Novel Two-Dimensional Mechano-Electric Generators and Sensors Based on Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as MoS2 and WSe2, provide two-dimensional atomic crystals with semiconductor band gap. In this work, we present a design of new mechano-electric generators and sensors based on transition metal dichalcogenide nanoribbon PN junctions and heterojunctions. The mechano-electric conversion was simulated by using a first-principle calculation. The output voltage of MoS2 nanoribbon PN junction increases with strain, reaching 0.036 V at 1% strain and 0.31 V at 8% strain, much larger than the reported results. Our study indicates that the length, width and layer number of TMDC nanoribbon PN junctions have an interesting but different impact on the voltage output. Also, the results indicate that doping position and concentration only cause a small fluctuation in the output voltage. These results have been compared with the mechano-electric conversion of TMDC heterojunctions. Such novel mechano-electric generators and sensors are very attractive for applications in future self-powered, wearable electronics and systems.