Advances in two‐dimensional molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2): A comprehensive review of properties, preparation methods, and applications

In the past decade, molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) has received significant attention from the scientific community due to its structural features and unique properties originate from them. In the current review, the properties, various preparation approaches, and versatile applications of MoTe2 are presented. The review provides a brief update on the state of our fundamental understanding of MoTe2 material and also discusses the issues that need to be resolved. To introduce MoTe2, we briefly summarize its structural, optoelectronic, magnetic, and mechanical properties in the beginning. Then, different preparation methods of MoTe2, such as exfoliation, laser treatment, deposition, hydrothermal, microwave, and molecular beam epitaxy, are included. The excellent electrical conductivity, strong optical activity, tunable bandgap, high sensitivity, and impressive stability make it an ideal contender for different applications, including energy storage, catalysis, sensors, solar cells, photodetectors, and transistors. The performance of MoTe2 in these applications is systematically introduced along with mechanistic insights. At the end of the article, the challenges and possible future directions are highlighted to further modify MoTe2 material for the numerous functionalities. Therefore, the availability of different phases and layer structures implies a potential for MoTe2 to lead an era of two-dimensional materials that began from the exfoliation of graphene.