Monolayer and multilayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) materials are semiconductors with direct/indirect bandgaps of 1.2–1.8 eV and are attractive due to their changes in response to electrical, physicochemical, biological, and mechanical factors. Since the desired electrical properties of MoS₂ are known, research on its electrical properties has increased, with focus on the deposition and growth of large-area MoS₂ and its functionalization. While research on the large-scale production of MoS₂ is actively underway, there is a lack of studies on functionalization approaches, which are essential since functional groups can help to dissolve particles or provide adequate reactivity. Strategies for producing films of functionalized MoS₂ are rare, and what methods do exist are either complex or inefficient. This work introduces an efficient way to functionalize MoS₂. Functional groups are formed on the surface by exposing MoS₂ with surface sulfur vacancies generated by plasma treatment to 3-mercaptopropionic acid. This technique can create 1.8 times as many carboxyl groups on the MoS₂ surface compared with previously reported strategies. The MoS₂-based gas sensor fabricated using the proposed method shows a 2.6 times higher sensitivity and much lower detection limit than the untreated device.

We present a cost-effective approach to produce silicon strain gauges that can withstand very high voltage without using any complex package design and without sacrificing any sensor performance. This is achieved by a special silicon strain gauge structure created on an alkali-free glass substrate that has a high breakdown voltage. A half-bridge silicon strain gauge is designed, fabricated, and then tested to measure its output characteristics. The device has a glass layer that is only 25–55 µm thick; it shows it is able to withstand a voltage of over 2000 V while maintaining a high degree of linearity with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9990 and an average sensitivity of 104.13. Due to their unique electrical properties, silicon strain gauges-on-glass chips hold much promise for use in advanced force and pressure sensors.