Stabilization of the Nano-Sized 1T Phase through Rhenium Doping in the Metal–Organic CVD MoS2 Films

Heterogeneous nanostructures composed of metastable tetragonal 1T-MoS2 and stable hexagonal 2H-MoS2 phases are highly promising for a wide range of applications, including catalysis and ion batteries, due to the high electrical conductivity and catalytic activity of the 1T phase. However, a controllable synthesis of stabilized 1T-MoS2 films over the wafer-scale area is challenging. In this work, a metal–organic chemical vapor deposition process allowing us to obtain ultrathin MoS2 films containing both 1T and 2H phases and control their ratio through rhenium doping was suggested. As a result, Mo1–x Re x S2 films with a 1T-MoS2 fraction up to ≈30% were obtained, which were relatively stable under normal conditions for a long time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy also indicated that the 1T-MoS2 phase fraction increased with rhenium concentration increase saturating at Re concentrations above 5 at. %. Also, its concentration was found to significantly affect the film resistivity. Thus, the resistivity of the film containing approximately 30% of the 1T phase was about 130 times lower than that of the film without the 1T phase.