Capturing and Editing Te-Deficient Phases in Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Telluride Compound

TY - JOUR

T1 - Capturing and Editing Te-Deficient Phases in Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Telluride Compound

AU - Xu, Xiaolong

AU - Qu, Shuangquan

AU - Guzman, Roger

AU - Xu, Mingzhu

AU - Han, Bo

AU - Huang, Mengting

AU - Ding, Yiming

AU - Zhang, Binbin

AU - Wang, Shibo

AU - Fu, Wenlei

AU - Song, Yiwen

AU - Yang, Shiqi

AU - Yang, Huixia

AU - Zhang, Yu

AU - Ma, Yuanxiao

AU - Shao, Ruiwen

AU - Gao, Peng

AU - Zhou, Wu

AU - Ye, Yu

AU - Wang, Yeliang

PY - 2026/2/11

Y1 - 2026/2/11

N2 - Phase engineering of stoichiometric two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures remains a formidable challenge due to the thermodynamic stability disparity among the stoichiometric phases. Here, we report a dynamic-equilibrium approach (DEA) to access Te-deficient polymorphs in the Mo-Te system. By dynamically balancing tellurium vacancy generation and refilling, we drive selective phase transitions along divergent pathways. Starting from 1T'-MoTe2, we access three distinct Te-deficient phases: a novel van der Waals (vdW) Mo5Te8 with a high density of mirror-twin boundaries, a Chevrel-type nonlayered Mo3Te4, and a quasi-1D vdW Mo6Te6. These transitions proceed through Te-vacancy-initiated nucleation, followed by epitaxial templating at phase boundaries, which transforms the polycrystalline matrix into single-crystal phases. Sequentially modulating the Te chemical potential allows for the on-demand synthesis of atomically sharp heterostructures, demonstrating in situ phase editing. Moreover, we achieved wafer-scale synthesis of uniform Te-deficient phases (Mo5Te8, Mo6Te6) by depositing a Mo capping layer to precisely regulate Te vacancy concentrations across the entire substrate. This scalable control enables the fabrication of phase-controlled heterostructure device arrays, underscoring their potential for phase-programmable electronics. This work establishes a defect-mediated pathway to Te-deficient phases and heterostructures.

AB - Phase engineering of stoichiometric two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures remains a formidable challenge due to the thermodynamic stability disparity among the stoichiometric phases. Here, we report a dynamic-equilibrium approach (DEA) to access Te-deficient polymorphs in the Mo-Te system. By dynamically balancing tellurium vacancy generation and refilling, we drive selective phase transitions along divergent pathways. Starting from 1T'-MoTe2, we access three distinct Te-deficient phases: a novel van der Waals (vdW) Mo5Te8 with a high density of mirror-twin boundaries, a Chevrel-type nonlayered Mo3Te4, and a quasi-1D vdW Mo6Te6. These transitions proceed through Te-vacancy-initiated nucleation, followed by epitaxial templating at phase boundaries, which transforms the polycrystalline matrix into single-crystal phases. Sequentially modulating the Te chemical potential allows for the on-demand synthesis of atomically sharp heterostructures, demonstrating in situ phase editing. Moreover, we achieved wafer-scale synthesis of uniform Te-deficient phases (Mo5Te8, Mo6Te6) by depositing a Mo capping layer to precisely regulate Te vacancy concentrations across the entire substrate. This scalable control enables the fabrication of phase-controlled heterostructure device arrays, underscoring their potential for phase-programmable electronics. This work establishes a defect-mediated pathway to Te-deficient phases and heterostructures.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105030089060

U2 - 10.1021/jacs.5c19547

DO - 10.1021/jacs.5c19547

M3 - Article

C2 - 41605543

AN - SCOPUS:105030089060

SN - 0002-7863

VL - 148

SP - 5486

EP - 5495

JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society

JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society

IS - 5

ER -