The role of sulfur supersaturation in the growth of single-crystalline MoS2 on stepped sapphire

Release Time:2026-03-23  Hits:

• Date:2026-03-23
• Impact Factor:6.9
• DOI Number:10.1016/j.apsusc.2026.165967
• Title of Paper:The role of sulfur supersaturation in the growth of single-crystalline MoS2 on stepped sapphire
• Journal:APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
• Summary:Step-guided growth has emerged as a scalable pathway for synthesizing non-centrosymmetric 2D TMD single crystals. A key challenge arises when nucleation kinetically prefers the terraces over the step edges, thereby disrupting epitaxial alignment. Although the epitaxial interface is a critical factor, it is ultimately the thermodynamic driving forces that are essential for overcoming the kinetic barrier to step-edge nucleation; however, a fundamental understanding of these forces has been lacking. Herein, we demonstrated that the sulfur supersaturation provides a strong driving force for adatom on terrace planes to diffuse toward step edges, completely suppressing terrace nucleation and achieving near-unity unidirectional alignment in wafer-scale molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). This thermodynamic control enables deterministic morphological evolution from 2D flakes to 1D nanoribbons. The synthesized single-crystalline MoS2 exhibits exceptional uniformity and room-temperature mobility up to 91 cm2/V & sdot;s. This work provides valuable insights into the growth mechanisms underlying CVDgrown MoS2 single crystals on stepped sapphire and solves the persistent challenge of step-edge decoupling during terrace-dominated nucleation, enhancing material quality and reproducibility for TMD single-crystal electronics.
• Co-author:韩晓娜,L. N. Chen,S. D. He,S. J. Duan,Q. Lou
• First Author:程瞾芳
• Correspondence Author:M. G. Xia
• Document Code:001677268200005
• Document Type:J
• Volume:727
• Page Number:165967
• Translation or Not:No
• Date of Publication:2026-01-16
• Included Journals:SCI