Two-Dimensional Semiconductors and Carrier Mobility

Two-dimensional semiconductors are atomically thin crystals whose electronic properties are governed by quantum confinement in one dimension. Unlike bulk materials, these layers exhibit tunable bandgaps, high surface‐to‐volume ratios and pronounced sensitivity to external fields, making them attractive for next-generation electronics, optoelectronics, sensing and energy conversion. Carrier mobility in these systems quantifies how quickly electrons or holes drift under an applied electric field and is shaped by effective mass, scattering from phonons and defects, dielectric environment and interlayer coupling. Transition metal dichalcogenides (such as MoS₂, WS₂) and emerging post-transition chalcogenides (for example GaSe, InSe) display mobilities ranging from a few tens to several hundred cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ at room temperature, while advances in substrate engineering, encapsulation and strain modulation have further improved transport. High mobility alongside controlled bandgap engineering enables low-power transistors, high-sensitivity photodetectors and efficient thermoelectric modules. Global efforts now focus on scalable synthesis, contact engineering and heterostructure design to integrate 2D semiconductors into practical devices.

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Two-Dimensional Semiconductors and Carrier Mobility publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in two-dimensional semiconductors and carrier mobility across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Two-dimensional semiconductor: A material consisting of a single or few atomic layers whose electronic properties are confined in the out-of-plane direction.

Carrier mobility: The velocity of charge carriers per unit electric field, reflecting how easily electrons or holes move through a semiconductor.

Bandgap: The energy difference between the valence-band maximum and conduction-band minimum that determines absorption edge and electrical conductivity.

Effective mass: A parameter characterising the response of a charge carrier to external forces, influenced by the curvature of electronic bands.

Anisotropy: Directional dependence of physical properties, significant in layered materials where in-plane and out-of-plane behaviours differ.

References

1. New stable ultrawide bandgap As2O3 semiconductor materials. Journal of Physics Materials (2023).
2. First-principles study of thermoelectric performance of monolayer Ge2X4S2 (X = P, As). Acta Physica Sinica (2023).
3. A novel two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide as water splitting photocatalyst with excellent performances. Frontiers in Chemistry (2022).