Large area highly crystalline MoS2and WS2thin films were successfully grown on different substrates using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering technique. Structural, morphological and thermoelectric transport properties of MoS2,and WS2thin films have been investigated systematically to fabricate high-efficient thermal energy harvesting devices. X-ray diffraction data revealed that crystallites of MoS2and WS2films are highly oriented in 002 plane with uniform grain size distribution confirmed through atomic force microscopy study. Surface roughness increases with substrate temperature and it plays a big role in electron and phonon scattering. Interestingly, MoS2films also display low thermal conductivity at room temperature and strongly favors achievement of higher thermoelectric figure of merit value of up to 1.98. Raman spectroscopy data shows two distinct MoS2vibrational modes at 380 cm−1for E12gand 410 cm−1for A1g. Thermoelectric transport studies further demonstrated that MoS2films show p-type thermoelectric characteristics, while WS2is an n-type material. We demonstrated high efficient pn-junction thermoelectric generator device for waste heat recovery and cooling applications.
Post‐growth graphene transfer to a variety of host substrates for circuitry fabrication has been among the most popular subjects since its successful development via chemical vapor deposition in the past decade. Fast and reliable evaluation tools for its morphological characteristics are essential for the development of defect‐free transfer protocols. The implementation of conventional techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy in production quality control at an industrial scale is difficult because they are limited to local areas, are time consuming, and their operation is complex. However, through a one‐shot measurement within a few seconds, phase‐shifting interferometry (PSI) successfully scans ≈1 mm2of transferred graphene with a vertical resolution of ≈0.1 nm. This provides crucial morphological information, such as the surface roughness derived from polymer residues, the thickness of the graphene, and its adhesive strength with respect to the target substrates. Graphene samples transferred via four different methods are evaluated using PSI, Raman spectroscopy, and AFM. Although the thickness of the nanomaterials measured by PSI can be highly sensitive to their refractive indices, PSI is successfully demonstrated to be a powerful tool for investigating the morphological characteristics of the transferred graphene for industrial and research purposes.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10456161
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 38
- ISSN:
- 0935-9648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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