Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis Seminar
Layered transition metal dichalcogenides (LTMDC) have been studied intensively in the past on the basis of small single crystals as model systems for 2-dimensional solids and in photoelectrochemical solar cells with rather high conversion efficiencies. Preparation of thin films, especially for the refractory metal LTMDC's, was cumbersome. In the seminar I will review the efforts of preparing and understanding the properties of thin films of this material class. It turned out that using carbonyls as metal precursors produce single crystalline films with astonishing electronic properties. For non-interacting substrates the films showed electronic properties of free standing layers. For thicker layers the electronic properties of cleaved single crystals were obtained.