Combined Experimental and Computational Insight into the Role of Substrate in the Synthesis of Two-Dimensional WSe.

Synthesis of large-area transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with controlled orientation is a significant challenge to their industrial applications. Substrate plays a vital role in determining the final quality of monolayer materials grown via the chemical vapor deposition process by controlling their orientation, crystal structure, and grain boundary. This study determined the binding energy and equilibrium distance for tungsten diselenide (WSe) monolayers on crystalline and amorphous silicon dioxide and aluminum dioxide substrates. Differently oriented WSe monolayers are considered to investigate the role of the substrate in the orientation, binding strength, and equilibrium distance. This study can pave the way to synthesizing high-quality two-dimensional (2D) materials for electronic and chemical applications.