Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Probing interlayer interactions in WSe2-graphene heterostructures by ultralow-frequency Raman spectroscopy

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Interlayer interactions at the heterointerfaces of van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs), which consist of vertically stacked two-dimensional materials, play important roles in determining their properties. The interlayer interactions are tunable from noncoupling to strong coupling by controlling the twist angle between adjacent layers. However, the influence of stacking sequence and individual component thickness on the properties of vdWHs has rarely been explored. In this work, the influence of the stacking sequence of WSe2 and graphene in vdWHs of graphene-on-WSe2 (graphene/WSe2) or WSe2-on-graphene (WSe2/graphene), as well as their thickness, on their interlayer interaction was systematically investigated by ultralow-frequency (ULF) Raman spectroscopy. A series of ULF breathing modes of WSe2 nanosheets in these vdWHs were observed with frequencies highly dependent on graphene thickness. Interestingly, the ULF breathing modes of WSe2 red-shifted in graphene/WSe2 and WSe2/graphene configurations, and the amount of shift in the former was much larger than that in the latter. In contrast, no obvious ULF shift was observed by varying the twist angle between WSe2 and graphene. This indicates that the interlayer interaction is more sensitive to the stacking sequence compared with the twist angle. The results provide alternative approaches to modulate the interlayer interaction of vdWHs and, thus, tune their optical and optoelectronic properties.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P. Rivera, J. R. Schaibley, A. M. Jones, J. S. Ross, S. F. Wu, G. Aivazian, P. Klement, K. Seyler, G. Clark, N. J. Ghimire, J. Q. Yan, D. G. Mandrus, W. Yao, and X. D. Xu, Observation of long-lived interlayer excitons in monolayer MoSe2-WSe2 heterostructures, Nat. Commun. 6(1), 6242 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. A. Azizi, S. Eichfeld, G. Geschwind, K. Zhang, B. Jiang, D. Mukherjee, L. Hossain, A. F. Piasecki, B. Kabius, J. A. Robinson, and N. Alem, Freestanding van der Waals heterostructures of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, ACS Nano 9(5), 4882 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. M. H. Chiu, M. Y. Li, W. Zhang, W. T. Hsu, W. H. Chang, M. Terrones, H. Terrones, and L. J. Li, Spectroscopic signatures for interlayer coupling in MoS2-WSe2 van der Waals stacking, ACS Nano 8(9), 9649 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. H. Fang, C. Battaglia, C. Carraro, S. Nemsak, B. Ozdol, J. S. Kang, H. A. Bechtel, S. B. Desai, F. Kronast, A. A. Unal, G. Conti, C. Conlon, G. K. Palsson, M. C. Martin, A. M. Minor, C. S. Fadley, E. Yablonovitch, R. Maboudian, and A. Javey, Strong interlayer coupling in van der Waals heterostructures built from single-layer chalcogenides, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111(17), 6198 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. A. Nourbakhsh, A. Zubair, M. S. Dresselhaus, and T. Palacios, Transport properties of a MoS2/WSe2 heterojunction transistor and its potential for application, Nano Lett. 16(2), 1359 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. J. H. Yu, H. R. Lee, S. S. Hong, D. Kong, H. W. Lee, H. Wang, F. Xiong, S. Wang, and Y. Cui, Vertical heterostructure of two-dimensional MoS2 and WSe2 with vertically aligned layers, Nano Lett. 15(2), 1031 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. C. H. Lee, G. H. Lee, A. M. van der Zande, W. Chen, Y. Li, M. Han, X. Cui, G. Arefe, C. Nuckolls, T. F. Heinz, J. Guo, J. Hone, and P. Kim, Atomically thin p-n junctions with van der Waals heterointerfaces, Nat. Nanotechnol. 