Materials Letters xxx (2017) xxx–xxx

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Materials Letters
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mlblue

Effect of temperature on the magnetism and memristive memory

behavior of MoSe2 nanosheets
Pingyuan Li b,1, Bai Sun a,b,⇑,1, Xin Zhang b,c, Guangdong Zhou d, Yudong Xia a,b, Liyong Gan b,c, Yong Zhang b,c,
Yong Zhao a,b,c,⇑
a
School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China
b
Superconductivity and New Energy Center (SNEC), Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China
c
Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education of China, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China
d
Institute for Clean Energy & Advanced Materials (ICEAM), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this work, the MoSe2 nanosheets were firstly prepared by hydrothermal method. We found the mag-
Received 23 March 2017 netism of MoSe2 nanosheets obviously enhance with the decrease of temperature. Further, we fabricated
Received in revised form 15 May 2017 a memristor using as-prepared MoSe2 nanosheets, and observed temperature can regulate the memristor
Accepted 20 May 2017
memory behavior of the device. In a word, this work reveals the potential multifunctional applications of
Available online xxxx
MoSe2 nanosheets with magnetism and memristive memory effects in future device technology.
Ó 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
MoSe2 nanosheets
Magnetism
Memristive memory
Temperature
Hydrothermal

1. Introduction we all know, hydrothermal synthesis has many advantages, such

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have been
widely studied because of their potential advanced applications
in electronic devices [1,2]. Graphene, which is firstly found to have
2D structure, is considered as the most promising candidate for
next generation electronics [3]. Unfortunately, the band gap of gra-
phene is zero, which hinders further application in semiconducting
devices [4]. However, the band gap of MoX2 (X = S, Se, Te) is
1 eV2 eV, which have been discovered to be layered structure.
It is truly worthy of note that MoSe2 is a new class of 2D materials
with a band gap of 1.7 eV–1.9 eV [5], which makes it promising for
fabricating low-dimensional semiconducting devices.
Since bulk MoSe2 is a non-magnetic material, many efforts have
been devoted to inducing magnetism [6,7]. Compared with bulk
materials, low-dimensional nanostructured materials have special
physical properties, which is because of their unique size effect and
edge effects [8]. The synthesis of low dimensional nanomaterials
with plenty of edges is desired for exploring the edge effects on
the magnetic properties of these materials [9,10]. Moreover, as
⇑ Corresponding authors at: School of Physical Science and Technology, South-
west Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610031, China.
E-mail addresses: bsun@swjtu.edu.cn (B. Sun), yzhao@swjtu.edu.cn (Y. Zhao).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.
as simple equipment, low price and easy operation etc. [11,12].
For this motivation, in this work, MoSe2 nanosheets were synthe-
sized by hydrothermal method. The magnetic measurement results
reveal the clear ferromagnetism of the MoSe2 nanosheets.
Furthermore, we found that the as-prepared MoSe2 nanosheets
have a significant memristive memory effect, and the memristive
effect is obviously regulated by temperature. The unique ferromag-
netism properties and memristive memory behavior of the
obtained MoSe2 nanosheets will enable its multifunctional applica-
tions in electronics.
2. Experimental procedure
In this work, MoSe2 nanosheets were synthesized by a
hydrothermal method. A stoichiometric amount of Na2MoO4
2H2O
and Se powder was put into a stainless steel autoclave with a 50 ml
capacity with stirring until completely dissolved. Then an appro-
priate amount of hydrazine hydrate (N2H4
H2O) was added into
the tank under stirring. Distilled water was added to fill the auto-
clave up to 85% of the total volume under vigorous stirring for
30 min, and then the pH value was adjusted to about 13 with the
addition of solid NaOH. The autoclave was sealed and maintained
at 160 °C for 96 h, and then cooled to room temperature naturally.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.05.087
0167-577X/Ó 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: P. Li et al., Effect of temperature on the magnetism and memristive memory behavior of MoSe2 nanosheets, Materials
Letters (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.05.087
2 P. Li et al. / Materials Letters xxx (2017) xxx–xxx

Fig. 1. (a) The SEM image of MoSe2 nanosheets. (b) The HRTEM image of MoSe2 nanosheets; the inset exhibits SAED pattern of MoSe2 nanosheets. (c) The XRD of MoSe2
nanosheets at room temperature. (d) The EDX spectrum of as-prepared MoSe2 nanosheets.

Fig. 2. (a) The M-H hysteresis loops for MoSe2 nanosheets measured at 300 K, 77 K and 4.2 K respectively. (b) The temperature-induced change of the saturation
magnetization (Ms) and the coercive force (Mc).

Please cite this article in press as: P. Li et al., Effect of temperature on the magnetism and memristive memory behavior of MoSe2 nanosheets, Materials
Letters (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.05.087
 P. Li et al. / Materials Letters xxx (2017) xxx–xxx 3

Fig. 3. (a) The current–voltage (I–V) curves of Ag/MoSe2/Ti structure at 300 K, 400 K and 500 K respectively; The inset shows the device structure. (b) The temperature-
induced change of the set voltage (VSet) and the resistance ratio (RHRS/RLRS).

