Tailoring ultra-fast charge transfer in MoS2

Abstract

Charge transfer dynamics are of importance in functional materials used in devices ranging from transistors to photovoltaics. The understanding of charge transfer in particular of how fast electrons tunnel away from an excited state and where they end up, is necessary to tailor materials used in devices. We have investigated charge transfer dynamics in different forms of the layered two-dimensional material molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂, in single crystal, nanocrystalline particles and crystallites in a reduced graphene oxide network) using core-hole clock spectroscopy. By recording the electrons in the sulphur KLL Auger electron kinetic energy range we have measured the prevalence of localised and delocalised decays from a state created by core excitation using X-rays. We show that breaking the crystal symmetry of the single crystal into either particles or sheets causes the charge transfer from the excited state to occur faster, even more so when incorporating it in a graphene oxide network. The interface between the MoS₂ and the reduced graphene oxide forms a Schottky barrier which changes the ratio between local and delocalised decays creating two distinct regions in the charge transfer dependent on the energy of the excited electron. Thereby we show that ultra-fast charge transfer in MoS₂ can be tailored, a result which can be used in the design of emergent devices.