9(9), 676 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. L. Britnell, R. V. Gorbachev, R. Jalil, B. D. Belle, F. Schedin, A. Mishchenko, T. Georgiou, M. I. Katsnelson, L. Eaves, S. V. Morozov, N. M. Peres, J. Leist, A. K. Geim, K. S. Novoselov, and L. A. Ponomarenko, Fieldeffect tunneling transistor based on vertical graphene heterostructures, Science 335(6071), 947 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. W. J. Yu, Y. Liu, H. Zhou, A. Yin, Z. Li, Y. Huang, and X. Duan, Highly efficient gate-tunable photocurrent generation in vertical heterostructures of layered materials, Nat. Nanotechnol. 8(12), 952 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. H. Xu, J. Wu, Q. Feng, N. Mao, C. Wang, and J. Zhang, High responsivity and gate tunable graphene-MoS2 hybrid phototransistor, Small 10(11), 2300 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. H. Li, J. B. Wu, F. Ran, M. L. Lin, X. L. Liu, Y. Zhao, X. Lu, Q. Xiong, J. Zhang, W. Huang, H. Zhang, and P. H. Tan, Interfacial interactions in van der Waals heterostructures of MoS2 and graphene, ACS Nano 11(11), 11714 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Y. C. Lin, C. Y. Chang, R. K. Ghosh, J. Li, H. Zhu, R. Addou, B. Diaconescu, T. Ohta, X. Peng, N. Lu, M. J. Kim, J. T. Robinson, R. M. Wallace, T. S. Mayer, S. Datta, L. J. Li, and J. A. Robinson, Atomically thin heterostructures based on single-layer tungsten diselenide and graphene, Nano Lett. 14(12), 6936 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Q. Z. Li, L. P. Tang, C. X. Zhang, D. Wang, Q. J. Chen, Y. X. Feng, L. M. Tang, and K. Q. Chen, Seeking the dirac cones in the MoS2/WSe2 van der Waals heterostructure, Appl. Phys. Lett. 111(17), 171602 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. F. Ullah, Y. Sim, C. T. Le, M.J. Seong, J. I. Jang, S. H. Rhim, B. C. Tran Khac, K. H. Chung, K. Park, Y. Lee, K. Kim, H. Y. Jeong, and Y. S. Kim, Growth and simultaneous valleys manipulation of two-dimensional MoSe2-WSe2 lateral heterostructure, ACS Nano 11(9), 8822 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. C. Chakraborty, L. Y. Qiu, K. Konthasinghe, A. Mukherjee, S. Dhara, and N. Vamivakas, 3D Localized Trions in Monolayer WSe2 in a Charge Tunable van der Waals Heterostructure, Nano Lett. 18(5), 2859 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. K. W. Tang, W. H. Qi, Y. J. Li, and T. R. Wang, Electronic properties of van der Waals heterostructure of black phosphorus and MoS2, J. Phys. Chem. C 122(12), 7027 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. J. G. Roch, N. Leisgang, G. Froehlicher, P. Makk, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, C. Schonenberger, and R. J. Warburton, Quantum-confined stark effect in a MoS2 monolayer van der Waals heterostructure, Nano Lett. 18(2), 1070 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. M. Okada, A. Kutana, Y. Kureishi, Y. Kobayashi, Y. Saito, T. Saito, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, S. Gupta, Y. Miyata, B. I. Yakobson, H. Shinohara, and R. Kitaura, Direct and indirect interlayer excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure of hBN/WS2/MoS2/hBN, ACS Nano 12(3), 2498 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. X. R. Hu, J. M. Zheng, and Z. Y. Ren, Strong interlayer coupling in phosphorene/graphene van der Waals heterostructure: A first-principles investigation, Front. Phys. 13(2), 137302 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. A. T. Hanbicki, H. J. Chuang, M. R. Rosenberger, C. S. Hellberg, S. V. Sivaram, K. M. McCreary, I. I. Mazin, and B. T. Jonker, Double indirect interlayer exciton in a