Two-dimensional Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), have now attracted much attention due to their unique layered structure and physical properties. Up to date, several studies have demonstrated monolayered and few-layered TMDC-based photodetectors with good stability, photo-switching time and broadband detectivity from UV to infrared light region. However, the reported responsivity is not as high as the theoretical expectation, indicating that the light absorption is limited by the atomic thickness of 2D-TMDCs and could still be improved. To overcome the drawback of low absorption in 2D TMDC materials, previous reports have revealed several strategies to enhance the electric field and light-harvesting in these atomically thin TMDC layers by hybridizing plasmonic noble-metal nanoparticles, such as Pt, Au and Ag, to facilitate the light-matter interaction at the surface of semiconductors. In this regard, we aim to combine highly absorptive CuInS₂(CIS) nanocrystals with noble metal nanoparticles as the photosensitizer to enhance the intrinsic absorptivity and promote the performance of MoS₂-based photodetectors. The interests of noble nanocrystals such as platinum and gold are featured for their distinctive properties of the carrier transportation and the storage when combined with semiconductor materials. The strategy described here acts as a perspective to significantly improve the performance of MoS₂-based photodetectors with outstanding detection responsivity with selectable wavelengths by further controlling the size and material of the decorated CIS nanocrystals.

In addition to optical sensing, TMDCs have also been developed as a promising candidate for gas-molecule detection. Different from commercial metal oxide gas sensors, TMDCs as sensing materials can be operated at room temperature with good performance, increasing its reliability for future industrial applications. Nevertheless, the relatively low response and long response/recovery time are the main drawbacks of these promising devices. Therefore, we proposed the approach to successfully increase the surface area of TMDCs by a one-step synthesis from WO₃ into three-dimensional (3D) WS₂ nanowalls through a rapid heating and rapid cooling process. Moreover, the combination of CdS/ZnS or CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) with different emission wavelengths and WS₂ nanowalls will further improve the performance of WS₂-based photodetector devices, including 3.5~4.7 times photocurrent enhancement and shorter response time. The remarkable results of the QD-WS₂ hybrid devices to the high non-radiative energy transfer (NRET) efficiency between QDs and our nanostructured material are caused by the spectral overlap between the emission of QDs as the donors and the absorption of WS₂ as the acceptors. Additionally, the outstanding NO₂ gas-sensing properties of QDs/WS₂ devices were demonstrated with a remarkably low detection limit down to 50 ppb with a fast response time of 26.8 s, contributed by tremendous local p-n junctions generated from p-type WS₂ nanowalls and n-type CdSe-ZnS QDs in this hybrid system.

Our strategies to combine 0D nanoparticles or quantum dots and 2D TMDC materials can significantly enhance the optical sensing and gas molecule sensing properties compared to pristine TMDC-based devices, resulting from the efficient charge or energy transfer between the multi-dimension material system and the creation of local p-n junctions. Moreover, the scalability of these hybrid nanostructures allows our devices to exhibit much more possibilities in advanced multifunctional applications.