Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have moved to the foreground of the research community owing to their fascinating properties which make them of great interest for both fundamental studies and emerging applications. Thermally assisted conversion (TAC) of predeposited transition metal films and Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) show great promise for the scalable and industry-compatible synthesis of these materials^[1]. Here we outline the production of an assortment of TMDs by TAC and CVD, and demonstrate their high-quality using an array of characterization techniques including Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

The potential of TMDs films for various applications in the realm of electronics and energy will be discussed. It is possible to structure and electrically address the films yielding simple devices such as transistors, diodes and sensors. The fabrication of high-performance gas sensors, with room temperature detection limits in the ppb range for NH₃ will be described in detail^[2]. The fabrication of large-scale heterojunction diodes, formed by transferring n-type MoS₂ onto p-type Si, will be outlined. ^[3] Additionally, a novel catalyst platform for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), consisting of MoS₂ (or other TMDs) grown directly on top of a carbon electrode, will be discussed^[4].

[1] "Controlled Synthesis of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Thin Films for Electronic Applications", Riley Gatensby, Niall McEvoy, Kangho Lee, Toby Hallam, Nina C. Berner, Ehsan Rezvani, Sinéad Winters, Maria O'Brien, Georg S. Duesberg, Applied Surface Science, 297, 139-146, (2014)

[2] "High Performance Sensors Based on Molybdenum Disulfide Thin Films", Kangho Lee, Riley Gatensby, Niall McEvoy, Toby Hallam, Georg S. Duesberg, Advanced Materials, 25(46), 6699-6702, (2013)

[3] "Heterojunction Hybrid Devices from Vapor Phase Grown MoS₂", Chanyoung Yim, Maria O'Brien, Niall McEvoy, Sarah Riazimehr, Heiko Schäfer-Eberwein, Andreas Bablich, Ravinder Pawar, Giuseppe Iannaccone, Clive Downing, Gianluca Fiori, Max C. Lemme & Georg S. Duesberg, Scientific Reports, 4, 5458, (2014)

[4] "Molybdenum disulfide/pyrolytic carbon hybrid electrodes for scalable hydrogen evolution", Hugo Nolan, Niall McEvoy, Maria O'Brien, Nina C. Berner, Chanyoung Yim, Toby Hallam, Aidan R. McDonald and Georg S. Duesberg, Nanoscale, 6, 8185-8191, (2014)