A “minute” method for the synthesis of photosensitive materials has been discovered in Russia

MOSCOW, November 22. A new highly efficient approach to the production of molybdenum and tungsten disulfides, which are in demand when creating a new generation of photographic equipment, was proposed by researchers from MIET and Moscow State University. The results were published in Physica Status Solidi (B).
In recent years, interest in a new class of semiconductor materials – transition metal dichalcogenides – has been growing, experts reported. According to them, the thinnest layers of these compounds have unique light-absorbing properties.

The most popular representatives of this class are molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten disulfide (WS2). Films of these substances are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair and are capable of absorbing up to 25% of the light incident on them. This record value, according to scientists, makes it possible to improve the matrices of cameras, solar panels and other photosensitive equipment.

Now both disulfides are produced in quartz furnaces, but this is a rather slow and difficult-to-control process; moreover, it is poorly scaled for mass production and has a number of limitations on the structure of the material, scientists explained.
Scientists from the National Research University MIET and Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov created a new installation for the production of semiconductor disulfides of transition metals with different spatial structures.

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"New, developed at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov's method for synthesizing structures from MoS2 and WS2 makes it possible to obtain MoS2 films in just one to two minutes, and also makes it possible to control the morphology of the product during the creation process. With its help, it is possible to obtain large samples, as well as films in the form of nanowalls several atomic layers thick,” said Boris Loginov, head of the research laboratory for atomic modification and analysis of the surface of semiconductors at MIET.

Laboratory-scale installations for the synthesis of MoS2 and WS2, developed by scientists from MIET and Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and produced at JSC PROTON Plant have already been tested in obtaining various variants of semiconductor structures, scientists reported.

«With a rapid change in the composition of the gas in our installation, for example, if molybdenum vapors are replaced with tungsten and on the contrary, it is possible to obtain films with alternating chemical compositions, creating so-called heterojunctions, which are extremely in demand in infrared cameras, thermal imagers, detectors of ultrafast light pulses and other modern photographic equipment,” noted the author of the idea of ​​​​a new method for synthesizing structures from MoS2 and WS2, graduate student at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov Artem Loginov.
In the future, the researchers intend to improve the system for the production of two-dimensional, one-atom-thick materials from transition metal dichalcogenides.

MIET is a participant in the state support program for universities of the Russian Federation «Priority -2030» national project «Science and Universities».