Na-assisted fast growth of large single-crystal MoS2 on sapphire

Monolayer molybdenum sulfide (MoS2), a typical semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide, has emerged as a perfect platform for next-generation electronics and optoelectronics due to its sizeable band gap and strong light-matter interactions. Nevertheless, the controlled growth of a monolayer MoS2 single-crystal with a large-domain size and high crystal quality still faces great challenges. Herein, we demonstrate the fast growth of a large-domain monolayer MoS2 on the c-plane sapphire substrate with the assistance of sodium chloride (NaCl) crystals as the intermediate promoter. Particularly, the volatilization temperature of the NaCl crystal and the growth temperature of MoS2 are established to be the key parameters that influence the growth efficiency of MoS2 at an optimized growth condition. Monolayer triangular MoS2 domain with an edge length ∼300 μm is obtained within 1 min, featured with a growth rate ∼5 μm s-1. The Na element from the NaCl crystal is found to be able to facilitate the two dimensional growth of monolayer MoS2. This work thus offers novel insights into the high-efficiency production of large-domain monolayer MoS2 on insulating growth substrates.