Anomalous Above-Gap Photoexcitations and Optical Signatures of Localized Charge Puddles in Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide

Increased Formation of Trions and Charged Biexcitons by Above-Gap Excitation in Single-layer WSe2

Two-dimensional semiconductors exhibit pronounced many-body effects and intense optical responses due to strong Coulombic interactions. Consequently, subtle differences in photoexcitation conditions can strongly influence how the material dissipates energy during thermalization. Here, using multiple excitation spectroscopies, we show that a distinct thermalization pathway emerges at elevated excitation energies, enhancing the formation of trions and charged biexcitons in single-layer WSe2 by up to 2× and 5× , respectively. Power- and temperature-dependent measurements lend insights into the origin of the enhancement. These observations underscore the complexity of excited state relaxation in monolayer semiconductors, provide insights for the continued development of carrier thermalization models, and highlight the potential to precisely control excitonic yields and probe nonequilibrium dynamics in 2D semiconductors.

Strain-Enhanced Large-Area Monolayer MoS2 Photodetectors

In this study, we show a direct correlation between the applied mechanical strain and an increase in monolayer MoS2 photoresponsivity. This shows that tensile strain can improve the efficiency of monolayer MoS2 photodetectors. The observed high photocurrent and extended response time in our devices are indicative that devices are predominantly governed by photogating mechanisms, which become more prominent with applied tensile strain. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that a nonencapsulated MoS2 monolayer can be used in strain-based devices for many cycles and extensive periods of time, showing endurance under ambient conditions without loss of functionality. Such robustness emphasizes the potential of MoS2 for further functionalization and utilization of different flexible sensors.

Efficient Hydrogen Evolution via 1T-MoS2 /Chlorophyll-a Heterostructure: Way Toward Metal Free Green Catalyst

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is regarded as a sustainable and green way for H₂ generation, which faces a great challenge in designing highly active, stable electrocatalysts to replace the state-of-art noble metal-platinum catalysts. 1T MoS₂ is highly promising in this regard, but the synthesis and stability of this is a particularly pressing task. Here, a phase engineering strategy has been proposed to achieve a stable, high-percentage (88%) 1T MoS₂ /chlorophyll-a hetero-nanostructure, through a photo-induced donation of anti-bonding electrons from chlorophyll-a (CHL-a) highest occupied molecular orbital to 2H MoS₂ lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. The resultant catalyst has abundant binding sites provided by the coordination of magnesium atom in the CHL-a macro-cycle, featuring higher binding strength and low Gibbs-free energy. This metal-free heterostructure exhibits excellent stability via band renormalization of Mo 4d orbital which creates the pseudogap-like structure by lifting the degeneracy of projected density of state with 4S in 1T MoS₂ . It shows extremely low overpotential, toward the acidic HER (68 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^-2 ), very close to the Pt/C catalyst (53 mV). The high electrochemical-surface-area and electrochemical turnover frequency support enhanced active sites along with near zero Gibbs free energy. Such a surface-reconstruction strategy provides a new avenue toward the production of efficient non-noble-metal-catalysts for the HER with the aim of green-hydrogen production.

Light Emission in 2D Silver Phenylchalcogenolates

Silver phenylselenolate (AgSePh, also known as "mithrene") and silver phenyltellurolate (AgTePh, also known as "tethrene") are two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals semiconductors belonging to an emerging class of hybrid organic-inorganic materials called metal-organic chalcogenolates. Despite having the same crystal structure, AgSePh and AgTePh exhibit a strikingly different excitonic behavior. Whereas AgSePh exhibits narrow, fast luminescence with a minimal Stokes shift, AgTePh exhibits comparatively slow luminescence that is significantly broadened and red-shifted from its absorption minimum. Using time-resolved and temperature-dependent absorption and emission microspectroscopy, combined with subgap photoexcitation studies, we show that exciton dynamics in AgTePh films are dominated by an intrinsic self-trapping behavior, whereas dynamics in AgSePh films are dominated by the interaction of band-edge excitons with a finite number of extrinsic defect/trap states. Density functional theory calculations reveal that AgSePh has simple parabolic band edges with a direct gap at Γ, whereas AgTePh has a saddle point at Γ with a horizontal splitting along the Γ-N₁ direction. The correlation between the unique band structure of AgTePh and exciton self-trapping behavior is unclear, prompting further exploration of excitonic phenomena in this emerging class of hybrid 2D semiconductors.

