Low-temperature growth of MoS 2 on polymer and thin glass substrates for flexible electronics.

Recent advances in two-dimensional semiconductors, particularly molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), have enabled the fabrication of flexible electronic devices with outstanding mechanical flexibility. Previous approaches typically involved the synthesis of MoS 2 on a rigid substrate at a high temperature followed by the transfer to a flexible substrate onto which the device is fabricated. A recurring drawback with this methodology is the fact that flexible substrates have a lower melting temperature than the MoS 2 growth process, and that the transfer process degrades the electronic properties of MoS 2 . Here we report a strategy for directly synthesizing high-quality and high-crystallinity MoS 2 monolayers on polymers and ultrathin glass substrates (thickness ~30 µm) at ~150 °C using metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. By avoiding the transfer process, the MoS 2 quality is preserved. On flexible field-effect transistors, we achieve a mobility of 9.1 cm 2  V -1  s -1 and a positive threshold voltage of +5 V, which is essential for reducing device power consumption. Moreover, under bending conditions, our logic circuits exhibit stable operation while phototransistors can detect light over a wide range of wavelengths from 405 nm to 904 nm.