Structural and optical properties analysis of MoS2 nanoflakes on quartz substrate as prepared by mechanical exfoliation

We study the structural and optical properties of MoS2 nanoflakes on quartz substrate as prepared by mechanical exfoliation method. The structural and morphological properties of MoS2 nanoflakes were characterized by SEM, EDS, and XRD, while the high-resolution spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) with the photon energy of 1.27 to 6.53 eV is used to study its optical characteristics. As the results, SEM data shows that MoS2 appears to be nanoflakes covering around 25-35% on the surface of quartz substrate, and XRD spectra shows the dominant orientation along c-axis (002). Based on spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis, the average thickness of MoS2 nanoflakes is around 12 nm or about 6-8 layers. By using Tauc plot method, we confirm that MoS2 nanoflakes have a semiconductor characteristic with the optical bandgap as high as 1.68 eV. Our study shows the important of structural and optical properties of MoS2 nanoflakes that can be utilized for future optoelectronic devices and energy-harvesting purposes.