Phase Segregation Behavior of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Binary Alloys Induced by Dissimilar Substitution

Sandhya Susarla, Vidya Kochat, Alex Kutana, Jordan A. Hachtel, Juan Carlos Idrobo, Robert Vajtai, Boris I. Yakobson, Chandra Sekhar Tiwary, Pulickel M. Ajayan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) alloys form a broad class of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with tunable bandgaps leading to interesting optoelectronic applications. In the bottom-up approach of building these atomically thin materials, atomic doping plays a crucial role. Here we demonstrate a single step CVD (chemical vapor deposition) growth procedure for obtaining binary alloys and heterostructures by tuning atomic composition. We show that a minute doping of tin during the growth phase of the Mo1-xWxS2 alloy system leads to formation of lateral and vertical heterostructure growth. High angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) imaging and density functional theory (DFT) calculations also support the modified stacking and growth mechanism due to the nonisomorphous Sn substitution. Our experiments demonstrate the possibility of growing heterostructures of TMD alloys whose spectral responses can be desirably tuned for various optoelectronic applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7431-7439
Number of pages9
JournalChemistry of Materials
Volume29
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 12 2017

Funding

This work was supported by the MURI ARO program, Grant Number W911NF-11-1-0362, by FAME, one of six centers of STARnet, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program sponsored by MARCO and DARPA and also by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) award BAA-AFOSR-2013-0001. This research used resources provided by the Navy DoD Supercomputing Resource Center. This research was partially supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is sponsored at ORNL by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (J.A.H. and J.C.I.). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy.

FundersFunder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
FAME
MURI AROW911NF-11-1-0362
U.S. Department of Energy
Air Force Office of Scientific ResearchBAA-AFOSR-2013-0001
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Basic Energy Sciences
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation

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