Van der Waals epitaxy of large-area continuous ReS₂ films on mica substrate

Rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) has attracted scientists' attention for its unique physical properties and potential applications in high-efficiency photodetector devices. Although lots of works have been done to obtain high-quality ReS₂ nanoflakes, in-plane uniform growth is still challenging due to its unique decoupling property between layers. In this work, we successfully realized the epitaxial growth of continuous monolayer ReS₂ films on mica substrate by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). By prolonging the growth time, continuous multilayer ReS₂ films can also be obtained. The growth mechanism of ReS₂ films is proposed based on Stranski-Krastanov theory. Filed effect transistors (FETs) based on multilayer ReS₂ films exhibit typical n-type semiconducting behaviour with a carrier density of 0.27 cm² V^-1 s^-1 and ON/OFF ratio of about 4 × 10³. The photoresponsivity of the phototransistor could reach up to 0.98 A W^-1 with a light intensity of 0.56 mW cm^-2, suggesting that ReS₂ is a promising material for electronic and optoelectronic applications.