Controllable Doping in 2D Layered Materials

For each generation of semiconductors, the issue of doping techniques is always placed at the top of the priority list since it determines whether a material can be used in the electronic and optoelectronic industry or not. When it comes to 2D materials, significant challenges have been found in controllably doping 2D semiconductors into p- or n-type, let alone developing a continuous control of this process. Here, a unique self-modulated doping characteristic in 2D layered materials such as PtSSe, PtS_0.8 Se_1.2 , PdSe₂ , and WSe₂ is reported. The varying number of vertically stacked-monolayers is the critical factor for controllably tuning the same material from p-type to intrinsic, and to n-type doping. Importantly, it is found that the thickness-induced lattice deformation makes defects in PtSSe transit from Pt vacancies to anion vacancies based on dynamic and thermodynamic analyses, which leads to p- and n-type conductance, respectively. By thickness-modulated doping, WSe₂ diode exhibits a high rectification ratio of 4400 and a large open-circuit voltage of 0.38 V. Meanwhile, the PtSSe detector overcomes the shortcoming of large dark-current in narrow-bandgap optoelectronic devices. All these findings provide a brand-new perspective for fundamental scientific studies and applications.