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Synthesis of uniform two-dimensional MoS2 films via thermal evaporation

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) holds great potential for various applications such as electronic devices, catalysis, lubrication, anti-corrosion and so on. Thermal evaporation is a versatile thin film deposition technique, however, the conventional thermal evaporation techniques face challenges in producing uniform thin films of MoS2 due to its high melting temperature of 1375 °C. As a result, only thick and rough MoS2 films can be obtained using these methods. To address this issue, we have designed a vacuum thermal evaporation system specifically for large-scale preparation of MoS2 thin films. By using K2MoS4 as the precursor, we achieved reliable deposition of uniform polycrystalline MoS2 thin films with a size of 50 mm × 50 mm and controllable thickness ranging from 0.8 to 2.4 nm. This approach also allows for patterned deposition of MoS2 using shadow masks and sequential deposition of MoS2 and tungsten disulfide (WS2), similar to conventional thermal evaporation techniques. Moreover, we have demonstrated the potential applications of the obtained MoS2 thin films in field effect transistors (FETs), memristors and electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22105114), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2020TQ0163), Tsinghua-Toyota Joint Research Fund and Tsinghua-Jiangyin Innovation Special Fund (No. 2022JYTH01).

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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

    Xue-Wei Lu, Zhewei Li, Chen-Kai Yang, Weijia Mou & Liying Jiao

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  1. Xue-Wei Lu
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  2. Zhewei Li
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Correspondence to Xue-Wei Lu or Liying Jiao.

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Lu, XW., Li, Z., Yang, CK. et al. Synthesis of uniform two-dimensional MoS2 films via thermal evaporation. Nano Res. 17, 3217–3223 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6114-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6114-z

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