Layer transfer offers enormous potential
for the industrial implementation
of two-dimensional (2D) material technology platforms. However, the
transfer method used must retain the as-grown uniformity and cleanliness
in the transferred films for the fabrication of 2D material-based
devices. Additionally, the method used must be capable of large-area
transfer to maintain wafer-scale fabrication standards. Here, a facile
route to transfer centimeter-scale synthesized 2D transition metal
dichalcogenides (TMDCs) (3L MoS
2
, 1L WS
2
) onto
various substrates such as sapphire, SiO
2
/Si, and flexible
substrates (mica, polyimide) has been developed using a water-soluble
layer (Na
2
S/Na
2
SO
4
) underneath the
as-grown film. The developed transfer process represents a fast, clean,
generic, and scalable technique to transfer 2D atomic layers. The
key strategy used in this process includes the dissolution of the
Na
2
S/Na
2
SO
4
layer due to the penetration
of NaOH solution between the growth substrate and hydrophobic 2D TMDC
film. As a proof-of-concept device, a broadband photodetector has
been fabricated onto the transferred 3L MoS
2
, which shows
photoresponse behavior for a wide range of wavelengths ranging from
near-infrared (NIR) to UV. The enhancement in photocurrent was found
to be 100 times and 10 times the dark current in the UV and visible
regions, respectively. The fabricated photodetector shows a higher
responsivity of 8.6 mA/W even at a low applied voltage (1.5 V) and
low power density (0.6 μW/mm
2
). The detector enables
a high detectivity of 2.9 × 10
11
Jones. This work
opens up the pathway toward flexible electronics and optoelectronics.