Near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield in MoS₂

Matin Amani; Der-Hsien Lien; Daisuke Kiriya; Jun Xiao; Angelica Azcatl; Jiyoung Noh; Surabhi R Madhvapathy; Rafik Addou; Santosh KC; Madan Dubey; Kyeongjae Cho; Robert M Wallace; Si-Chen Lee; Jr-Hau He; Joel W Ager 3rd; Xiang Zhang; Eli Yablonovitch; Ali Javey

doi:10.1126/science.aad2114

Near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield in MoS₂

Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1065-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aad2114.

Authors

Matin Amani¹, Der-Hsien Lien², Daisuke Kiriya¹, Jun Xiao³, Angelica Azcatl⁴, Jiyoung Noh⁴, Surabhi R Madhvapathy¹, Rafik Addou⁴, Santosh KC⁴, Madan Dubey⁵, Kyeongjae Cho⁴, Robert M Wallace⁴, Si-Chen Lee⁶, Jr-Hau He⁷, Joel W Ager 3rd⁸, Xiang Zhang⁹, Eli Yablonovitch¹, Ali Javey¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
² Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China.
³ National Science Foundation Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas, Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.
⁵ Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 20723, USA.
⁶ Department of Electrical Engineering, Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China.
⁷ Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁹ National Science Foundation Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ajavey@eecs.berkeley.edu.

PMID: 26612948
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2114

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides have emerged as a promising material system for optoelectronic applications, but their primary figure of merit, the room-temperature photoluminescence quantum yield (QY), is extremely low. The prototypical 2D material molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is reported to have a maximum QY of 0.6%, which indicates a considerable defect density. Here we report on an air-stable, solution-based chemical treatment by an organic superacid, which uniformly enhances the photoluminescence and minority carrier lifetime of MoS2 monolayers by more than two orders of magnitude. The treatment eliminates defect-mediated nonradiative recombination, thus resulting in a final QY of more than 95%, with a longest-observed lifetime of 10.8 ± 0.6 nanoseconds. Our ability to obtain optoelectronic monolayers with near-perfect properties opens the door for the development of highly efficient light-emitting diodes, lasers, and solar cells based on 2D materials.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.