2D materials such as graphene have been investigated for next-generation electronic materials because of their unique and exceptional electrical and opto-electronic properties. Especially transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have received considerable attention as an analogue of graphene due to their intrinsic band gap and two-dimentional layered structural similarity. These properties make them suitable for electronic and opto-electronic devices including field-effect transistors (FETs), photodetectors, and sensor applications.

Laser-assisted metal deposition is realized through photo-reduction. Photo-reduction is based on the photocatalytic property of semiconductor materials afforded by their band gap. Incident light generate electron-hole pairs and metal ions are reduced on the surface of 2D materials as a result of recombination between the generated free electrons and metal ions.