Stable 1T Tungsten Disulfide Monolayer and Its Junctions: Growth and Atomic Structures

Transition-metal dichalcogenides in the 1T phase have been a subject of increasing interest, which is partly due to their fascinating physical properties and partly to their potential applications in the next generation of electronic devices, including supercapacitors, electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution, and phase-transition memories. The primary method for obtaining 1T WS₂ or MoS₂ has been using ion intercalation in combination with solution-based exfoliation. The resulting flakes are small in size and tend to aggregate upon deposition, forming an intercalant-TMD complex with small 1T and 1T' patches embedded in the 2H matrix. Existing growth methods have, however, produced WS₂ or MoS₂ solely in the 2H phase. Here, we have refined the growth approach to obtain monolayer 1T WS₂ up to 80 μm in size based on chemical vapor deposition. With the aid of synergistic catalysts (iron oxide and sodium chloride), 1T WS₂ can nucleate in the infant stage of the growth, forming special butterfly-like single crystals with the 1T phase in one wing and the 2H phase in the other. Distinctive types of phase boundaries are discovered at the 1T-2H interface. The 1T structure thus grown is thermodynamically stable over time and even persists at a high temperature above 800 °C, allowing for a stepwise edge epitaxy of lateral 1T heterostructures. Atomic images show that the 1T WS₂-MoS₂ heterojunction features a coherent and defectless interface with a sharp atomic transition. The stable 1T phase represents a missing piece of the puzzle in the research of atomic thin van der Waals crystals, and our growth approach provides an accessible way of filling this gap.