Capture the growth kinetics of CVD growth of two-dimensional MoS2
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Understanding the microscopic mechanism is fundamental for function-oriented controlled chemical vapor deposition growth of two-dimensional (2D) materials. In this work, we reveal the growth kinetics of 2D MoS2 by capturing the nucleation seeds, evolving morphology, edge structure, and edge terminations at the atomic scale during chemical vapor deposition growth using the transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The direct growth of few-layer and mono-layer MoS2 onto graphene-based transmission electron microscopy grids helped us to perform the subsequent transmission electron microscopy characterization without any solution-based transfer. Two seeding centers are observed: (i) Mo-oxysulfide (MoO x S2−y ) nanoparticles either in multi-shelled fullerene-like structures or as compact nanocrystals for the growth of fewer-layer MoS2; (ii) Mo-S atomic clusters. In the early stage growth, irregular polygons with two primary edge terminations, S-Mo Klein edges and Mo zigzag edges, appear approximately in equal numbers. The morphology evolves into a near-triangle shape in which Mo zigzag edges predominate. Results from density-functional theory calculations are consistent with the inferred growth kinetics, and thus support the growth mechanism we proposed. In general, the growth mechanisms found here should also be applicable in other 2D materials, such as MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: 2D Materials and Applications · Graphene research and applications · ZnO doping and properties
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (41)
Show source-provided references
1. Wilson, J. & Yoffe, A. The transition metal dichalcogenides discussion and interpretation of the observed optical, electrical and structural properties. Adv. Phys. 18, 193–335 (1969).10.1080/00018736900101307 ↗
2. Kuc, A., Zibouche, N. & Heine, T. Influence of quantum confinement on the electronic sructure of the transition metal sulfide TS2. Phys. Rev. B 83, 245213 (2011).10.1103/PhysRevB.83.245213 ↗
3. Balendhran, S. et al. Two-dimensional molybdenum trioxide and dichalcogenides. Adv. Funct. Mater. 23, 3952–3970 (2013).10.1002/adfm.201300125 ↗
4. Sundaram, R. et al. Electroluminescence in single layer MoS2. Nano Lett. 13, 1416–1421 (2013).10.1021/nl400516a ↗
5. Nørskov, J. K., Bligaard, T., Rossmeisl, J. & Christensen, C. H. Towards the computational design of solid catalysts. Nat. Chem. 1, 37–46 (2009).10.1038/nchem.121 ↗
6. Todorova, T., Prins, R. & Weber, T. A density functional theory study of the hydrogenolysis and elimination reactions of C2H5SH on the catalytically active (100) edge of 2H-MoS2. J. Catal. 246, 109–117 (2007).10.1016/j.jcat.2006.11.023 ↗
7. Xie, J. et al. Defect-rich MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets with additional active edge sites for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Adv. Mater. 25, 5807–5813 (2013).10.1002/adma.201302685 ↗
8. Kalantar-zadeh, K. et al. Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides in biosystems. Adv. Funct. Mater 25, 5086–5099 (2015).10.1002/adfm.201500891 ↗
9. Li, Z. et al. Active light control of the MoS2 monolayer exciton binding energy. ACS Nano 9, 10158–10164 (2015).10.1021/acsnano.5b03764 ↗
10. Kang, Y. et al. Plasmonic hot electron enhanced MoS 2 photocatalysis in hydrogen evolution. Nanoscale 7, 4482–4488 (2015).10.1039/C4NR07303G ↗
11. Li, X. et al. Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils. Science 324, 1312–1314 (2009).10.1126/science.1171245 ↗
12. Reina, A. et al. Few-layer graphene films on arbitrary substrates by chemical vapor deposition. Nano Lett. 9, 30–35 (2008).10.1021/nl801827v ↗
13. Song, L. et al. Large scale growth and characterization of atomic hexagonal boron nitride layers. Nano Lett. 10, 3209–3215 (2010).10.1021/nl1022139 ↗
14. Lee, Y. H. et al. Synthesis of large-area MoS2 atomic layers with chemical vapor deposition. Adv. Mater. 24, 2320–2325 (2012).10.1002/adma.201104798 ↗
15. 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 ↗
16. Bilgin, I. et al. Chemical vapor deposition synthesized atomically thin molybdenum disulfide with optoelectronic-grade crystalline quality. ACS Nano 9, 8822–8832 (2015).10.1021/acsnano.5b02019 ↗
17. Lin, Y. C. et al. Wafer-scale MoS 2 thin layers prepared by MoO3 sulfurization. Nanoscale 4, 6637–6641 (2012).10.1039/c2nr31833d ↗