Electron-phonon interaction and ultrafast photoemission from doped monolayer MoS2

We have examined the effect of electron-phonon coupling on photoluminescence and ultrafast response of electron doped monolayer MoS₂, using a combination of density functional theory, time dependent density functional theory, and many-body theory. For small doping (∼1-3%) of interest here, the electron-phonon coupling parameter is modest (∼0.1-0.2) but its effect on the emissive properties and response of the system to femtosecond (fs) laser pulses is striking. We find an ultrafast (fs) relaxation of the electronic subsystem as well as a high fluence of visible light emission induced by electron phonon interaction. Together with high carrier mobility, these features of monolayer MoS₂ may be relevant for optoelectronic technologies.

Dynamics of Two Distinct Exciton Populations in Methyl-Functionalized Germanane

Methyl-substituted germanane is an emerging material that has been proposed for novel applications in optoelectronics, photoelectrocatalysis, and biosensors. It is a two-dimensional semiconductor with a strong above-gap fluorescence associated with water intercalation. Here, we use time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy to understand the mechanism causing this fluorescence. We show that it originates from two distinct exciton populations. Both populations recombine exponentially, accompanied by the thermally activated transfer of exciton population from the shorter- to the longer-lived type. The two exciton populations involve different electronic levels and couple to different phonons. The longer-lived type of exciton migrates within the disordered energy landscape of localized recombination centers. These outcomes shed light on the fundamental optical and electronic properties of functionalized germanane, enabling the groundwork for future applications in optoelectronics, light harvesting, and sensing.

Multidimensional analysis of excitonic spectra of monolayers of tungsten disulphide: toward computer-aided identification of structural and environmental perturbations of 2D materials

Despite 2D materials holding great promise for a broad range of applications, the proliferation of devices and their fulfillment of real-life demands are still far from being realized. Experimentally obtainable samples commonly experience a wide range of perturbations (ripples and wrinkles, point and line defects, grain boundaries, strain field, doping, water intercalation, oxidation, edge reconstructions) significantly deviating the properties from idealistic models. These perturbations, in general, can be entangled or occur in groups with each group forming a complex perturbation making the interpretations of observable physical properties and the disentanglement of simultaneously acting effects a highly non-trivial task even for an experienced researcher. Here we generalise statistical correlation analysis of excitonic spectra of monolayer WS2, acquired by hyperspectral absorption and photoluminescence imaging, to a multidimensional case, and examine multidimensional correlations via unsupervised machine learning algorithms. Using principal component analysis we are able to identify four dominant components that are correlated with tensile strain, disorder induced by adsorption or intercalation of environmental molecules, multi-layer regions and charge doping, respectively. This approach has the potential to determine the local environment of WS2 monolayers or other 2D materials from simple optical measurements, and paves the way toward advanced, machine-aided, characterization of monolayer matter.

