Versaprobe 3

“The microstructural properties and phase purity were examined using an X’Pert Pro diffractometer with a CuKα (1.5406 Å) source, BRUKER RFS 27 Standalone FT-RAMAN spectrometer and Japan-made JEOL-JEM (2010) HRTEM microscope with a BRUCKER QUANTAX 200-Z10 EDX detector. The textural analysis done by BELSORP Mini II. Surface analysis was performed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), a Versa Probe-III (Physical Electronics). The surface morphology was examined using a TESCAN MIRA-3 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) along with an EDAX detector”.

For the XPS characterization,
we used a PHI VersaProbe III instrument (Physical Electronics, USA)
equipped with a microfocused monochromated Al Kα source (1486.6
eV) and dual beam charge neutralization. Individual core orbitals
of interest were characterized with high-resolution scans (specifically,
molybdenum (Mo) and sulfur (S) were recorded for MoS₂,
platinum (Pt) and selenium (Se) for PtSe₂). In addition,
carbon (C), oxygen (O), and silicon (Si) were scanned in all samples.
In the case of graphene, the carbon 1s orbital was recorded with lower
pass energy, increased resolution, and integration time. The binding
energy scale was referenced to the adventitious carbon 1s core level
at 284.8 eV. The X-ray spot (100 μm in diameter) was focused
in the center of a nanohole patterned 200 × 200 μm² patch of the 2D material where the surrounding film has been
entirely removed by the laser (see Figure S1 in the Supporting Information for the description of the geometry
of test).