18. Sadan, M. B., Houben, L., Enyashin, A. N., Seifert, G. R. & Tenne, R. Atom by atom: HRTEM insights into inorganic nanotubes and fullerene-like structures. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 105, 15643–15648 (2008).10.1073/pnas.0805407105 ↗
19. Tenne, R. & Seifert, G. Recent progress in the study of inorganic nanotubes and fullerene-like structures. Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 39, 387–413 (2009).10.1146/annurev-matsci-082908-145429 ↗
20. Wang, S. et al. Shape evolution of monolayer MoS2 crystals grown by chemical vapor deposition. Chem. Mater. 26, 6371–6379 (2014).10.1021/cm5025662 ↗
21. Chen, L. et al. Step-edge-guided nucleation and growth of aligned WSe2 on sapphire via a layer-over-layer growth mode. ACS Nano 9, 8368–8375 (2015).10.1021/acsnano.5b03043 ↗
22. Govind Rajan, A., Warner, J. H., Blankschtein, D. & Strano, M. S. Model for the chemical vapor deposition of 2D transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. ACS Nano 10, 4330–4344 (2016).10.1021/acsnano.5b07916 ↗
23. Ji, Q., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y. & Liu, Z. Chemical vapour deposition of Group-VIB metal dichalcogenide monolayers: Engineered substrates from amorphous to single crystalline. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44, 2587–2602 (2015).10.1039/C4CS00258J ↗
24. Shi, Y., Li, H. & Li, L.-J. Recent advances in controlled synthesis of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides via vapour deposition techniques. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44, 2744–2756 (2015).10.1039/C4CS00256C ↗
25. Cao, D., Shen, T., Liang, P., Chen, X. & Shu, H. Role of chemical potential in flake shape and edge properties of monolayer MoS2. J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 4294–4301 (2015).10.1021/jp5097713 ↗
26. Chen, L. et al. Screw-dislocation-driven growth of two-dimensional few-layer and pyramid-like WSe2 by sulfur-assisted chemical vapor deposition. ACS Nano 8, 11543–11551 (2014).10.1021/nn504775f ↗
27. Yuk, J. M. et al. High-resolution EM of colloidal nanocrystal growth using graphene liquid cells. Science 336, 61–64 (2012).10.1126/science.1217654 ↗
28. Chen, Q. et al. 3D motion of DNA-Au nanoconjugates in graphene liquid cell electron microscopy. Nano Lett. 13, 4556–4561 (2013).10.1021/nl402694n ↗
29. Yuk, J. M., Seo, H. K., Choi, J. W. & Lee, J. Y. Anisotropic lithiation onset in silicon nanoparticle anode revealed by in situ graphene liquid cell electron microscopy. ACS Nano 8, 7478–7485 (2014).10.1021/nn502779n ↗
30. Nair, R. et al. Graphene as a transparent conductive support for studying biological molecules by transmission electron microscopy. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 153102 (2010).10.1063/1.3492845 ↗
31. Cain, J. D., Shi, F., Wu, J. & Dravid, V. P. On the growth mechanism of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers: The role of self-seeding fullerene nuclei. ACS Nano 10, 5440–5445 (2016).10.1021/acsnano.6b01705 ↗
32. Kong, D. et al. Synthesis of MoS2 and MoSe2 films with vertically aligned layers. Nano Lett. 13, 1341–1347 (2013).10.1021/nl400258t ↗
33. Wang, W., Dahl, M. & Yin, Y. Hollow nanocrystals through the nanoscale Kirkendall effect. Chem. Mater. 25, 1179–1189 (2012).10.1021/cm3030928 ↗
34. Zhou, W. et al. Intrinsic structural defects in monolayer molybdenum disulfide. Nano Lett. 13, 2615–2622 (2013).10.1021/nl4007479 ↗
35. Klein, D. J. Graphitic polymer strips with edge states. Chem. Phys. Lett. 217, 261–265 (1994).10.1016/0009-2614(93)E1378-T ↗
36. Burns, R., DeMaria, G., Drowart, J. & Grimley, R. J. Mass spectrometric investigation of the sublimation of molybdenum dioxide. Chem. Phys. 32, 1363–1366 (1960).
37. Dhanaraj, G., Byrappa, K., Prasad, V.& Dudley, M. Springer Handbook of Crystal Growth (Harbin Institute of Technology Press, 2013).
38. Li, B. et al. Solid–vapor reaction growth of transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayers. Angew. Chem. 128, 10814–10819 (2016).10.1002/ange.201604445 ↗
39. Van Der Zande, A. M. et al. Grains and grain boundaries in highly crystalline monolayer molybdenum disulphide. Nat. Mater 12, 554–561 (2013).10.1038/nmat3633 ↗
40. Kang, K. et al. High-mobility three-atom-thick semiconducting films with wafer-scale homogeneity. Nature 520, 656–660 (2015).10.1038/nature14417 ↗
41. Diaz, H. C., Ma, Y., Chaghi, R. & Batzill, M. High density of (pseudo) periodic twin-grain boundaries in molecular beam epitaxy-grown van der Waals heterostructure: MoTe2/MoS2. App. Phys. Lett. 108, 191606 (2016).10.1063/1.4949559 ↗