Deterministic synthesis of Cu 9 S 5 flakes assisted by single-layer graphene arrays.

The employment of two-dimensional materials, as growth substrates or buffer layers, enables the epitaxial growth of layered materials with different crystalline symmetries with a preferential crystalline orientation and the synthesis of heterostructures with a large lattice constant mismatch. In this work, we employ single crystalline graphene to modify the sulfurization dynamics of copper foil for the deterministic synthesis of large-area Cu ₉ S ₅ crystals. Molecular dynamics simulations using the Reax force-field are used to mimic the sulfurization process of a series of different atomistic systems specifically built to understand the role of graphene during the sulphur atom attack over the Cu(111) surface. Cu ₉ S ₅ flakes show a flat morphology with an average lateral size of hundreds of micrometers. Cu ₉ S ₅ presents a direct band-gap of 2.5 eV evaluated with light absorption and light emission spectroscopies. Electrical characterization shows that the Cu ₉ S ₅ crystals present high p-type doping with a hole mobility of 2 cm ² V ^-1 s ^-1 .
Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare.
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