Giant gate-tunable bandgap renormalization and excitonic effects in a 2D semiconductor

Understanding the remarkable excitonic effects and controlling the exciton binding energies in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are crucial in unlocking their full potential for use in future photonic and optoelectronic devices. Here, we demonstrate large excitonic effects and gate-tunable exciton binding energies in single-layer rhenium diselenide (ReSe₂) on a back-gated graphene device. We used scanning tunneling spectroscopy and differential reflectance spectroscopy to measure the quasiparticle electronic and optical bandgap of single-layer ReSe₂, respectively, yielding a large exciton binding energy of 520 meV. Further, we achieved continuous tuning of the electronic bandgap and exciton binding energy of monolayer ReSe₂ by hundreds of milli-electron volts through electrostatic gating, attributed to tunable Coulomb interactions arising from the gate-controlled free carriers in graphene. Our findings open a new avenue for controlling the bandgap renormalization and exciton binding energies in 2D semiconductors for a wide range of technological applications.