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Fast growth of large single-crystalline WS2 monolayers via chemical vapor deposition

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) tungsten disulfide (WS2) has emerged as a promising ultrathin semiconductor for building high-performance nanoelectronic devices. The controllable synthesis of WS2 monolayers (1L) with both large size and high quality remains as a challenge. Here, we developed a new approach for the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of WS2 monolayers by using K2WS4 as the growth precursor. The simple chemistry involved in our approach allowed for improved controllability and a fast growth rate of ~ 30 μm·min−1. We achieved the reliable growth of 1L WS2 flakes with side lengths of up to ~ 500 μm and the obtained WS2 flakes were 2D single crystals with low density of defects over a large area as evidenced by various spectroscopic and microscopic characterizations. In addition, the large 1L WS2 single crystals we obtained showed higher electrical performance than their counterparts grown with previous approaches, demonstrating the potential of our approach in producing high quality and large 2D semiconductors for future nanoelectronics.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21875127 and 21925504) and Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Shengxue Zhou, Lina Liu, Xiaofan Ping, Dake Hu & Liying Jiao

  2. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ningxia Normal University, Guyuan, 756000, China

    Shengxue Zhou

  3. Sinopec Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, Beijing, 100013, China

    Shuang Cui

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  1. Shengxue Zhou
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  2. Lina Liu
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  3. Shuang Cui
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Correspondence to Liying Jiao.

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Zhou, S., Liu, L., Cui, S. et al. Fast growth of large single-crystalline WS2 monolayers via chemical vapor deposition. Nano Res. 14, 1659–1662 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2859-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2859-9

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