Twin defect derived growth of atomically thin MoS2 dendrites

Jingwei Wang, Xiangbin Cai, Run Shi, Zefei Wu, Weijun Wang Weijun, Gen Long, Yongjian Tang, Nianduo Cai, Wenkai Ouyang, Pai Geng, Bananakere Nanjegowda Chandrashekar, Abbas Amini, Ning Wang, Chun Cheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

99 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Morphology management for tailoring the properties of monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), that is, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), has attracted great interest for promising applications such as in electrocatalysis and optoelectronics. Nevertheless, little progress has been made in engineering the shape of MoS2. Herein, we introduce a modified chemical vapor deposition method to grow monolayer MoS2 dendrites by pretreating substrates with adhesive tapes. The as-grown MoS2 crystals are featured with hexagonal backbones with fractal shapes and tunable degrees. By characterizing the atomic structure, it is found that these morphologies are mainly initiated from the twin defect derived growth and controlled by the S:Mo vapor ratio. Due to the accumulated sulfur vacancies in the cyclic twin regions, strong enhancement of photoluminescence emission is localized, which determines the shape dependency of optical property. This work not only enriches the understanding of the twin defects derived crystal growth mechanism and extends its applications from nanomaterials to two-dimensional crystals, but also offers a robust and controllable protocol for shape-engineered monolayer TMDCs in electrochemical and optoelectronic applications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)635-643
Number of pages9
JournalACS Nano
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • chemical vapor deposition
  • dendritic crystals
  • molybdenum disulfide
  • snowflakes
  • twinning (crystallography)

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