Lithium-induced reorientation of few-layer MoS2 films

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00669

Published July 25, 2023 | Version v1

Journal article Open

Lithium-induced reorientation of few-layer MoS2 films

1. Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
2. IOM-CNR, Italy
3. Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Centre for advanced materials application (CEMEA), Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
4. Center of Materials and Nanotechnologies (CEMNAT), Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic
5. Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Japan; Device Technology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
6. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
7. IOM-CNR, Italy; Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) few-layer films have gained considerable attention for their possible applications in electronics, optics, and also as a promising material for energy conversion and storage. Intercalating alkali metals, like lithium, offers the opportunity to engineer the electronic properties of MoS₂. However, the influence of lithium on the growth of MoS₂ layers has not been fully explored. Here, we have studied how lithium affects the structural and optical properties of the MoS₂ few-layer films prepared using a new method based on one-zone sulfurization with Li₂S as a source of the lithium. This method enables incorporation of Li into octahedral and tetrahedral sites of the already prepared MoS2 films or during the MoS₂ formation. Our results discover an important effect of lithium promoting the epitaxial growth and horizontal alignment of the films. Moreover, we have observed a vertical-to-horizontal reorientation in vertically aligned MoS₂ films upon lithiation. The measurements show long-term stability and preserved chemical composition of the horizontally aligned Li-doped MoS₂.

Notes

The research leading to this result has been supported by the project CALIPSOplus and NFFA-Europe under Grant Agreement 730872, project APVV-20-0111 and 654360 from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101007417 having benefited from the access provided by IOM-CNR in Trieste (Italy) within the framework of the NFFA-Europe Pilot Transnational Access Activity, proposal ID101. XPS and XANES measurements carried out at the BACH beamline of CNR at Elettra synchrotron facility in Trieste were performed thanks to the mobility project CNR-SAV-20-03. This study was performed during the implementation of the project Building-up Centre for advanced materials application of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, ITMS project code 313021 T081, supported by Research & Innovation Operational Programme funded by the ERDF. This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-19-0365 and APVV-15-0693, and Slovak Grant Agency for Science, VEGA 2/0059/21. Research at IOM-CNR has been partially funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) National Innovation Ecosystem grant ECS00000041 - VITALITY. F.B. acknowledges Università degli Studi di Perugia and MUR, CNR for support within the project Vitality. Parts of this research were carried out at the IBC at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e. V., a member of the Helmholtz Association. I.P., E.M., and F.B. acknowledge funding from EUROFEL project (RoadMap Esfri). M.K. acknowledges funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (LM2023037).

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