MoSe2/WSe2 van der Waals heterostructure, ACS Nano 12(5), 4719 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. T. Deilmann and K. S. Thygesen, Interlayer trions in the MoS2/WS2 van der Waals heterostructure, Nano Lett. 18(2), 1460 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. H. Yuan and Z. Li, Interfacial properties of black phosphorus/transition metal carbide van der Waals heterostructures, Front. Phys. 13(3), 138103 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Z. Z. Yan, Z. H. Jiang, J. P. Lu, and Z. H. Ni, Interfacial charge transfer in WS2 monolayer/CsPbBr3 microplate heterostructure, Front. Phys. 13(4), 138115 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. T. C. Song, X. H. Cai, M. W. Y. Tu, X. O. Zhang, B. V. Huang, N. P. Wilson, K. L. Seyler, L. Zhu, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, M. A. McGuire, D. H. Cobden, D. Xiao, W. Yao, and X. D. Xu, Giant tunneling magnetoresistance in spin-filter van der Waals heterostructures, Science 360(6394), 1214 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. R. Cheng, F. Wang, L. Yin, Z. Wang, Y. Wen, T. A. Shifa, and J. He, High-performance, multifunctional devices based on asymmetric van der Waals heterostructures, Nat. Electron. 1(6), 356 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  26. X. W. Zhang, D. W. He, J. Q. He, S. Q. Zhao, S. C. Hao, Y. S. Wang, and L. X. Yi, Ultrafast interlayer photocarrier transfer in graphene-MoSe2 van der Waals heterostructure, Chin. Phys. B 26(9), 097202(2017)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Y. Chen, Z. X. Fan, Z. C. Zhang, W. X. Niu, C. L. Li, N. L. Yang, B. Chen, and H. Zhang, Two-dimensional metal nanomaterials: Synthesis, properties, and applications, Chem. Rev. 118(13), 6409 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  28. H. Li, L. Ye, and J. B. Xu, High-performance broadband floating-base bipolar phototransistor based on WSe2/BP/MoS2 heterostructure, ACS Photon. 4(4), 823 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Z. Q. Li, C. Cheng, N. N. Dong, C. Romero, Q. M. Lu, J. Wang, J. R. V. de Aldana, Y. Tan, and F. Chen, Q-switching of waveguide lasers based on graphene/WS2 van der Waals heterostructure, Photon. Res. 5(5), 406 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Y. Liu, B. N. Shivananju, Y. S. Wang, Y. P. Zhang, W. Z. Yu, S. Xiao, T. Sun, W. L. Ma, H. R. Mu, S. H. Lin, H. Zhang, Y. R. Lu, C. W. Qiu, S. J. Li, and Q. L. Bao, Highly efficient and air-stable infrared photodetector based on 2D layered graphene-black phosphorus heterostructure, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9(41), 36137 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. M. Will, M. Hamer, M. Muller, A. Noury, P. Weber, A. Bachtold, R. V. Gorbachev, C. Stampfer, and J. Guttinger, High quality factor graphene-based twodimensional heterostructure mechanical resonator, Nano Lett. 17(10), 5950 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. X. Yan, C. S. Liu, C. Li, W. Z. Bao, S. J. Ding, D. W. Zhang, and P. Zhou, Tunable SnSe2/WSe2 heterostructure tunneling field effect transistor, Small 13(34), 1701478 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. L. Ye, P. Wang, W. J. Luo, F. Gong, L. Liao, T. D. Liu, L. Tong, J. F. Zang, J. B. Xu, and W. D. Hu, Highly polarization sensitive infrared photodetector based on black phosphorus-on-WSe2 photogate vertical heterostructure, Nano Energy 37(37), 53 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. W. Z. Yu, S. J. Li, Y. P. Zhang, W. L. Ma, T. Sun, J. Yuan, K. Fu, and Q. L. Bao, Near-infrared photodetectors based on MoTe2/graphene heterostructure with high responsivity and flexibility, Small 13(24), 1700268 