A controllable synthesis of uniform MoS2 monolayers on annealed molybdenum foils

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted significant interest due to their outstanding electrical and optical properties that arise from the quantum size effect. Although a controllable synthesis of 2D-monolayers is a prerequisite for potential applications, the fabrication of large-scale TMDCs monolayers with spatial homogeneity remains a great challenge. In this letter, we report on an efficient method for the large-scale preparation of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) by sulfurizing pre-annealed molybdenum foils. Highly crystalline MoS2 monolayers were obtained by sulfurizing annealed Mo foils for 5 min at 600 degrees C. This preparation method for fabricating MoS2 monolayer allows the nondestructive transference of the MoS2 layers onto arbitrary substrates. It is believed that the results of this study open a new pathway for the synthesis of large-scale MoS2 monolayers. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.