title: Exploring atomic defects in molybdenum disulphide monolayers.
abstract: Defects usually play an important role in tailoring various properties of two-dimensional materials. Defects in two-dimensional monolayer molybdenum disulphide may be responsible for large variation of electric and optical properties. Here we present a comprehensive joint experiment-theory investigation of point defects in monolayer molybdenum disulphide prepared by mechanical exfoliation, physical and chemical vapour deposition. Defect species are systematically identified and their concentrations determined by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, and also studied by ab-initio calculation. Defect density up to 3.5 × 10(13) cm(-2) is found and the dominant category of defects changes from sulphur vacancy in mechanical exfoliation and chemical vapour deposition samples to molybdenum antisite in physical vapour deposition samples. Influence of defects on electronic structure and charge-carrier mobility are predicted by calculation and observed by electric transport measurement. In light of these results, the growth of ultra-high-quality monolayer molybdenum disulphide appears a primary task for the community pursuing high-performance electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Micro-Nano Devices, Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Zhixin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Probert
authors.affiliation: Advanced Nanofabrication, Imaging and Characterization Core Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 239955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Danhui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Instituteof Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, c/o Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xinan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Instituteof Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, c/o Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: 1] CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China [2] Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Nannan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Qingliang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices and Department of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Dianzhong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices and Department of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Chuanhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: 1] Beijing Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Micro-Nano Devices, Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China [2] Department of Physics and Astronomy, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Advanced Nanofabrication, Imaging and Characterization Core Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 239955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Xixiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China [2] Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Ze
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang