Electronic junctions on edge
Two-dimensional materials such as graphene are attractive materials for making smaller transistors because they are inherently nanoscale and can carry high currents. However, graphene has no band gap and the transistors are “leaky”; that is, they are hard to turn off. Related transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as molybdenum sulfide have band gaps. Transistors based on these materials can have high ratios of “on” to “off” currents. However, it is often difficult to make a good voltage-biased (p-n) junction between different TMDC materials. Li
et al.
succeeded in making p-n heterojunctions between two of these materials, molybdenum sulfide and tungsten selenide. They did this not by stacking the layers, which make a weak junction, but by growing molybdenum sulfide on the edge of a triangle of tungsten selenide with an atomically sharp boundary
Science
, this issue p.
524
We proposed a simple yet robust film treatment method with methanol having only one hydroxyl group to enhance the conductivity of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) by four orders of magnitude. Different methods of film treatment: immersing PEDOT:PSS film in the methanol solution; dropping methanol on the film; and a combination of these are employed and the results are compared. The conductivity of PEDOT:PSS films was enhanced from 0.3 S cm À1 to 1362 S cm À1 after film treatment with methanol. Other alcohols like ethanol and propanol were also used to treat the PEDOT:PSS film and showed inferior conductivity enhancement compared to methanol. The conductivity enhancement was greatly affected by the hydrophilicity and dielectric constant of the alcohols used. The mechanism of conductivity enhancement was investigated through various characterization techniques including FTIR, XPS and AFM. Removal of the insulator PSS from the film, and morphology and conformational changes are the mechanisms for the conductivity enhancement. The treated films also showed high transmittance and low sheet resistance desirable for a standalone electrode. ITO-free polymer solar cells were fabricated using PEDOT:PSS electrodes treated with methanol and showed almost equal performance to ITO electrodes.
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