Mechanically-induced reverse phase transformation of MoS2 from stable 2H to metastable 1T and its memristive behavior

Abstract

The 1T phase of MoS₂ is attracting much attention due to its metallic property and potential applications for supercapacitors, photothermal agents, and memristors. However, because the 1T phase is metastable, it can easily be transferred to the stable 2H phase by heating. In this work, it is the first time we observe the mechanically-induced reverse phase transformation (from stable 2H to metastable 1T) for MoS₂ by HAADF-STEM images. Furthermore, XPS revealed that the content of the 1T phase increased with increasing mechanical ball-milling time. Furthermore, the mechanically generated 1T MoS₂ exhibited memristive behavior.