Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth of Monolayer MoS2 Nanoribbons

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as monolayer MoS2 typically involves the conversion of vapor-phase precursors to a solid product in a process that may be described as a vapor-solid-solid (VSS) mode. Here, we report the first demonstration of vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth of monolayer MoS2 yielding highly crystalline ribbon-shaped structures with a width of a few tens of nanometers to a few micrometers. The VLS growth mode is triggered by the reaction between molybdenum oxide and sodium chloride, which results in the formation of molten Na-Mo-O droplets. These droplets mediate the growth of MoS2 ribbons in the "crawling mode" when saturated with sulfur on a crystalline substrate. Our growth yields straight and kinked ribbons with a locally well-defined orientation, reflecting the regular horizontal motion of the liquid droplets during growth. Using atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy, we show that the ribbons are homoepitaxially on monolayer MoS2 surface with predominantly 2H- or 3R-type stacking. These findings pave the way to novel devices with structures of mixed dimensionalities.