Direct Bandgap-like Strong Photoluminescence from Twisted Multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub> Grown on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>.

Sarkar, Soumya; Mathew, Sinu; Chintalapati, Sandhya; Rath, Ashutosh; Panahandeh-Fard, Majid; Saha, Surajit; Goswami, Sreetosh; Tan, Sherman Jun Rong et al. · ACS Nano · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

While direct bandgap monolayer 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as an important optoelectronic material due to strong light-matter interactions, their multilayer counterparts exhibit an indirect bandgap resulting in poor photon emission quantum yield. We report strong direct bandgap-like photoluminescence at ∼1.9 eV from multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub> grown on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>, whose intensity is significantly higher than that observed in multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub>/SiO<sub>2</sub>. Using high-resolution electron microscopy we observe interlayer twist and >8% increase in the van der Waals gap, which leads to weaker interlayer coupling. This affects the evolution of the band structure in multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub> as probed by transient absorption spectroscopy, causing higher photo carrier recombination at the direct gap. Our results provide a platform that could enable multilayer TMDs for robust optical device applications.