Ambient Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of Flat and Vertically Aligned MoS2 Nanosheets

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) got tremendous attention due to its atomically thin body, rich physics, and high carrier mobility. The controlled synthesis of large area and high crystalline monolayer MoS2 nanosheets on diverse substrates remains a challenge for potential practical applications. Synthesizing different structured MoS2 nanosheets with horizontal and vertical orientations with respect to the substrate surface would bring a configurational versatility with benefit for numerous applications, including nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and energy technologies. Among the proposed methods, ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition (AP-CVD) is a promising way for developing large-scale MoS2 nanosheets because of its high flexibility and facile approach. Here, we show an effective way for synthesizing large-scale horizontally and vertically aligned MoS2 on different substrates such as flat SiO2/Si, pre-patterned SiO2 and conductive substrates (TaN) benefit various direct TMDs production. In particular, we show precise control of CVD optimization for yielding high-quality MoS2 layers by changing growth zone configuration and the process steps. We demonstrated that the influence of configuration variability by local changes of the S to MoO3 precursor positions in the growth zones inside the CVD reactor is a key factor that results in differently oriented MoS2 formation. Finally, we show the layer quality and physical properties of as-grown MoS2 by means of different characterizations: Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These experimental findings provide a strong pathway for conformally recasting AP-CVD grown MoS2 in many different configurations (i.e., substrate variability) or motifs (i.e., vertical or planar alignment) with potential for flexible electronics, optoelectronics, memories to energy storage devices.

Automated summary

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has attracted great attention due to its atomically thin body, rich physics, and high carrier mobility. This paper presents a successful synthesis of large-scale horizontally and vertically aligned MoS2 nanosheets on different substrates using ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition (AP-CVD) method. Experimental results demonstrate the potential application of MoS2 in flexible electronics, optoelectronics, and energy storage devices.