2 research outputs found
Gold Dispersion and Activation on the Basal Plane of Single-Layer MoS<sub>2</sub>
Gold
islands are typically associated with high binding affinity
to adsorbates and catalytic activity. Here we present the growth of
dispersed nanoscale gold islands on single layer MoS<sub>2</sub>,
prepared on an inert SiO<sub>2</sub>/Si support by chemical vapor
deposition. This study offers a combination of growth process development,
optical characterization, photoelectron spectroscopy at submicron
spatial resolution, and advanced density functional theory modeling
for detailed insight into the electronic interaction between gold
and single-layer MoS<sub>2</sub>. In particular, we find the gold
density of states in Au/MoS<sub>2</sub>/SiO<sub>2</sub>/Si to be far
less well-defined than Au islands on other 2-dimensional materials
such as graphene, for which we also provide data. We attribute this
effect to the presence of heterogeneous Au adatom/MoS<sub>2</sub>-support
interactions within the nanometer-scale gold cluster. Theory predicts
that CO will exhibit adsorption energies in excess of 1 eV at the
Au cluster edges, where the local density of states is dominated by
Au 5d<sub><i>z</i></sub>2 symmetry