Exciton-dominant electroluminescence from a diode of monolayer MoS2

In two-dimensional monolayer MoS2, excitons dominate the absorption and emission properties. However, the low electroluminescent efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio limit our understanding of the excitonic behavior of electroluminescence. Here, we study the microscopic origin of the electroluminescence from a diode of monolayer MoS2 fabricated on a heavily p-type doped silicon substrate. Direct and bound-exciton related recombination processes are identified from the electroluminescence. At a high electron-hole pair injection rate, Auger recombination of the exciton-exciton annihilation of the bound exciton emission is observed at room temperature. Moreover, the efficient electrical injection demonstrated here allows for the observation of a higher energy exciton peak of 2.255 eV in the monolayer MoS2 diode, attributed to the excited exciton state of a direct-exciton transition. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.