Optimization Strategies for High Photoluminescence Quantum Yield of Monolayer Chemical Vapor Deposition Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a promising method to obtain monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with high quality and enough size to meet the requirements of practical photoelectric devices. However, the as-grown monolayers often exhibit a lower PL performance due to the stress between the as-grown TMDCs flakes and the substrate. Therefore, finding a facile method to effectively promote the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) of CVD monolayer TMDCs with a clean surface is highly desirable for practical applications. In this work, based on the CVD monolayers MoS₂ and MoSe₂, the effect of various stress relaxation methods on the TMDCs PL enhancement is systemically studied. By comparing the different kinds of volatile solution treatment processes, as well as the traditional transfer process, it can be found that the volatile solution with a moderate volatilization rate such as ethanol or IPA is a preferred option to improve the PL performance of the CVD monolayer TMDCs, which also surpasses the traditional transfer method by avoiding wrinkles, defects, and contamination to the samples. PL QY of ethanol-treated CVD samples could increase by 6 times on average. Significantly, PL QY of CVD MoSe₂ treated by ethanol can reach ∼16%, which is at the forefront of the previous reports of 2D MoSe₂. Our study demonstrated an optimized method to enhance the PL QY of CVD monolayer TMDCs, which would facilitate TMDCs optoelectronics.