metal atomic mixing in Mo1-xWxS2 single layers. Nat. Commun. 4, 1–5 (2013).10.1038/ncomms2351 ↗
88. Ma, Q. et al. Postgrowth tuning of the bandgap of single-layer molybdenum disulfide films by sulfur/selenium exchange. ACS Nano 8, 4672–4677 (2014).10.1021/nn5004327 ↗
89. Duan, X. et al. Synthesis of WS2xSe2-2x alloy nanosheets with composition-tunable electronic properties. Nano Lett. 16, 264–269 (2016).10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b03662 ↗
90. Song, J. G. et al. Controllable synthesis of molybdenum tungsten disulfide alloy for vertically composition-controlled multilayer. Nat. Commun. 6, 1–10 (2015).10.1038/ncomms8817 ↗
91. Kang, H. S. et al. Bowing-alleviated continuous bandgap engineering of wafer-scale WS2xSe2(1-x) monolayer alloys and their assembly into hetero-multilayers. NPG Asia Mater. 14, 1–11 (2022).10.1038/s41427-022-00437-w ↗
92. Liu, H., Antwi, K. K. A., Chua, S. & Chi, D. Vapor-phase growth and characterization of Mo1-xWxS2 (0≤x≤1) atomic layers on 2-inch sapphire substrates. Nanoscale 6, 624–629 (2013).10.1039/C3NR04515C ↗
93. Chen, Y. et al. Tunable band gap photoluminescence from atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenide alloys. ACS Nano 7, 4610–4616 (2013).10.1021/nn401420h ↗
94. Feng, Q. et al. Growth of large-area 2D MoS2(1-x)Se2x semiconductor alloys. Adv. Mater. 26, 2648–2653 (2014).10.1002/adma.201306095 ↗
95. Fu, Q. et al. Synthesis and enhanced electrochemical catalytic performance of monolayer WS2(1-x)Se2x with a tunable band gap. Adv. Mater. 27, 4732–4738 (2015).10.1002/adma.201500368 ↗
96. Lin, J. et al. Anisotropic ordering in 1T molybdenum and tungsten ditelluride layers alloyed with sulfur and selenium. ACS Nano 12, 894–901 (2018).10.1021/acsnano.7b08782 ↗
97. Gong, Y. et al. Band gap engineering and layer-by-layer mapping of selenium-doped molybdenum disulfide. Nano Lett. 14, 442–449 (2014).10.1021/nl4032296 ↗
98. Yang, S.-Z. et al. Rhenium-doped and stabilized MoS2 atomic layers with basal-plane catalytic activity. Adv. Mater. 30, 1803477 (2018).10.1002/adma.201803477 ↗
99. Zhang, K. et al. Manganese doping of monolayer MoS2: the substrate is critical. Nano Lett. 15, 6586–6591 (2015).10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02315 ↗
100. Lin, Y.-C. et al. Properties of individual dopant atoms in single-layer MoS2: atomic structure, migration, and enhanced reactivity. Adv. Mater. 26, 2857–2861 (2014).10.1002/adma.201304985 ↗