The Effect of MoS₂ Structure on the Performance of Graphene/MoS₂ Solar Cell

Two‐dimensional (2D) materials are at the center of extensive scientific and technological research due to their exceptional electronic, optical, mechanical and chemical properties. Transition metal dichalcogenides, with the structure of MX₂ (M – Mo, W, Nb, etc. and X - S, Se or Te), are very interesting because they can cover a wide range of bandgap values. While some of them, like molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), possess an indirect bandgap in their bulk structure, they have a direct band gap when reduced to a monolayer, due to quantum confinement effects. Here, a 2D heterostructure, made from two significant players in the field of 2D layered materials, graphene and MoS₂, is explored as a potential candidate for future photovoltaic devices.

The main goal of this work is to study the effect of the MoS₂ structure (number of layers, crystallinity, chemical composition, etc.) on the performance of the photovoltaic device. For this purpose, several growth methodologies were used to achieve single- and few-layer MoS₂ with varying crystallinity and order between the layers, planar, turbostratic and vertical.