Lattice compressive strain-controlled electromagnetic wave absorption in TMDs by plasma-assisted rapid annealing

The strain control of a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) absorber is an intriguing approach for tuning electromagnetic wave absorption properties. Moreover, efficient and lower-temperature methods are needed to modulate lattice strain. Here, we report an efficient approach to trigger the growth of MoO₃@MoTe_2(1−2x)S_2x via plasma-assisted relatively rapid annealing (PARA) at a ramp rate of 80°C/min up to 500°C. The high-energy particles and active radicals (·N) generated by plasma enhanced thermal interactions of annealing, together with the extrusion of polar chalcogen with larger radii and the construction of an electronic buffer layer with a shell-core structure modulating the lattice compressive strain. Benefiting from the tailored lattice strains along with the Te content increases in PARA-MoTe_2(1−X)S_2X, the effective absorption bandwidth of PARA-MoTe_1.5S_0.5 with a maximum strain of 1.15% reaches 9.01 GHz at a thickness of 2.92 mm, significantly outperforming the MoO₃ counterpart (0 GHz).