Microwaves-Assisted Synthesis of Tunable TMD-COF Heterostructures

Chemical and biological sensing using 2D nanomaterials has been an area of intense investigation including inorganic materials that exhibit high sensitivity, however it has been limited as a field due to the lack of selectivity among analytes. While 2D inorganic materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), can readily decipher between donor/acceptor groups, strategies to incorporate selectivity in these devices is often challenging. Organic 2D materials such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs), known for their highly crystalline repeated organic moieties, have been shown to act as selectivity agents due to their functionalization and porosity. This research focuses on the association of COFs with 2D nanomaterials using top-down microwave-assisted activation of TMDs and deposition of COF nanoparticles creating coupled heterostructures. Several known TMD and COF species have been examined to understand the fundamental surface interactions between 2D nanomaterials and few layer COFs, this unique methodology allows the study of mono- to few layer properties of both the organic and inorganic materials simultaneously. Kinetics and mechanistic studies were used to determine the manner of association of the inorganic and organic substrates. Photoluminescence and electronic measurement studies demonstrate a microwave power dependent electronic coupling of the inorganic and organic materials in these highly tunable hybrid materials.