Photoluminescence-based gas sensing with MoS2 monolayers

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are highly appealing for gas sensors, lab-on-a-chip devices, and biosensing applications because of their strong light–matter interaction and high surface-to-volume ratio. The ability to grow these van der Waals materials on different substrates and waveguide geometries opens a horizon toward scalable on-chip photonic nanodevices. Here we report on a versatile technique for remote optical gas sensing using two-dimensional TMDs. The adsorption of the gas molecules on the monolayer surface provides a gateway for gas sensing based on charge-transfer-induced photoluminescence variation. For gases that are weakly adsorbed on the surface of monolayer TMDs, purging the monolayers’ surface by an inert gas like N2 can desorb gases from the monolayers at room temperature. We demonstrate CO, NO, and NO2 detection by monitoring photoluminescence from semiconducting MoS2 monolayers grown on SiO2/Si chips at a level of 10 ppm with fast response time. Observations are supported by our density functional theory calculations, which predict a significant interaction between these gases and MoS2 monolayers. These findings may lead to advances in remote sensing, surface-sensitive bioanalytics, and lab-on-a-chip sensors.