Out-of-Plane Electromechanical Response of Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide Measured by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have recently been theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed to exhibit electromechanical coupling. Specifically, monolayer and few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) have been measured to be piezoelectric within the plane of their atoms. This work demonstrates and quantifies a nonzero out-of-plane electromechanical response of monolayer MoS2 and discusses its possible origins. A piezoresponse force microscope was used to measure the out-of-plane deformation of monolayer MoS2 on Au/Si and Al2O3/Si substrates. Using a vectorial background subtraction technique, we estimate the effective out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficient, d(33)(eff), for monolayer MoS2 to be 1.03 +/- 0.22 pm/V when measured on the Au/Si substrate and 1.35 +/- 0.24 pm/V when measured on Al2O3/Si. This is on the same order as the in-plane coefficient d(11) reported for monolayer MoS2. Interpreting the out-of-plane response as a flexoelectric response, the effective flexoelectric coefficient, mu(eff)*, is estimated to be 0.10 nC/m. Analysis has ruled out the possibility of elastic and electrostatic forces contributing to the measured electromechanical response. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy detected some contaminants on both MoS2 and its substrate, but the background subtraction technique is expected to remove major contributions from the unwanted contaminants. These measurements provide evidence that monolayer MoS2 exhibits an out-of-plane electromechanical response and our analysis offers estimates of the effective piezoelectric and flexoelectric coefficients.