Impacts of dielectric screening on the luminescence of monolayer WSe₂

Single layers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as WSe2 have gathered increasing attention due to their intense electron-hole interactions, being considered promising candidates for developing novel optical applications. Within the few-layer regime, these systems become highly sensitive to the surrounding environment, enabling the possibility of using a proper substrate to tune desired aspects of these atomically-thin semiconductors. In this scenario, the dielectric environment provided by the substrates exerts significant influence on electronic and optical properties of these layered materials, affecting the electronic band-gap and the exciton binding energy. However, the corresponding effect on the luminescence of TMDCs is still under discussion. To elucidate these impacts, we used a broad set of materials as substrates for single-layers of WSe2, enabling the observation of these effects over a wide range of electrical permittivities. Our results demonstrate that an increasing permittivity induces a systematic red-shift of the optical band-gap of WSe2, intrinsically related to a considerable reduction of the luminescence intensity. Moreover, we annealed the samples to ensure a tight coupling between WSe2 and its substrates, reducing the effect of undesired adsorbates trapped in the interface. Ultimately, our findings reveal how critical the annealing temperature can be, indicating that above a certain threshold, the heating treatment can induce adverse impacts on the luminescence. Furthermore, our conclusions highlight the influence the dielectric properties of the substrate have on the luminescence of WSe2, showing that a low electrical permittivity favours preserving the native properties of the adjacent monolayer.