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Synthesis of large-scale atomic-layer SnS2 through chemical vapor deposition

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Abstract

Two-dimensional layers of metal dichalcogenides have attracted much attention because of their ultrathin thickness and potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Monolayer SnS2, with a band gap of ~2.6 eV, has an octahedral lattice made of two atomic layers of sulfur and one atomic layer of tin. Till date, there have been limited reports on the growth of large-scale and high quality SnS2 atomic layers and the investigation of their properties as a semiconductor. Here, we report the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of atomic-layer SnS2 with a large crystal size and uniformity. In addition, the number of layers can be changed from a monolayer to few layers and to bulk by changing the growth time. Scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to analyze the atomic structure and demonstrate the 2H stacking poly-type of different layers. The resultant SnS2 crystals is used as a photodetector with external quantum efficiency as high as 150%, suggesting promise for optoelectronic applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Army Research Office MURI (No. W911NF-11-1-0362), the FAME Center, one of six centers of STARnet, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program sponsored by MARCO and DARPA. This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Science, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (WZ), and through a user project conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science & NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 77005, USA

    Gonglan Ye, Sidong Lei, Yongmin He, Bo Li, Zehua Jin, Jun Lou, Robert Vajtai & Pulickel M. Ajayan

  2. Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 77005, USA

    Yongji Gong, Liangliang Dong & Pulickel M. Ajayan

  3. Department of Applied Physics, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 77005, USA

    Xiang Zhang

  4. Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Wu Zhou

  5. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yongji Gong

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  1. Gonglan Ye
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  3. Sidong Lei
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  4. Yongmin He
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  11. Wu Zhou
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  12. Pulickel M. Ajayan
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Correspondence to Yongji Gong or Pulickel M. Ajayan.

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Ye, G., Gong, Y., Lei, S. et al. Synthesis of large-scale atomic-layer SnS2 through chemical vapor deposition. Nano Res. 10, 2386–2394 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1436-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1436-3

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