Strongly Quantum-Confined Blue-Emitting Excitons in Chemically Configurable Multiquantum Wells

Light matter interactions are greatly enhanced in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors because of strong excitonic effects. Many optoelectronic applications would benefit from creating stacks of atomically thin 2D semiconductors separated by insulating barrier layers, forming multiquantum-well structures. However, most 2D transition metal chalcogenide systems require serial stacking to create van der Waals multilayers. Hybrid metal organic chalcogenolates (MOChas) are self-assembling hybrid materials that combine multiquantum-well properties with scalable chemical synthesis and air stability. In this work, we use spatially resolved linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopies over a range of temperatures to study the strongly excitonic optical properties of mithrene, that is, silver benzeneselenolate, and its synthetic isostructures. We experimentally probe s-type bright excitons and p-type excitonic dark states formed in the quantum confined 2D inorganic monolayers of silver selenide with exciton binding energy up to ∼0.4 eV, matching recent theoretical predictions of the material class. We further show that mithrene's highly efficient blue photoluminescence, ultrafast exciton radiative dynamics, as well as flexible tunability of molecular structure and optical properties demonstrate great potential of MOChas for constructing optoelectronic and quantum excitonic devices.

Spatially Resolved Persistent Photoconductivity in MoS2-WS2 Lateral Heterostructures

The optical and electronic properties of 2D semiconductors are intrinsically linked via the strong interactions between optically excited bound species and free carriers. Here we use near-field scanning microwave microscopy (SMM) to image spatial variations in photoconductivity in MoS₂-WS₂ lateral multijunction heterostructures using photon energy-resolved narrowband illumination. We find that the onset of photoconductivity in individual domains corresponds to the optical absorption onset, confirming that the tightly bound excitons in transition metal dichalcogenides can nonetheless dissociate into free carriers. These photogenerated carriers are most likely n-type and are seen to persist for up to days. Informed by finite element modeling we reveal that they can increase the carrier density by up to 200 times. This persistent photoconductivity appears to be dominated by contributions from the multilayer MoS₂ domains, and we attribute the flake-wide response in part to charge transfer across the heterointerface. Spatial correlation of our SMM imaging with photoluminescence (PL) mapping confirms the strong link between PL peak emission photon energy, PL intensity, and the local accumulated charge. This work reveals the spatially and temporally complex optoelectronic response of these systems and cautions that properties measured during or after illumination may not reflect the true dark state of these materials but rather a metastable charged state.

The ultrafast onset of exciton formation in 2D semiconductors

The equilibrium and non-equilibrium optical properties of single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are determined by strongly bound excitons. Exciton relaxation dynamics in TMDs have been extensively studied by time-domain optical spectroscopies. However, the formation dynamics of excitons following non-resonant photoexcitation of free electron-hole pairs have been challenging to directly probe because of their inherently fast timescales. Here, we use extremely short optical pulses to non-resonantly excite an electron-hole plasma and show the formation of two-dimensional excitons in single-layer MoS₂ on the timescale of 30 fs via the induced changes to photo-absorption. These formation dynamics are significantly faster than in conventional 2D quantum wells and are attributed to the intense Coulombic interactions present in 2D TMDs. A theoretical model of a coherent polarization that dephases and relaxes to an incoherent exciton population reproduces the experimental dynamics on the sub-100-fs timescale and sheds light into the underlying mechanism of how the lowest-energy excitons, which are the most important for optoelectronic applications, form from higher-energy excitations. Importantly, a phonon-mediated exciton cascade from higher energy states to the ground excitonic state is found to be the rate-limiting process. These results set an ultimate timescale of the exciton formation in TMDs and elucidate the exceptionally fast physical mechanism behind this process.

The formation dynamics of excitons in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides are challenging to probe directly because of their inherently fast timescales. Here, the authors use extremely short optical pulses to excite an electron-hole plasma, and show the formation of 2D excitons in MoS₂ on the timescale of 30 fs.

