Transfer and Substrate Effects on 2D Materials for Their Sensing and Energy Applications in Civil Engineering

Abstract

AbstractThe recent emergence of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) of the family (Mo, W)(S, Se)2 has attracted interest from a broad range of engineering applications, including advanced sensing and energy harvesting and conservation, because of their distinctive properties. However, it is critical important to achieve intact delamination and transfer of these atomically thin materials, as well as to understand the effects of the target substrates on their optical and electronic properties. Therefore, we developed and compared techniques for transferring as-grown WS2 crystals to arbitrary substrates. Polystyrene-assisted wet transfer can realize improved preservation of monolayer WS2 crystals than the commonly used poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-assisted wet transfer method, due to minimal chemical etching involved in the 2D material delamination process. The intercalation of alkali ions in the PMMA-based transfer method induces chemical doping over the transferred 2D crystals, leading to the formation of trions. Moreover, the edges of the crystals on hydrophilic substrates, such as sapphire or SiO2/Si, are subject to ambient water intercalation, which locally affects the photoluminescence behavior of the monolayer WS2 by doping and changing of the dielectric environment. This non-uniform optical behavior is absent when the crystal is transferred onto a hydrophobic substrate through which ambient water cannot penetrate. These results have important implications for the choice of target substrate and transfer method adopted for 2D TMD-based applications such as next-generation strain sensing, photodetectors, gas sensing, bio sensing, solar energy harvesting and radiative cooling in which uniform behavior of the channel material is required.