Selective Isolation of Mono- to Quadlayered 2D Materials via Sonication-Assisted Micromechanical Exfoliation

Mechanical exfoliation methods of two-dimensional materials have been an essential process for advanced devices and fundamental sciences. However, the exfoliation method usually generates various thick flakes, and a bunch of thick bulk flakes usually covers an entire substrate. Here, we developed a method to selectively isolate mono- to quadlayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) by sonication in organic solvents. The analysis reveals the importance of low interface energies between solvents and TMDCs, leading to the effective removal of bulk flakes under sonication. Importantly, a monolayer adjacent to bulk flakes shows cleavage at the interface, and the monolayer can be selectively isolated on the substrate. This approach can extend to preparing a monolayer device with crowded 17 electrode fingers surrounding the monolayer and for the measurement of electrostatic device performance.