Exciton tuning in monolayer WSe₂<i>via</i>substrate induced electron doping

Abstract

We report large exciton tuning in WSe₂ monolayers <i>via</i> substrate induced non-degenerate doping. We observe a redshift of ∼62 meV for the A exciton together with a 1-2 orders of magnitude photoluminescence (PL) quenching when the monolayer WSe₂ is brought in contact with highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) compared to dielectric substrates such as hBN and SiO₂. As the evidence of doping from HOPG to WSe₂, a drastic increase of the intensity ratio of trions to neutral excitons was observed. Using a systematic PL and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) investigation on WSe₂/HOPG, WSe₂/hBN, and WSe₂/graphene, we conclude that this unique excitonic behavior is induced by electron doping from the substrate. Our results propose a simple yet efficient way for exciton tuning in monolayer WSe₂, which plays a central role in the fundamental understanding and further device development.