Grain-boundary-rich polycrystalline monolayer WS2 film for attomolar-level Hg2+ sensors

Emerging two-dimensional (2D) layered materials have been attracting great attention as sensing materials for next-generation high-performance biological and chemical sensors. The sensor performance of 2D materials is strongly dependent on the structural defects as indispensable active sites for analyte adsorption. However, controllable defect engineering in 2D materials is still challenging. In the present work, we propose exploitation of controllably grown polycrystalline films of 2D layered materials with high-density grain boundaries (GBs) for design of ultra-sensitive ion sensors, where abundant structural defects on GBs act as favorable active sites for ion adsorption. As a proof-of-concept, our fabricated surface plasmon resonance sensors with GB-rich polycrystalline monolayer WS 2 films have exhibited high selectivity and superior attomolar-level sensitivity in Hg 2+ detection owing to high-density GBs. This work provides a promising avenue for design of ultra-sensitive sensors based on GB-rich 2D layered materials. Here, the authors report the controlled growth of polycrystalline WS 2 films with high density of grain boundaries to realize surface plasmon Hg 2+ ion sensors exhibiting attomolar sensitivity and enhanced selectivity.