Optimization of Absorption in Patterned 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Two-dimensional materials, specially transition metal dichalcogenides are perhaps one of the most promising materials in the field of photonics, opto-electronics, and catalysis. In this paper, we showed that nanopatterned transition metal dichalcogenides such as MoSe₂ and WS₂ on a dielectric substrate coated with metal have the potential to exhibit near complete optical absorption over the whole range of the visible spectrum. We also analyzed the absorption characteristics of Silicene for similar architecture for comparison. Scopes for absorption enhancement for each of these 2D materials in a sub-nanometer architecture were similarly explored. Maximum attainable photocurrent density was also calculated for the different architectures considering unity photon to electron conversion.