DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Role of chalcogen vacancies and hydrogen in the optical and electrical properties of bulk transition-metal dichalcogenides

Journal Article · · 2D Materials

Abstract Like in any other semiconductor, point defects in transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are expected to strongly impact their electronic and optical properties. However, identifying defects in these layered two-dimensional materials has been quite challenging with controversial conclusions despite the extensive literature in the past decade. Using first-principles calculations, we revisit the role of chalcogen vacancies and hydrogen impurity in bulk TMDs, reporting formation energies and thermodynamic and optical transition levels. We show that the S vacancy can explain recently observed cathodoluminescence spectra of MoS 2 flakes and predict similar optical levels in the other TMDs. In the case of the H impurity, we find it more stable sitting on an interstitial site in the Mo plane, acting as a shallow donor, and possibly explaining the often observed n-type conductivity in some TMDs. We also predict the frequencies of the local vibration modes for the H impurity, aiding its identification through Raman or infrared spectroscopy.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
2361179
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2376989
Journal Information:
2D Materials, Journal Name: 2D Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 11; ISSN 2053-1583
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

References (72)

Novel near-infrared emission from crystal defects in MoS2 multilayer flakes journal October 2016
Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulation of the liquid-metal–amorphous-semiconductor transition in germanium journal May 1994
Stretching and Breaking of Ultrathin MoS 2 journal November 2011
Elastic Properties of Freely Suspended MoS 2 Nanosheets journal January 2012
Extraordinary Sunlight Absorption and One Nanometer Thick Photovoltaics Using Two-Dimensional Monolayer Materials journal July 2013
The thermal expansion of 2 H -MoS 2 and 2 H -WSe 2 between 10 and 320 K journal June 1979
Environmental Changes in MoTe 2 Excitonic Dynamics by Defects-Activated Molecular Interaction journal April 2015
Strong Photoluminescence Enhancement of MoS 2 through Defect Engineering and Oxygen Bonding journal May 2014
First-principles characterization of native-defect-related optical transitions in ZnO journal July 2017
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
Coupled Spin and Valley Physics in Monolayers of MoS 2 and Other Group-VI Dichalcogenides journal May 2012
Vertical field-effect transistor based on graphene–WS2 heterostructures for flexible and transparent electronics journal December 2012
Inhomogeneous Electron Gas journal November 1964
A climbing image nudged elastic band method for finding saddle points and minimum energy paths journal December 2000
Hydrogen intercalation in MoS 2 journal August 2016
Tightly bound trions in monolayer MoS2 journal December 2012
Self-Consistent Potential Correction for Charged Periodic Systems journal February 2021
Atomically Thin MoS2 A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor journal September 2010
The deep-acceptor nature of the chalcogen vacancies in 2D transition-metal dichalcogenides journal January 2024
Surface transport and band gap structure of exfoliated 2H-MoTe 2 crystals journal August 2014
Sulfur vacancy-induced reversible doping of transition metal disulfides via hydrazine treatment journal January 2017
Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides under Electron Irradiation: Defect Production and Doping journal July 2012
Novel hydrogen storage properties of MoS2 nanotubes journal August 2003
The crystal structure of MoSe2 journal November 1963
Self-Consistent Equations Including Exchange and Correlation Effects journal November 1965
Native defects in bulk and monolayer MoS 2 from first principles journal March 2015
Electrochemical Hydrogen Storage in MoS 2 Nanotubes journal November 2001
Ab initiomolecular dynamics for liquid metals journal January 1993
Carbon impurities and the yellow luminescence in GaN journal October 2010
Hopping transport through defect-induced localized states in molybdenum disulphide journal October 2013
A consistent and accurate ab initio parametrization of density functional dispersion correction (DFT-D) for the 94 elements H-Pu journal April 2010
Synthesis and Defect Investigation of Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Disulfide Atomic Layers journal December 2014
Electrical Characterization of Discrete Defects and Impact of Defect Density on Photoluminescence in Monolayer WS 2 journal January 2018
Intrinsic Structural Defects in Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide journal May 2013
Photovoltaic effect and optical absorption in MoS2 journal January 1982
Defects and Surface Structural Stability of MoTe 2 Under Vacuum Annealing journal September 2017
In-situ formation and evolution of atomic defects in monolayer WSe 2 under electron irradiation journal September 2020
Towards the evaluation of defects in MoS 2 using cryogenic photoluminescence spectroscopy journal January 2020
Stability of charged sulfur vacancies in 2D and bulk MoS2 from plane-wave density functional theory with electrostatic corrections journal June 2020
Van der Waals heterostructures journal July 2013
Ultrasensitive photodetectors based on monolayer MoS2 journal June 2013
Hydrogen intercalates of low-dimensional dichalcogenides of transition metals journal February 1997
High-Detectivity Multilayer MoS 2 Phototransistors with Spectral Response from Ultraviolet to Infrared journal August 2012
Photoluminescence Enhancement and Structure Repairing of Monolayer MoSe 2 by Hydrohalic Acid Treatment journal December 2015
Nanoscale Positioning of Single-Photon Emitters in Atomically Thin WSe 2 journal June 2016
Single-layer MoS2 transistors journal January 2011
Experimental and theoretical studies of native deep-level defects in transition metal dichalcogenides journal October 2022
Atomic Scale Microstructure and Properties of Se-Deficient Two-Dimensional MoSe 2 journal February 2015
Robust n-type doping of WSe2 enabled by controllable proton irradiation journal August 2022
Nonrad: Computing nonradiative capture coefficients from first principles journal October 2021
Precisely controllable n-type doping in MoTe2 field effect transistors by hydrazine treatment journal October 2018
Self-trapped hole and impurity-related broad luminescence in β -Ga 2 O 3 journal February 2020
Detailed photocurrent spectroscopy of the semiconducting group VIB transition metal dichalcogenides journal February 1982
Origin of n -type conductivity of monolayer MoS 2 journal March 2019
Nature and evolution of the band-edge states in MoS 2 : From monolayer to bulk journal November 2014
Defect Activated Photoluminescence in WSe 2 Monolayer journal May 2017
Single photon emitters in exfoliated WSe2 structures journal May 2015
Strongly Constrained and Appropriately Normed Semilocal Density Functional journal July 2015
From two-dimensional materials to their heterostructures: An electrochemist's perspective journal September 2017
Identifying substitutional oxygen as a prolific point defect in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides journal July 2019
Air-Stable n-Doping of WSe 2 by Anion Vacancy Formation with Mild Plasma Treatment journal June 2016
Flexible and Transparent MoS 2 Field-Effect Transistors on Hexagonal Boron Nitride-Graphene Heterostructures journal August 2013
An Open Canvas—2D Materials with Defects, Disorder, and Functionality journal December 2014
Tunable Control of Interlayer Excitons in WS 2 /MoS 2 Heterostructures via Strong Coupling with Enhanced Mie Resonances journal April 2019
Line and Point Defects in MoSe 2 Bilayer Studied by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy journal May 2015
Franck Condon shift assessment in 2D MoS 2 journal February 2018
Ab initio study of bilateral doping within the MoS 2 -NbS 2 system journal October 2008
Sensing Behavior of Atomically Thin-Layered MoS 2 Transistors journal May 2013
Heterogeneous Defect Domains in Single-Crystalline Hexagonal WS 2 journal February 2017
n‐Type Doping Effect of CVD‐Grown Multilayer MoSe 2 Thin Film Transistors by Two‐Step Functionalization journal September 2018
Heterostructures based on two-dimensional layered materials and their potential applications journal July 2016
Origin of layer-dependent electrical conductivity of transition metal dichalcogenides journal April 2022