New synthesis method enhances MoS₂ optoelectronic performance

23/07/2024
Typical SEM images of the PLD-MoS2 films deposited onto Si-substrates at different Td values and an NLP7000. Credit: Advanced Optical Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adom.202302966

An international research team led by Professor My Ali El Khakani of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has made a surprising discovery about the properties of molybdenum disulfide, also known as MoS2. The material is highly sought after in optoelectronics.

The results of this study, carried out in collaboration with Professor Mustapha Jouiad's team at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV), have just been published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, and are featured on the inside cover of May issue.

This work has been accomplished within the framework of Driss Mouloua's thesis research, carried out under the joint supervision of Professors El Khakani and Jouiad at INRS's Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre and UPJV. Dr. Mouloua is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique in France.

"By proposing a new way of growing MoS2 films with a vertically layered structure, we are paving the way for the synthesis of MoS2 that is labeled as '3D,' but has exceptional '2D' behavior. The results of this thesis work could lead to innovative developments in the fields of optoelectronics and renewable energies," said Mouloua, Ph.D., energy and material sciences.

A material with unique properties

Following the worldwide excitement generated by graphene and its applications, MoS2 is emerging as another two-dimensional (2D) material, yet semiconductor, that is attracting a great deal of interest from the scientific community because of its exceptional properties. While it has been used since the 1970s and 1980s as a solid lubricant in the aerospace industry and for high-performance mechanics, MoS2 is making a comeback as a strategic material for optoelectronics.

MoS2 is a material that can strongly absorb light and transform it into electrical charges with high electron mobility, giving it the capacity for rapid signal transmission. This combination of unique properties makes it particularly appealing for the development of optoelectronic applications such as photodetectors, photonic switches, next-generation solar cells, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

However, all these properties depend on the way the monolayers (or atomic "monosheets") of this 2D material, which can be pictured as "puff pastry" structure, are arranged in the films. Over time, scientists have developed manufacturing strategies to obtain 2 to 5 horizontally layered monolayers, in order to take advantage of MoS2's exceptional optoelectronic properties.

Source: https://tinyurl.com/c68eszrm via Phys.Org