N. V. Hoang*ab and
Tr. Q. Trieuc
aAtomic Molecular and Optical Physics Research Group, Institute for Advanced Study in Technology, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. E-mail: hoangvanngoc@tdtu.edu.vn
bFaculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
cNam Dinh Teacher Training's College, Nam Dinh City, Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam
First published on 14th July 2025
The structural, electronic, magnetic, optical, and thermo-mechanical properties of Mn-doped WSe2 (WSe2Mn) monolayers and their CO-, H2S-, and NH3-adsorbed counterparts were systematically investigated using density functional theory and machine learning techniques. All systems exhibited spin-resolved semimetallic behavior, characterized by metallic spin-up and semiconducting spin-down channels. Magnetic ordering was maintained upon gas adsorption, with a slight enhancement in magnetic moment observed for the H2S-adsorbed configuration. Thermo-mechanical analysis revealed that gas adsorption increases the bulk modulus and heat capacities while preserving the shear modulus, suggesting enhanced compressive stiffness without compromising shear resistance. The thermal expansion coefficient and Debye temperature showed gas-dependent variations, particularly under NH3 exposure, indicating strong vibrational coupling. Optical calculations demonstrated strong absorption in the ultraviolet and partial visible range. These findings underscore the potential of WSe2Mn monolayers for multifunctional applications in nanoelectronics, gas sensing, and thermally responsive devices.
The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of WSe2 monolayers on silica substrates was systematically investigated by Bilu Liu et al.,24 who demonstrated that the electrical behavior of WSe2 (p-type or bipolar) strongly depends on the choice of metal contacts. In a separate work, Yang Gao et al. reported the rapid CVD growth of high-quality WSe2 monolayers on Au substrates.25 These monolayers exhibited excellent crystallinity and electrical performance, comparable to mechanically exfoliated samples. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations attributed this to the exothermic diffusion and low energy barriers for W and Se atom incorporation on Au surfaces.
Efforts to tailor the properties of WSe2 through chemical doping have also been widely reported.26–28 Eleonora Pavoni et al. studied vanadium (V) doping at various concentrations (1.4–11.2%) and found that V incorporation reduced the bandgap and significantly altered the electronic and optical properties, including shifts in absorption spectra relevant to optoelectronic applications.29 Another study explored the effects of Mn, Fe, and V doping, identifying Mn and Fe as n-type and V as p-type dopants. The formation of impurity clusters was shown to weaken magnetic exchange interactions, leading to more dynamic magnetic behavior and underscoring the importance of controlling dopant distribution.30
Additionally, Antonia Kagkoura et al. investigated Co- and Ni-doped WSe2 for electrocatalytic applications in sustainable energy technologies.31 Both doped systems exhibited efficient catalytic activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with overpotentials of 370 mV (Co) and 400 mV (Ni) at 10 mA cm−2, and toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), with potentials of −0.22 V (Co) and −0.20 V (Ni) at −10 mA cm−2. The catalysts also demonstrated high stability and performance as cathodes in polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers.
Recent studies have explored doping strategies to enhance the gas sensing performance of WSe2-based materials.32–34 For instance, Pt-doped WSe2 has shown improved adsorption and sensitivity toward NO2, CO2, SO2, and H2, with significant bandgap reduction and strong binding energies.33 Mo-doping has also been demonstrated to enhance CO2, CH4, and N2O adsorption, with favorable charge transfer characteristics and efficient gas desorption at ambient conditions.35 Additionally, Re-doped WSe2 has exhibited selective adsorption toward C2H4, C2H2, and CO, as revealed by DFT combined with nonequilibrium Green's function analysis.36 In addition to the aforementioned studies, many other research efforts have explored gas sensing based on materials, leading to promising applications in sensor technology.37–41
Despite the growing interest in doped WSe2 for gas sensing, the specific potential of Mn-doped WSe2 (WSe2Mn) monolayers has received limited attention in the literature. The incorporation of Mn atoms into the WSe2 lattice is expected to induce notable modifications in the electronic structure, magnetic properties, and chemical reactivity, which may enhance the interaction between the material surface and gas molecules. In this work, we present a detailed theoretical investigation of the electronic, magnetic, and gas adsorption properties of WSe2Mn monolayers with a particular focus on the detection of CO, H2S, and NH3 gases-molecules of high environmental and industrial relevance. Our approach combines density functional theory (DFT) with crystal graph convolutional neural networks (CGCNN), a state-of-the-art machine learning technique, to both characterize the structural and electronic response of WSe2Mn to gas adsorption and predict adsorption-related properties with enhanced efficiency and accuracy. This integrated DFT-ML framework enables not only high-fidelity simulations but also improved generalization in evaluating structure–property relationships, offering a robust platform for rapid materials screening. These findings provide new insights into high-performance 2D gas sensors and broaden the application scope of WSe2-based materials in nanoscale sensing technologies.
