Enhancing Multifunctionalities of Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers via Cation Intercalation

We have demonstrated that multiple functionalities of transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers may be substantially improved by the intercalation of small cations (H⁺ or Li⁺) between the monolayers and underlying substrates. The functionalities include photoluminescence (PL) efficiency and catalytic activity. The improvement in PL efficiency may be up to orders of magnitude and can be mainly ascribed to two effects of the intercalated cations: p-doping to the monolayers and reducing the influence of substrates, but more studies are necessary to better understand the mechanism for the improvement in the catalytic functionality. The cation intercalation may be achieved by simply immersing substrate-supported monolayers into the solution of certain acids or salts. It is more difficult to intercalate under the monolayers interacting with substrates stronger, such as as-grown monolayers or the monolayers on 2D material substrates. This result presents a versatile strategy to simultaneously optimize multiple functionalities of TMDC monolayers.