LAUSR

Two-dimensional layered materials have attracted tremendous attention as photodetectors due to their fascinating features, including comprehensive coverage of band gaps, high potential in new-generation electronic devices, mechanical flexibility, and sensitive light–mass interaction. Currently, graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are the most attractive active materials for constructing photodetectors. A growing number of emerging TMDCs applied in photodetectors bring up opportunities in the direct band gap independence with thickness. This study demonstrated for the first time a photodetector based on a few-layer RexMo1–xS2, which was grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under atmospheric pressure. The detailed material characterizations were performed using Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on an as-grown few-layer RexMo1–xS2. The results show that both MoS2 and ReS2 peaks appear in the RexMo1–xS2 Raman diagram. RexMo1–xS2 is observed to emit light at a wavelength of 716.8 nm. The electronic band structure of the few layers of RexMo1–xS2 calculated using the first-principles theory suggests that the band gap of RexMo1–xS2 is larger than that of ReS2 and smaller than that of MoS2, which is consistent with the photoluminescence results. The thermal stability of the few layers of RexMo1–xS2 was evaluated using Raman temperature measurements. It is found that the thermal stability of RexMo1–xS2 is close to those of pure ReS2 and MoS2. The fabricated RexMo1–xS2 photodetector shows a high response rate of 7.46 A W–1 under 365 nm illumination, offering a competitive performance to the devices based on TMDCs and graphenes. This study unambiguously distinguishes RexMo1–xS2 as a future candidate in electronics and optoelectronics.