Chemical vapour deposition of rhenium disulfide and rhenium-doped molybdenum disulfide thin films using single-source precursors

Polycrystalline thin films of rhenium disulfide (ReS2) and the alloys Mo1-xRexS2 (0 <= x <= 0.06) have been deposited by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AA-CVD) using [Re(mu-(SPr)-Pr-i)(3)(SiPr)(6)] (1) and [Mo(S2CNEt2)(4)] (2) in different molar ratios at 475 degrees C. The deposited films were characterised by p-XRD, SEM, and ICP-OE, Raman, and EDX spectroscopies. The p-XRD patterns of the films deposited from (1) correspond to ReS2 (x = 1) and those deposited from (2) matched to MoS2 (x = 0). Re-doping of up to 6% was achieved in MoS2 thin films by using different concentrations of precursor (1), the morphology of the doped films changed from lamellar for pure MoS2 to clusters at 6 mol% alloying with rhenium. The films are promising candidates as models for the incorporation of technetium into transition metal dichalcogenides as a means of immobilisation in nuclear waste processing. Exfoliation of these films is also a potential route towards modification of the optoelectronic properties of 2D molybdenite.