Spin States Protected from Intrinsic Electron-Phonon Coupling Reaching 100 ns Lifetime at Room Temperature in MoSe2

We present time-resolved Kerr rotation measurements, showing spin lifetimes of over 100 ns at room temperature in monolayer MoSe₂. These long lifetimes are accompanied by an intriguing temperature-dependence of the Kerr amplitude, which increases with temperature up to 50 K and then abruptly switches sign. Using ab initio simulations, we explain the latter behavior in terms of the intrinsic electron-phonon coupling and the activation of transitions to secondary valleys. The phonon-assisted scattering of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs prepares a valley spin polarization within the first few ps after laser excitation. The sign of the total valley magnetization, and thus the Kerr amplitude, switches as a function of temperature, as conduction and valence band states exhibit different phonon-mediated intervalley scattering rates. However, the electron-phonon scattering on the ps time scale does not provide an explanation for the long spin lifetimes. Hence, we deduce that the initial spin polarization must be transferred into spin states, which are protected from the intrinsic electron-phonon coupling, and are most likely resident charge carriers, which are not part of the itinerant valence or conduction band states.

Unraveling Spatially Heterogeneous Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics of Single-Layer WSe2 by Femtosecond Time-Resolved Photoemission Electron Microscopy

Studies of the ultrafast carrier dynamics of transition metal dichalcogenides have employed spatially averaged measurements, which obfuscate the rich variety of dynamics that originate from the structural heterogeneity of these materials. Here, we employ femtosecond time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (TR-PEEM) with sub-80 nm spatial resolution to image the ultrafast subpicosecond to picosecond carrier dynamics of monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe₂). The dynamics observed following 2.41 eV pump and 3.61 eV probe occurs on two distinct time scales. The 0.1 ps process is assigned to electron cooling via intervalley scattering, whereas the picosecond dynamics is attributed to exciton-exciton annihilation. The 70 fs decay dynamics observed at negative time delay reflects electronic relaxation from the Γ point. Analysis of the TR-PEEM data furnishes the spatial distributions of the various time constants within a single WSe₂ flake. The spatial heterogeneity of the lifetime maps is consistent with increased disorder along the edges of the flake and the presence of nanoscale charge puddles in the interior. Our results indicate the need to go beyond spatially averaged time-resolved measurements to understand the influence of structural heterogeneities on the elementary carrier dynamics of two-dimensional materials.

Deconvoluting the Photonic and Electronic Response of 2D Materials: The Case of MoS2

Evaluating and tuning the properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials is a major focus of advancing 2D science and technology. While many claim that the photonic properties of a 2D layer provide evidence that the material is “high quality”, this may not be true for electronic performance. In this work, we deconvolute the photonic and electronic response of synthetic monolayer molybdenum disulfide. We demonstrate that enhanced photoluminescence can be robustly engineered via the proper choice of substrate, where growth of MoS₂ on r-plane sapphire can yield >100x enhancement in PL and carrier lifetime due to increased molybdenum-oxygen bonding compared to that of traditionally grown MoS₂ on c-plane sapphire. These dramatic enhancements in optical properties are similar to those of super-acid treated MoS₂, and suggest that the electronic properties of the MoS₂ are also superior. However, a direct comparison of the charge transport properties indicates that the enhanced PL due to increased Mo-O bonding leads to p-type compensation doping, and is accompanied by a 2x degradation in transport properties compared to MoS₂ grown on c-plane sapphire. This work provides a foundation for understanding the link between photonic and electronic performance of 2D semiconducting layers, and demonstrates that they are not always correlated.

Optically Discriminating Carrier-Induced Quasiparticle Band Gap and Exciton Energy Renormalization in Monolayer MoS_{2}

Optoelectronic excitations in monolayer MoS_{2} manifest from a hierarchy of electrically tunable, Coulombic free-carrier and excitonic many-body phenomena. Investigating the fundamental interactions underpinning these phenomena-critical to both many-body physics exploration and device applications-presents challenges, however, due to a complex balance of competing optoelectronic effects and interdependent properties. Here, optical detection of bound- and free-carrier photoexcitations is used to directly quantify carrier-induced changes of the quasiparticle band gap and exciton binding energies. The results explicitly disentangle the competing effects and highlight longstanding theoretical predictions of large carrier-induced band gap and exciton renormalization in two-dimensional semiconductors.