All DFT calculations were performed using the Quantum ESPRESSO package, which implements plane-wave-based pseudopotential methods. The Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) functional within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) was used to describe the exchange–correlation interaction. The projector augmented-wave (PAW) method was employed, and a kinetic energy cutoff of 50 Ry was chosen for the plane-wave basis set. To account for van der Waals interactions during gas adsorption, the Grimme-D2 dispersion correction scheme was applied. A vacuum layer of 20 Å was applied along the out-of-plane direction to prevent interaction between periodic images. Brillouin zone integration was carried out using a 11 × 11 × 1 Monkhorst–Pack k-point mesh for geometry optimizations and force converged below thresholds of 10−7 Ry and 10−4 Ry Bohr−1, respectively.
To investigate thermo-mechanical properties such as bulk modulus, shear modulus, heat capacities, thermal expansion coefficient, and Debye temperature, we employed the Crystal Graph Convolutional Neural Network (CGCNN) framework. The combination of DFT and CGCNN allows for comprehensive analysis of both the energetics and thermo-mechanical responses of WSe2Mn monolayers under gas adsorption.
Adsorption energy is calculated by the formula:42
EAE = ET − EP − EM | (1) |
Configurations | d1 (Å) | d2 (Å) | d3 (Å) | Ea (eV) | μ (μB) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
WSe2Mn monolayer | 2.465 | 3.439 | 3.011 | — | 2.175 |
CO adsorption | 2.464 | 3.441 | 3.013 | −0.91 | 2.174 |
H2S adsorption | 2.468 | 3.441 | 3.021 | −0.86 | 2.670 |
NH3 adsorption | 2.465 | 3.439 | 3.013 | −0.96 | 2.175 |
The adsorption energy values for CO, H2S, and NH3 on WSe2Mn monolayer are calculated to be −0.91 eV, −0.86 eV, and −0.96 eV, respectively. The negative adsorption energies indicate that all three gas adsorption processes are energetically favorable and exothermic. Among them, the NH3 adsorption configuration exhibits the lowest adsorption energy, suggesting that NH3 adsorption is the most thermodynamically favorable, making NH3 more readily adsorbed onto WSe2Mn surface compared to CO and H2S.
Regarding the magnetic properties, both the pristine WSe2Mn monolayer and its gas-adsorbed configurations exhibit magnetism, with total magnetic moments ranging from 2.670μB to 2.175μB. Notably, the pristine WSe2Mn and the NH3-adsorbed WSe2Mn configurations share the highest magnetic moment value. This result suggests that the adsorption of CO and H2S leads to a slight reduction in the system's magnetic moment, whereas NH3 adsorption does not induce any significant change in the magnetic properties.
To investigate the impact of gas adsorption on the thermo-mechanical properties of the material, key parameters including the bulk modulus (B), shear modulus (G), constant-pressure heat capacity (Cp), constant-volume heat capacity (CV), thermal expansion coefficient (α), and Debye temperature (TD) were computed for WSe2Mn system in both its pristine state and after the adsorption of CO, H2S, and NH3 gas molecules, employing the CGCNN method (Table 2). The results reveal that gas adsorption leads to an enhancement in the material's compressive modulus. Specifically, the bulk modulus increased from 17.36 GPa in the pristine system to 22.60 GPa (CO), 22.41 GPa (H2S), and 21.28 GPa (NH3), respectively. This increase indicates a trend toward structural stiffening induced by the interaction between gas molecules and WSe2Mn monolayer, thereby improving the system's compressive strength. In contrast, the shear modulus (G) exhibits negligible variation, remaining in the range of 25.8–26.3 GPa, suggesting that the resistance to shear deformation is largely preserved following gas adsorption.
Configurations | B (GPa) | G (GPa) | Cp (kB per atom) | CV (kB per atom) | α (K−1) | TD (K) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WSe2Mn monolayer | 17.36 | 26.38 | 2.93 | 2.84 | 4.75 × 10−5 | 272.28 |
CO adsorption | 22.60 | 26.22 | 2.96 | 2.84 | 4.72 × 10−5 | 272.87 |
H2S adsorption | 22.41 | 25.80 | 2.99 | 2.85 | 4.96 × 10−5 | 261.33 |
NH3 adsorption | 21.28 | 26.30 | 2.97 | 2.85 | 5.16 × 10−5 | 262.51 |
Regarding thermal properties, both the constant-pressure heat capacity (Cp) and constant-volume heat capacity (CV) exhibited a slight increase following gas adsorption. Specifically, Cp increased from 2.93 kB per atom in the pristine system to 2.96–2.99 kB per atom in the adsorption configurations, while CV reached a value of 2.85 kB per atom. This enhancement is likely attributed to the vibrational contributions of the adsorbed gas molecules, which increase the total number of accessible vibrational modes in the system. Notably, the thermal expansion coefficient (α) showed a more significant variation. The pristine configuration exhibited α = 4.75 × 10−5 K−1, which increased to 5.16 × 10−5 K−1 upon NH3 adsorption-higher than the corresponding values for CO (4.72 × 10−5 K−1) and H2S (4.96 × 10−5 K−1). This pronounced change indicates a strong interaction between NH3 molecules and WSe2Mn lattice, highlighting both the influence of NH3 on lattice vibrations and the high sensitivity of the material system to this particular gas.
