Compact Super Electron-Donor to Monolayer MoS 2

• Published in: Nano letters 2022-06, Vol.22 (11), p.4501-4508
• Main Authors: Reed-Lingenfelter, Serrae N, Chen, Yifeng, Yarali, Milad, Charboneau, David J, Curley, Julia B, Hynek, David J, Wang, Mengjing, Williams, Natalie L, Hazari, Nilay, Quek, Su Ying, Cha, Judy J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c01167

The surface functionalization of two-dimensional (2D) materials with organic electron donors (OEDs) is a powerful tool to modulate the electronic properties of the material. Here we report a novel molecular dopant, Me-OED, that demonstrates record-breaking molecular doping to MoS , achieving a carrier density of 1.10 ± 0.37 × 10 cm at optimal functionalization conditions; the achieved carrier density is much higher than those by other OEDs such as benzyl viologen and an OED based on 4,4'-bipyridine. This impressive doping power is attributed to the compact size of Me-OED, which leads to high surface coverage on MoS . To confirm, we study Bu-OED, which has an identical reduction potential to Me-OED but is significantly larger. Using field-effect transistor measurements and spectroscopic characterization, we estimate the doping powers of Me- and Bu-OED are 0.22-0.44 and 0.11 electrons per molecule, respectively, in good agreement with calculations. Our results demonstrate that the small size of Me-OED is critical to maximizing the surface coverage and molecular interactions with MoS , enabling us to achieve unprecedented doping of MoS .