Universal epitaxy of non-centrosymmetric two-dimensional single-crystal metal dichalcogenides

The great challenge for the growth of non-centrosymmetric 2D single crystals is to break the equivalence of antiparallel grains. Even though this pursuit has been partially achieved in boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) growth, the key factors that determine the epitaxy of non-centrosymmetric 2D single crystals are still unclear. Here we report a universal methodology for the epitaxy of non-centrosymmetric 2D metal dichalcogenides enabled by accurate time sequence control of the simultaneous formation of grain nuclei and substrate steps. With this methodology, we have demonstrated the epitaxy of unidirectionally aligned MoS(2) grains on a, c, m, n, r and v plane Al(2)O(3) as well as MgO and TiO(2) substrates. This approach is also applicable to many TMDs, such as WS(2), NbS(2), MoSe(2), WSe(2) and NbSe(2). This study reveals a robust mechanism for the growth of various 2D single crystals and thus paves the way for their potential applications.