On the elastic properties and fracture patterns of MoX2 (X = S, Se, Te) membranes: A reactive molecular dynamics study

Abstract

We carried out fully-atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations to study the elastic properties and fracture patterns of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) MoX2 (X = S, Se, Te) membranes, in their 2H and 1T phases, within the framework of the Stillinger–Weber potential. Results showed that the fracture mechanism of these membranes occurs through a fast crack propagation followed by their abrupt rupture into moieties. As a general trend, the translated arrangement of the chalcogen atoms in the 1T phase contributes to diminishing their structural stability when contrasted with the 2H one. Among the TMDs studied here, 2H-MoSe2 has a higher tensile strength (25.98 GPa).