Structure and electronic properties of in situ synthesized single-layer MoS2 on a gold surface

When transition metal sulfides such as MoS2 are present in the single-layer form, the electronic properties change in fundamental ways, enabling them to be used, e.g., in two-dimensional semiconductor electronics, optoelectronics, and light harvesting. The change is related to a subtle modification of the band structure due to confinement in the direction perpendicular to the sheets, and there is a considerable interest in understanding how this modification can be controlled and adjusted to generate 2D-materials with functional properties. In this article we report a synthesis procedure together with scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of two-dimensional single-layer islands of MoS2 synthesized directly on a gold single crystal substrate. Thanks to a periodic modulation of the atom stacking induced by the lattice mismatch, we observe a structural buckling of the MoS2 layer resulting in a characteristic moiré pattern. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the system develops the characteristics of n-doped MoS2 due to electron donation. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy furthermore reflects a convolution of MoS2 and Au donor states where the MoS2 band structure appears modified at the band gap edges. This electronic effect is further modulated by the moiré periodicity and leads to small substrate-induced electronic perturbations near the conduction band minimum in the band gap of MoS2. The results may be highly relevant in the context of nanopatterned two-dimensional materials on metal surfaces, and we propose the MoS2/Au system in this article as a promising candidate to further explore the properties of supported 2D transition-metal dichalcogenides.