From a dynamical perspective, the Debye temperature (TD) serves as an indicator of the overall stiffness of the crystal lattice and is directly associated with the maximum vibrational frequency of the system. For the pristine WSe2Mn monolayer, TD was calculated to be 272.28 K-significantly higher than that of bulk WSe2 (160 K (ref. 45)). This enhancement can be attributed to the two-dimensional nature of the material and the local lattice stiffening induced by Mn doping. Upon adsorption of H2S and NH3 molecules, TD exhibited a slight reduction to 261.33 K and 262.51 K, respectively, suggesting a softening of lattice vibrations due to gas–surface interactions.
In comparison with bulk WSe2 (B = 63.7 GPa, G = 52.5 GPa,46 α = 5.7 × 10−5 K−1,47 TD = 160 K (ref. 45)), the Mn-doped monolayer clearly possesses lower mechanical stiffness but exhibits a Debye temperature approximately 70% higher. This behavior is characteristic of two-dimensional materials, where weak interlayer interactions along the out-of-plane (z) direction reduce resistance to compressive and shear forces, yet the restricted dimensionality leads to elevated vibrational frequencies due to limited degrees of freedom. These findings suggest that gas adsorption exerts a measurable influence on the thermo-mechanical behavior of WSe2Mn monolayer. In particular, the observed sensitivity of the thermal expansion coefficient and Debye temperature to different adsorbed gas species highlights the potential of this material for application in gas sensing technologies, where detection may be achieved through mechanical–thermodynamic response signatures.
The electronic and magnetic properties of pristine and gas-adsorbed WSe2Mn systems are examined via band structure and density of states (DOS) analyses (Fig. 2). All configurations exhibit spin-polarized semi-metallic behavior, with metallic characteristics in the spin-up channel and semiconducting features in the spin-down channel, confirming their magnetic nature. For the CO-adsorbed system, the band structure remains largely similar to that of pristine WSe2Mn in the valence band region, but shows increased DOS above 2 eV in the conduction band. The DOS peak heights are ∼11.5 states per eV for both pristine and CO-adsorbed systems, while slightly higher values are observed for H2S (∼12 states per eV) and NH3 (∼16 states per eV), indicating stronger electronic perturbations induced by these gases.
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Fig. 2 Band structure and density of states of configurations: (a) pristine WSe2Mn monolayer; (b) CO-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (c) H2S-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (d) NH3-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer. |
Partial DOS (PDOS) analysis (Fig. 3) reveals that Se orbitals (particularly px) dominate the valence band in the pristine structure, with Se(s) peaking at −4.5 eV and W/Mn(s) contributions localized deeper (∼−6 eV). Upon CO adsorption, C and O states appear mainly at −4.5 eV and 2.5 eV, showing localized hybridization with Se. H2S adsorption introduces a broader energy distribution of S states (−6.5 eV to 4 eV) and clear spin asymmetry, indicating stronger and more complex hybridization compared to CO and NH3. In contrast, N states in the NH3-adsorbed system are confined near −6.5 eV and −1.6 eV, suggesting limited interaction with Se.
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Fig. 3 Partial DOS (PDOS) of configurations: (a) pristine WSe2Mn monolayer; (b) CO-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (c) H2S-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (d) NH3-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer. |
Overall, the results highlight that gas adsorption not only modifies the electronic structure of WSe2Mn but also induces distinct spin-dependent hybridization patterns, particularly pronounced in the case of H2S. These features may be leveraged to achieve gas-specific electronic responses in spintronic or sensing applications.
The charge density difference for the CO, H2S, and NH3 adsorption configurations is illustrated in Fig. 4. It is evident that gas adsorption induces a redistribution of charge around both the adsorbed molecules and WSe2Mn surface in proximity to these molecules. The interaction between the gas molecules and the substrate is visualized through charge accumulation and depletion regions, represented by blue and yellow areas in the interfacial space. The adsorption interaction primarily occurs between the Se atoms of WSe2Mn monolayer and the CO, H2S, and NH3 molecules. In contrast, the inner W and Mn atoms exhibit negligible interaction with the adsorbed species, as indicated by the minimal charge redistribution, appearing as small, dispersed yellow and blue regions around these atoms.
