The Effect of the Pre-Strain Process on the Strain Engineering of Two-Dimensional Materials and Their van der Waals Heterostructures

Two-dimensional (2D) materials and their van der Waals stacked heterostructures (vdWH) are becoming the rising and glowing candidates in the emerging flexible nanoelectronics and optoelectronic industry. Strain engineering proves to be an efficient way to modulate the band structure of 2D materials and their vdWH, which will broaden understanding and practical applications of the material. Therefore, how to apply desired strain to 2D materials and their vdWH is of great importance to get the intrinsic understanding of 2D materials and their vdWH with strain modulation. Here, systematic and comparative studies of strain engineering on monolayer WSe2 and graphene/WSe2 heterostructure are studied by photoluminescence (PL) measurements under uniaxial tensile strain. It is found that contacts between graphene and WSe2 interface are improved, and the residual strain is relieved through the pre-strain process, which thus results in the comparable shift rate of the neutral exciton (A) and trion (AT) of monolayer WSe2 and graphene/WSe2 heterostructure under the subsequent strain release process. Furthermore, the PL quenching occurred when the strain is restored to the original position also indicates the pre-strain process to 2D materials, and their vdWH is important and necessary for improving the interface contacts and reducing the residual strain. Thus, the intrinsic response of the 2D material and their vdWH under strain can be obtained after the pre-strain treatment. These findings provide a quick, fast and efficient way to apply desired strain and also have important significance in guiding the use of 2D materials and their vdWH in the field of flexible and wearable devices.

[1]  Yuan Liu,et al.  Efficient modulation of MoS2/WSe2 interlayer excitons via uniaxial strain , 2022, Applied Physics Letters.

[2]  Shengxue Yang,et al.  Strain engineering of two‐dimensional materials: Methods, properties, and applications , 2021, InfoMat.

[3]  Rui Zhang,et al.  Tunable electronic properties and Schottky barrier in a graphene/WSe2 heterostructure under out-of-plane strain and an electric field. , 2020, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP.

[4]  Wei‐Qing Huang,et al.  Strain and Electric Field Controllable Schottky Barriers and Contact Types in Graphene-MoTe2 van der Waals Heterostructure , 2020, Nanoscale Research Letters.

[5]  Zhi-bo Liu,et al.  Substrate effect on the photoluminescence of chemical vapor deposition transferred monolayer WSe2 , 2020 .

[6]  Deming Ma,et al.  Effects of doping and biaxial strain on the electronic properties of GaN/graphene/WS2 trilayer vdW heterostructure , 2020, Journal of Materials Science.

[7]  Dongmei Li,et al.  The role of strain induced band modulation of WS2-GeC heterostructure for the hydrogen evolution , 2020, Physica Scripta.

[8]  V. Berry,et al.  Strain engineering in two-dimensional nanomaterials beyond graphene , 2018, Nano Today.

[9]  Kenji Watanabe,et al.  Effect of Distance on Photoluminescence Quenching and Proximity-Induced Spin-Orbit Coupling in Graphene/WSe2 Heterostructures. , 2018, Nano letters.

[10]  M. Rohlfing,et al.  Strain Control of Exciton-Phonon Coupling in Atomically Thin Semiconductors. , 2018, Nano letters.

[11]  A. Wójs,et al.  Probing of free and localized excitons and trions in atomically thin WSe2, WS2, MoSe2 and MoS2 in photoluminescence and reflectivity experiments , 2017, Nanotechnology.

[12]  Lu,et al.  A review on mechanics and mechanical properties of 2D materials—Graphene and beyond , 2016, 1611.01555.

[13]  Lain-Jong Li,et al.  Piezoelectric effect in chemical vapour deposition-grown atomic-monolayer triangular molybdenum disulfide piezotronics , 2015, Nature Communications.

[14]  F. Guinea,et al.  Novel effects of strains in graphene and other two dimensional materials , 2015, 1503.00747.

[15]  Andrew T. S. Wee,et al.  Bandgap tunability at single-layer molybdenum disulphide grain boundaries , 2015, Nature Communications.

[16]  Deji Akinwande,et al.  Two-dimensional flexible nanoelectronics , 2014, Nature Communications.

[17]  Vladimir V. Tsukruk,et al.  Graphene-polymer nanocomposites for structural and functional applications , 2014 .

[18]  Wei Chen,et al.  Role of metal contacts in high-performance phototransistors based on WSe2 monolayers. , 2014, ACS nano.

[19]  Lain-Jong Li,et al.  Monolayer MoSe2 grown by chemical vapor deposition for fast photodetection. , 2014, ACS nano.

[20]  Sefaattin Tongay,et al.  Tuning interlayer coupling in large-area heterostructures with CVD-grown MoS2 and WS2 monolayers. , 2014, Nano letters.

[21]  Rui Huang,et al.  Thermomechanics of monolayer graphene: Rippling, thermal expansion and elasticity , 2014 .

[22]  Lain-Jong Li,et al.  High‐Gain Phototransistors Based on a CVD MoS2 Monolayer , 2013, Advanced materials.

[23]  Jed I. Ziegler,et al.  Bandgap engineering of strained monolayer and bilayer MoS2. , 2013, Nano letters.

[24]  E. Johnston-Halperin,et al.  Progress, challenges, and opportunities in two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. , 2013, ACS nano.

[25]  K. Novoselov,et al.  A roadmap for graphene , 2012, Nature.

[26]  Soon Cheol Hong,et al.  Thickness and strain effects on electronic structures of transition metal dichalcogenides: 2H- M X 2 semiconductors ( M = Mo, W; X = S, Se, Te) , 2012 .

[27]  Andras Kis,et al.  Stretching and breaking of ultrathin MoS2. , 2011, ACS nano.

[28]  K. Müllen,et al.  Graphene as Transparent Electrode Material for Organic Electronics , 2011, Advanced materials.

[29]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Materials and Mechanics for Stretchable Electronics , 2010, Science.

[30]  J. Kysar,et al.  Measurement of the Elastic Properties and Intrinsic Strength of Monolayer Graphene , 2008, Science.

[31]  G. Eda,et al.  Large-area ultrathin films of reduced graphene oxide as a transparent and flexible electronic material. , 2008, Nature nanotechnology.

[32]  F. Schwierz.  Graphene transistors. , 2010, Nature nanotechnology.