Pressure-Dependent Light Emission of Charged and Neutral Excitons in Monolayer MoSe2

J Phys Chem Lett. 2017 Aug 3;8(15):3556-3563. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01374. Epub 2017 Jul 19.

Abstract

Tailoring the excitonic properties in two-dimensional monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) through strain engineering is an effective means to explore their potential applications in optoelectronics and nanoelectronics. Here we report pressure-tuned photon emission of trions and excitons in monolayer MoSe2 via a diamond anvil cell (DAC) through photoluminescence measurements and theoretical calculations. Under quasi-hydrostatic compressive strain, our results show neutral (X0) and charged (X-) exciton emission of monolayer MoSe2 can be effectively tuned by alcohol mixture vs inert argon pressure transmitting media (PTM). During this process, X- emission undergoes a continuous blue shift until reaching saturation, while X0 emission turns up splitting. The pressure-dependent charging effect observed in alcohol mixture PTM results in the increase of the X- exciton component and facilitates the pressure-tuned emission of X- excitons. This substantial tunability of X- and X0 excitons in MoSe2 can be extended to other 2D TMDs, which holds potential for developing strained and optical sensing devices.