Engineering of optical and electronic band gaps in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers through external dielectric screening

Abstract

In order to fully exploit the potential of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers (TMD-MLs), the well-controlled creation of atomically sharp lateral heterojunctions within these materials is highly desirable. A promising approach to create such heterojunctions is the local modulation of the electronic structure of an intrinsic TMD-ML via dielectric screening induced by its surrounding materials. For the realization of this non-invasive approach, an in-depth understanding of such dielectric effects is required. We report on the modulations of excitonic transitions in TMD-MLs through the effect of dielectric environments including low-k and high-k dielectric materials. We present absolute tuning ranges as large as 37 meV for the optical band gaps of WSe 2 and MoSe 2 MLs and relative tuning ranges on the order of 30% for the binding energies of neutral excitons in WSe 2 MLs. The findings suggest the possibility to reduce the electronic band gap of WSe 2 MLs by 120 meV, paving the way towards dielectrically defined lateral heterojunctions.