A controllable synthesis of uniform MoS2 monolayers on annealed molybdenum foils

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted significant interest due to their outstanding electrical and optical properties that arise from the quantum size effect. Although a controllable synthesis of 2D-monolayers is a prerequisite for potential applications, the fabrication of large-scale TMDCs monolayers with spatial homogeneity remains a great challenge. In this letter, we report on an efficient method for the large-scale preparation of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) by sulfurizing pre-annealed molybdenum foils. Highly crystalline MoS2 monolayers were obtained by sulfurizing annealed Mo foils for 5 min at 600 °C. This preparation method for fabricating MoS2 monolayer allows the nondestructive transference of the MoS2 layers onto arbitrary substrates. It is believed that the results of this study open a new pathway for the synthesis of large-scale MoS2 monolayers.