Eliminating Defect States in Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide by Coupling with a c-Plane Sapphire Surface

Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides are promising platforms for exploring emergent two-dimensional (2D) exciton physics and constructing 2D optoelectronic devices. However, even in mechanically exfoliated and hexagonal boron nitride encapsulated samples that are expected to maintain the most intrinsic properties, shallow defect states are still unavoidable. Here, we reported a method for eliminating the defect states in monolayer WSe_{2} by coupling it with a c-plane sapphire surface. We found that the defect-relevant photoluminescence peaks at cryogenic temperatures can be completely suppressed in WSe_{2} on c-plane sapphire, resulting in intrinsic exciton radiation, prolonged lifetime, and increased diffusion length. Ab initio calculations revealed that the surface of c-plane sapphire is much more active than other planes, where oxygen atoms preferentially transfer to WSe_{2} to repair selenium vacancy defects. Our Letter provides a new platform for defect engineering, which will promote the development of high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices based on 2D materials.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Letters
Published
2025-09-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/lswx-rxss
Citations
2
Primary Topic
2D Materials and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.04
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article

Eliminating Defect States in Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide by Coupling with a c-Plane Sapphire Surface

Jinhuan Wang, Chen Huang, Mengze Zhao, Guodong Xue et al.
2 citations
Physical Review Letters
2D Materials and Applications
1.04
article

Eliminating Defect States in Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide by Coupling with a c-Plane Sapphire Surface

Jinhuan Wang, Chen Huang, Mengze Zhao, Guodong Xue, Kaihui Liu, Si Zhou, Yilin Chen, Xiaozhi Xu, Hao Hong, Yuexing Xia, Chen Ji, Guangjie Yao, Feng Zuo, Xinfeng Liu, Enge Wang
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides are promising platforms for exploring emergent two-dimensional (2D) exciton physics and constructing 2D optoelectronic devices. However, even in mechanically exfoliated and hexagonal boron nitride encapsulated samples that are expected to maintain the most intrinsic properties, shallow defect states are still unavoidable. Here, we reported a method for eliminating the defect states in monolayer WSe_{2} by coupling it with a c-plane sapphire surface. We found that the defect-relevant photoluminescence peaks at cryogenic temperatures can be completely suppressed in WSe_{2} on c-plane sapphire, resulting in intrinsic exciton radiation, prolonged lifetime, and increased diffusion length. Ab initio calculations revealed that the surface of c-plane sapphire is much more active than other planes, where oxygen atoms preferentially transfer to WSe_{2} to repair selenium vacancy defects. Our Letter provides a new platform for defect engineering, which will promote the development of high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices based on 2D materials.

Physical Review LettersVol. 135(12)
South China Normal University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Peking University (CN), Center for NanoScience (DE), Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (CN), FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ), Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN), Institute for Advanced Study (DE), National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
2D Materials and Applications
1.04
DOISourceOpenAlex
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