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. K. Zhang, X. Fang, Y. L. Wang, Y. Wan, Q. J. Song, W. H. Zhai, Y. P. Li, G. Z. Ran, Y. Ye, and L. Dai, Ultrasensitive near-infrared photodetectors based on a graphene-MoTe2-graphene vertical van der Waals heterostructure, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9(6), 5392 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Y. Chen, X. D. Wang, G. J. Wu, Z. Wang, H. H. Fang, T. Lin, S. Sun, H. Shen, W. D. Hu, J. L. Wang, J. L. Sun, X. J. Meng, and J. H. Chu, High-performance photovoltaic detector based on MoTe2/MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure, Small 14(9), 1703293 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. B. Q. Luan, and R. H. Zhou, Spontaneous transport of single-stranded DNA through graphene-MoS2 heterostructure nanopores, ACS Nano 12(4), 3886 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. H. Xu, X. Y. Han, X. Dai, W. Liu, J. Wu, J. T. Zhu, D. Y. Kim, G. F. Zou, K. A. Sablon, A. Sergeev, Z. Guo, and H. Liu, SK. A. ablon, A. Sergeev, Z. X. Guo and H. Y. Liu, High detectivity and transparent fewlayer MoS2/glassy-graphene heterostructure photodetectors, Adv. Mater. 30(13), 1706561 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Y. Tan, X. B. Liu, Z. L. He, Y. R. Liu, M. W. Zhao, H. Zhang, and F. Chen, Tuning of interlayer coupling in large-area graphene/WSe2 van der Waals heterostructure via ion irradiation: Optical evidences and photonic applications, ACS Photon. 4(6), 1531 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. X. Huang, Ch. L. Tan, Z. Y. Yin, and H. Zhang, Hybrid nanostructures based on two-dimensional nanomaterials, Adv. Mater. 26(14), 2185 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. J. Kim, V. Park, H. Jang, N. Koirala, J. B. Lee, U. J. Kim, H. S. Lee, Y. G. Roh, H. Lee, S. Sim, S. Cha, C. In, J. Park, J. Lee, M. Noh, J. Moon, M. Salehi, J. Sung, S. S. Chee, M. H. Ham, M. H. Jo, S. Oh, J. H. Ahn, S. W. Hwang, D. Kim, and H. Choi, Highly sensitive, gatetunable, room-temperature mid-infrared photodetection based on graphene-Bi2Se3 heterostructure, ACS Photon. 4(3), 482 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  42. K. Liu, L. Zhang, T. Cao, C. Jin, D. Qiu, Q. Zhou, A. Zettl, P. Yang, S. G. Louie, and F. Wang, Evolution of interlayer coupling in twisted molybdenum disulfide bilayers, Nat. Commun. 5(1), 4966 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. M. Baranowski, A. Surrente, L. Klopotowski, J. M. Urban, N. Zhang, D. K. Maude, K. Wiwatowski, S. Mackowski, Y. C. Kung, D. Dumcenco, A. Kis, and P. Plochocka, Probing the interlayer exciton physics in a MoS2/MoSe2/MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure, Nano Lett. 17(10), 6360 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. S. Huang, X. Ling, L. Liang, J. Kong, H. Terrones, V. Meunier, and M. S. Dresselhaus, Probing the interlayer coupling of twisted bilayer MoS2 using photoluminescence spectroscopy, Nano Lett. 14(10), 5500 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. W. Yao, E. Wang, C. Bao, Y. Zhang, K. Zhang, K. Bao, C. K. Chan, C. Chen, J. Avila, M. C. Asensio, J. Zhu, and S. Zhou, Quasicrystalline 30◦ twisted bilayer graphene as an incommensurate superlattice with strong interlayer coupling, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(27), 6928 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. H. Zhang, Ultrathin two-dimensional nanomaterials, ACS Nano 9(10), 9451 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. M. S. Choi, G. H. Lee, Y. J. Yu, D. Y. Lee, S. H. Lee, P. Kim, J. Hone, and W. J. Yoo, Controlled charge trapping by molybdenum disulphide and graphene in ultrathin heterostructured memory devices, Nat. Commun. 