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Fig. 5 Dielectric function of the configurations: (a) pristine WSe2Mn monolayer; (b) CO-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (c) H2S-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (d) NH3-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer. |
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Fig. 6 Absorption coefficient of the configurations: (a) pristine WSe2Mn monolayer; (b) CO-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (c) H2S-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer; (d) NH3-adsorbed WSe2Mn monolayer. |
As illustrated in Fig. 5, the pristine and CO-adsorbed WSe2Mn configurations exhibit strong optical activity within the 0–8 eV energy range. In comparison, H2S- and NH3-adsorbed systems extend this activity slightly further, up to ∼8.5 eV and ∼8.3 eV, respectively, indicating enhanced optical responsiveness due to gas adsorption.
All systems show negative values in the real part of the dielectric function (ε1(ω)) along the x and y directions within certain energy ranges, implying a low-loss propagation of electromagnetic waves-an essential characteristic for optoelectronic and photonic applications. Along the z-direction, ε1(ω) exhibits lower intensity due to the limited thickness of the monolayer (three atomic layers), as opposed to the infinite extent in the x–y plane.
Prominent peaks in ε1(ω) appear near 2 eV for both the x and y directions, corresponding to the visible light region, where the material shows maximum attenuation. At higher photon energies (above ∼8 eV), attenuation rapidly diminishes, indicating high transparency in the ultraviolet range. These results suggest that WSe2Mn, particularly in gas-adsorbed forms, could be a promising candidate for tunable optoelectronic devices and optical communication components.
The imaginary part of the dielectric function ε2(ω) reveals a pronounced anisotropy. The most intense peak is observed along the x-direction at approximately 0.3 eV, within the infrared region, suggesting significant energy dissipation due to electromagnetic wave interaction at this energy. This peak is followed by a less intense response along the y-direction, while the z-direction exhibits minimal response, indicating negligible absorption along the out-of-plane axis.
In the energy range of 0–4 eV, dominant absorption features are retained in the x- and y-directions, confirming strong in-plane interaction with incident radiation. Beyond 4 eV, ε2(ω) gradually decreases for all directions, with convergence observed near 8 eV for the pristine and CO-adsorbed systems. For H2S- and NH3-adsorbed configurations, this convergence shifts slightly to ∼8.5 eV. These convergence points signify a transition beyond which the material exhibits minimal electromagnetic loss, indicating transparency to higher-energy photons.
Analysis of the absorption coefficient (α) further corroborates the material's strong light–matter interaction (Fig. 6). All configurations show intense absorption in the 160–480 nm range, corresponding to ultraviolet and visible light (particularly violet and blue regions). In the investigated configurations, the maximum absorption coefficient reaches approximately 7.1 × 105 cm−1 at an energy of about 6.2 eV. Compared to pristine monolayer WSe2, which was previously reported to exhibit a maximum absorption coefficient of around 1.6 × 106 cm−1 at 5.6 eV, the present results indicate a shift of the main absorption peak toward higher energy (blue-shift).48 This shift can be attributed to the effects of doping and gas adsorption, which modify the electronic band structure and the density of states, thereby altering the resonance conditions for optical transitions. Notably, distinct anisotropic features are observed: CO adsorption induces dual peaks in the x- and y-directions, whereas H2S adsorption leads to enhanced absorption along the z-axis.
At wavelengths exceeding 700 nm, absorption in the z-direction diminishes to nearly zero, while the x- and y-components persist at low but finite values beyond 800 nm. These findings underscore the directional dependence of light absorption in WSe2Mn and its modified states. Overall, the pronounced anisotropic optical response and strong absorption in the UV-visible region suggest that WSe2Mn is a promising candidate for applications in optoelectronics, sensing, photocatalysis, and biomedical technologies.
The joint density of states (jDOS) spectrum of the pristine system exhibits a prominent peak in the low-energy region (approximately 3–6 eV), with its intensity gradually diminishing as the photon energy increases (Fig. 7). This behavior suggests that the pristine material possesses a strong light absorption capability in the ultraviolet (UV) and partially visible regions, facilitating the generation of electron–hole pairs and thereby enhancing the system's conductivity. Upon CO adsorption, significant modifications in the jDOS spectrum are observed, characterized by the emergence of new peaks in the higher-energy regions (around 9–12 eV and 26–28 eV). In the case of H2S adsorption, the jDOS intensity is notably enhanced in the mid-energy range (approximately 9–12 eV) compared to the pristine state. Conversely, NH3 adsorption introduces subtle jDOS peaks in the high-energy region (around 18–21 eV). These alterations underscore the substantial influence of CO, H2S, and NH3 adsorption on the electronic structure of the material, leading to an expanded jDOS profile. This expansion in jDOS highlights the potential for utilizing these gas-adsorbed configurations in optical devices operating within high-energy regimes.
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