Determining the interlayer shearing in twisted bilayer MoS2 by nanoindentation

Abstract The rise of twistronics has increased the attention of the community to the twist-angle-dependent properties of two-dimensional van der Waals integrated architectures. Clarification of the relationship between twist angles and interlayer mechanical interactions is important in benefiting the design of two-dimensional twisted structures. However, current mechanical methods have critical limitations in quantitatively probing the twist-angle dependence of two-dimensional interlayer interactions in monolayer limits. Here we report a nanoindentation-based technique and a shearing-boundary model to determine the interlayer mechanical interactions of twisted bilayer MoS2. Both in-plane elastic moduli and interlayer shear stress are found to be independent of the twist angle, which is attributed to the long-range interaction of intermolecular van der Waals forces that homogenously spread over the interfaces of MoS2. Our work provides a universal approach to determining the interlayer shear stress and deepens the understanding of twist-angle-dependent behaviours of two-dimensional layered materials.