biostudies-literatureUnknown15(1)Chang CCompared to transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers, rhombohedral-stacked (R-stacked) TMD bilayers exhibit remarkable electrical performance, enhanced nonlinear optical response, giant piezo-photovoltaic effect and intrinsic interfacial ferroelectricity. However, from a thermodynamics perspective, the formation energies of R-stacked and hexagonal-stacked (H-stacked) TMD bilayers are nearly identical, leading to mixed stacking of both H- and R-stacked bilayers in epitaxial films. Here, we report the remote epitaxy of centimetre-scale single-crystal R-stacked WS₂ bilayer films on sapphire substrates. The bilayer growth is realized by a high flux feeding of the tungsten source at high temperature on substrates. The R-stacked configuration is achieved by the symmetry breakiNature communications4130https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11099013biostudies-literatureRemote epitaxy of single-crystal rhombohedral WS₂ bilayers.PMC11099013Ding FTang ZHuang CLiu KFeng ZRen YWei WGuo QZhou XWang JLi WZhang XCai YChang CXu XfalseRemote epitaxy of single-crystal rhombohedral WS₂ bilayers.Compared to transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers, rhombohedral-stacked (R-stacked) TMD bilayers exhibit remarkable electrical performance, enhanced nonlinear optical response, giant piezo-photovoltaic effect and intrinsic interfacial ferroelectricity. However, from a thermodynamics perspective, the formation energies of R-stacked and hexagonal-stacked (H-stacked) TMD bilayers are nearly identical, leading to mixed stacking of both H- and R-stacked bilayers in epitaxial films. Here, we report the remote epitaxy of centimetre-scale single-crystal R-stacked WS₂ bilayer films on sapphire substrates. The bilayer growth is realized by a high flux feeding of the tungsten source at high temperature on substrates. The R-stacked configuration is achieved by the symmetry breaki2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 May2026-04-12T15:30:26.832Z2026-04-07T13:17:59.975ZS-EPMC110990133875518910.1038/s41467-024-48522-8