4(1), 1624 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. K. Kim, S. Larentis, B. Fallahazad, K. Lee, J. Xue, D. C. Dillen, C. M. Corbet, and E. Tutuc, Band alignment in WSe2-graphene heterostructures, ACS Nano 9(4), 4527 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Y. Zhao, X. Luo, H. Li, J. Zhang, P. T. Araujo, C. K. Gan, J. Wu, H. Zhang, S. Y. Quek, M. S. Dresselhaus, and Q. Xiong, Interlayer breathing and shear modes in few-trilayer MoS2 and WSe2, Nano Lett. 13(3), 1007 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. R. He, J. A. Yan, Z. Yin, Z. Ye, G. Ye, J. Cheng, J. Li, and C. H. Lui, Coupling and stacking order of ReS2 atomic layers revealed by ultralow-frequency raman spectroscopy, Nano Lett. 16(2), 1404 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. S. Huang, L. Liang, X. Ling, A. A. Puretzky, D. B. Geohegan, B. G. Sumpter, J. Kong, V. Meunier, and M. S. Dresselhaus, Low-frequency interlayer Raman modes to probe interface of twisted bilayer MoS2, Nano Lett. 16(2), 1435 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. H. Li, J. Wu, X. Huang, Z. Yin, J. Liu, and H. Zhang, A universal, rapid method for clean transfer of nanostructures onto various substrates, ACS Nano 8(7), 6563 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. H. Li, J. Wu, X. Huang, G. Lu, J. Yang, X. Lu, Q. Xiong, and H. Zhang, Rapid and reliable thickness identification of two-dimensional nanosheets using optical microscopy, ACS Nano 7(11), 10344 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. X. L. Li, X. F. Qiao, W. P. Han, Y. Lu, Q. H. Tan, X. L. Liu, and P. H. Tan, Layer number identification of intrinsic and defective multilayered graphenes up to 100 layers by the Raman mode intensity from substrates, Nanoscale 7(17), 8135 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  55. M. Buscema, G. A. Steele, H. S. J. van der Zant, and A. Castellanos-Gomez, The effect of the substrate on the Raman and photoluminescence emission of single-layer MoS2, Nano Res. 7(4), 561 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. S. Wu, X. Shi, Y. Liu, L. Wang, J. Zhang, W. Zhao, P. Wei, W. Huang, X. Huang, and H. Li, The influence of two-dimensional organic adlayer thickness on the ultralow frequency Raman spectra of transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets, Sci. China Mater. (2018), doi: 10.1007/s40843-018-9303-6

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), Nanjing, 211816, China

    Yue Liu  (刘月), Yu Zhou  (周煜), Hao Zhang  (张昊), Feirong Ran  (冉飞荣), Weihao Zhao  (赵炜昊), Lin Wang  (王琳), Chengjie Pei  (裴成杰), Jindong Zhang  (张锦东), Xiao Huang  (黄晓) & Hai Li  (李海)

Authors
  1. Yue Liu  (刘月)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yu Zhou  (周煜)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hao Zhang  (张昊)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Feirong Ran  (冉飞荣)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Weihao Zhao  (赵炜昊)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lin Wang  (王琳)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Chengjie Pei  (裴成杰)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jindong Zhang  (张锦东)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Xiao Huang  (黄晓)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Hai Li  (李海)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiao Huang  (黄晓) or Hai Li  (李海).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhang, H. et al. Probing interlayer interactions in WSe2-graphene heterostructures by ultralow-frequency Raman spectroscopy. Front. Phys. 14, 13607 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-018-0854-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-018-0854-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation