Substrate‐Assisted Flux Method for Robust Synthesis of Quantum‐Grade Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

ABSTRACT High‐quality two‐dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are crucial for exploring intrinsic electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum transport phenomena. Although flux‐based growth produces ultrapure TMD crystals with low defect densities, its broader adoption is limited by long growth cycles, low yield, and extensive post‐growth purification. Here, we report a substrate‐assisted flux method (SAFM) that enables rapid synthesis of quantum‐grade TMD single crystals with enhanced yield and no post‐growth purification. By introducing sapphire into a Se‐rich flux environment, SAFM enables vapor‐mediated precursor delivery and vertical crystal growth under isothermal conditions, as supported by density functional theory calculations. Consequently, millimeter‐scale WSe 2 single crystals are obtained with a >75% reduction in growth time compared to conventional flux methods, while simultaneously increasing the yield of sizeable single crystals by suppressing excessive nucleation. SAFM also eliminates extensive post‐growth processing and preserves ultralow defect densities, as confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Monolayer WSe 2 devices exhibit robust Shubnikov‐de Haas oscillations and quantum mobilities up to 6.6 × 10 3 cm 2 · V −1 · s −1 . Furthermore, SAFM is successfully extended to the synthesis of high‐quality MoSe 2 single crystals, demonstrating its generality. These results establish SAFM as a robust and scalable route for producing quantum‐grade TMD crystals.

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Publication Details

Journal
Small Methods
Published
2026-07-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.70849
Primary Topic
2D Materials and Applications
Type
article
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article

Substrate‐Assisted Flux Method for Robust Synthesis of Quantum‐Grade Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Chaojun Zhang, Binhong Li, Xuan Song, Tingwei Hu et al.
Small Methods
2D Materials and Applications
article

Substrate‐Assisted Flux Method for Robust Synthesis of Quantum‐Grade Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Chaojun Zhang, Binhong Li, Xuan Song, Tingwei Hu, Luo Jw, Xuanyi Li, Jing Li, Ming Gao, Z Huang, Chaoni Zhan, Yinghao Li, Mengting Zhang, Song Liu, Fan Zhang, Mingjie Zhang, Zhenyu Wang, Yang Xu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT High‐quality two‐dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are crucial for exploring intrinsic electronic, optoelectronic, and quantum transport phenomena. Although flux‐based growth produces ultrapure TMD crystals with low defect densities, its broader adoption is limited by long growth cycles, low yield, and extensive post‐growth purification. Here, we report a substrate‐assisted flux method (SAFM) that enables rapid synthesis of quantum‐grade TMD single crystals with enhanced yield and no post‐growth purification. By introducing sapphire into a Se‐rich flux environment, SAFM enables vapor‐mediated precursor delivery and vertical crystal growth under isothermal conditions, as supported by density functional theory calculations. Consequently, millimeter‐scale WSe 2 single crystals are obtained with a >75% reduction in growth time compared to conventional flux methods, while simultaneously increasing the yield of sizeable single crystals by suppressing excessive nucleation. SAFM also eliminates extensive post‐growth processing and preserves ultralow defect densities, as confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Monolayer WSe 2 devices exhibit robust Shubnikov‐de Haas oscillations and quantum mobilities up to 6.6 × 10 3 cm 2 · V −1 · s −1 . Furthermore, SAFM is successfully extended to the synthesis of high‐quality MoSe 2 single crystals, demonstrating its generality. These results establish SAFM as a robust and scalable route for producing quantum‐grade TMD crystals.

Small Methods
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics (CN), Institute of Microelectronics (CN), Institute of Physics (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Hainan Medical University (CN), Beihang University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
2D Materials and Applications
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