The precipitate was collected. After being washed with absolute
ethanol and distilled water, the final product was dried in a vac-
uum box at 60 °C for overnight.
The microstructure of MoSe2 nanosheets was characterised at
room temperature by X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Cu Ka radiation.
The surface morphology of the MoSe2 nanosheets was charac-
terised using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The size and
crystal structure of the MoSe2 nanosheets were observed by trans-
mission electron microscopy (TEM). The magnetic properties were
characterized by SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference
Device). The current–voltage (I–V) curve was tested using the elec-
trochemical workstation.
3. Results and discussion
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of as-prepared
MoSe2 nanosheets is shown in Fig. 1(a), we can see that as-
prepared sample consists of MoSe2 nanosheets, and the size of
these nanosheets are about 5 lm. From the high resolution trans-
mission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image of MoSe2 nanosheets
in the Fig. 1(b), the two dimensional well-resolved lattice fingers
suggest that the MoSe2 are well crystallized. In the meantime,
the two well-defined interfringe distances of 0.28 nm can be
indexed to crystal plane of hexagonal MoSe2. The corresponding
selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns, as shown in
the inset of Fig. 1(b), indicate the single crystal characteristic of
the MoSe2 nanosheets. In addition, the quasi-hexagonal diffraction
spots can be indexed as the [1 1 1] zone axis of hexagonal-phase
MoSe2. Fig. 1(c) shows the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) pattern
of MoSe2 at room temperature, which matches very well with that
in the reported works [13,14]. Obviously no other impurity peaks
are detected. At the same time, the relatively sharp peaks suggest
that the MoSe2 nanosheets hold good crystallinity. In addition, the
energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis of the nanosheets (Fig. 1
(d)) further confirms that the main compositions of the nanosheets
are Mo and Se without impurity elements.
Magnetic hysteresis loops (M–H) are the most basic character-
ization of magnetic property of a material [15]. Fig. 2(a) exhibits
the M–H of the MoSe2 nanosheets at 300 K, 77 K and 4.2 K respec-
tively. The ferromagnetism of MoSe2 nanosheets are enhanced
with decrease of test temperature. The saturation magnetizations
(Ms) of MoSe2 nanosheets at 300 K are approximately 0.8 emu g 1.
However, it is increased into about 1.2 emu g 1 at 77 K, further the
value is increased into 1.8 emu g 1 at 4.2 K. The function of mag-
netic performance with temperature is shown in Fig. 2(b). It is
highly obvious that the Ms decreases with the increase of temper-
ature. Simultaneously, the coercive force also has such a trend with
the temperature. The above results indicate that we have success-
fully synthesized the MoSe2 nanosheets with intrinsic ferromag-
netism. The substantial ferromagnetism of the MoSe2 nanosheets
should originate from the presence of zigzag Mo-edges [16–18].
In order to investigate the memory behavior of MoSe2
nanosheets, we fabricated a device with Ag/MoSe2/Ti structure.
Fig. 3(a) shows the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics curves in
logarithmic scale of Ag/MoSe2/Ti structure, which exhibit an asym-
metric behavior with significant hysteresis. These arrows in the fig-
ure denote the sweeping direction of the applied voltage. The
resistive switching memory behavior has rapid conversion and
good reproducibility. We can see that the device exhibits two
stable resistance states when applying an electric field. It is obvi-
ous that a sudden current increase occurs at about 2.6 V (VSet) at
300 K, further this value is decreased to 2.4 V and 2.2 V at 400 K
and 500 K, respectively, indicating a ‘‘Set” process from a high
resistance state (HRS) or ‘‘OFF” state to a low resistance state
(LRS) or ‘‘ON” state happens. When the applied voltage sweeps
from zero to a negative voltage of about 3.0 V (VReset) at 300 K,
2.8 V at 400 K and 2.6 V at 500 K, a ‘‘Reset” process from a
low resistance state (LRS) or ‘‘ON” state to high resistance state
(HRS) or ‘‘OFF” state occurs. The two well-resolved states provide
a clear memory window of the device [5,19]. More importantly,
it is highly obvious that temperature can regulate the resistive
switching effect and change the memory windows, demonstrating
the great potential of Ag/MoSe2/Ti device for temperature-
controlled memory applications. The function of memory perfor-
mance with temperature is shown in Fig. 3(b). It is highly obvious
that the VSet decreases with the increase of temperature. Mean-
while, the resistance ratio also has such a trend with the
temperature.
4. Conclusion
The MoSe2 nanosheets were synthesized, and a temperature
induced magnetic change of MoSe2 nanosheets is observed. Fur-
ther, temperature-controlled bipolar resistive switching memory

Please cite this article in press as: P. Li et al., Effect of temperature on the magnetism and memristive memory behavior of MoSe2 nanosheets, Materials
Letters (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.05.087
4 P. Li et al. / Materials Letters xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
behavior of the Ag/MoSe2/Ti device is presented. The superior mul-
tiple characteristics of as-prepared MoSe2 nanosheets hold great
promise for next-generation multifunctional applications.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the National
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program (No.
2013GB114003-1, 2013GB110001), the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51377138, 11504303), The 863 Program
(No. 2014AA032701), the Sichuan Province Science Foundation
(No. 2017JY0057).
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