The uniform growth of single-crystal graphene over wafer-scale areas remains a challenge in the commercial-level manufacturability of various electronic, photonic, mechanical, and other devices based on graphene. Here, we describe wafer-scale growth of wrinkle-free single-crystal monolayer graphene on silicon wafer using a hydrogen-terminated germanium buffer layer. The anisotropic twofold symmetry of the germanium (110) surface allowed unidirectional alignment of multiple seeds, which were merged to uniform single-crystal graphene with predefined orientation. Furthermore, the weak interaction between graphene and underlying hydrogen-terminated germanium surface enabled the facile etch-free dry transfer of graphene and the recycling of the germanium substrate for continual graphene growth.
Conductive hydrogels are a class of composite materials that consist of hydrated and conducting polymers. Due to the mechanical similarity to biointerfaces such as human skin, conductive hydrogels have been primarily utilized as bioelectrodes, specifically neuroprosthetic electrodes, in an attempt to replace metallic electrodes by enhancing the mechanical properties and long-term stability of the electrodes within living organisms. Here, we report a conductive, smart hydrogel, which is thermoplastic and self-healing owing to its unique properties of reversible liquefaction and gelation in response to thermal stimuli. In addition, we demonstrated that our conductive hydrogel could be utilized to fabricate bendable, stretchable, and patternable electrodes directly on human skin. The excellent mechanical and thermal properties of our hydrogel make it potentially useful in a variety of biomedical applications such as electronic skin.
Surfactant-free nanoflakes of n-type Bi2 Te3 and Bi2 Se3 are synthesized in high yields. Their suspensions are mixed to create nanocomposites with heterostructured nanograins. A maximum ZT (0.7 at 400 K) is achieved with a broad content of 10-15% Bi2 Se3 in the nanocomposites.
Layered assembly structures composed of nanomaterials, such as nanocrystals, have attracted considerable attention as promising candidates for new functional devices whose optical, electromagnetic and electronic behaviours are determined by the spatial arrangement of component elements. However, difficulties in handling each constituent layer in a materialspecific manner limit the 3D integration of disparate nanomaterials into the appropriate heterogeneous electronics. Here we report a pick-and-place transfer method that enables the transfer of large-area nanodot assemblies. This solvent-free transfer utilizes a lifting layer and allows for the reliable transfer of a quantum dot (QD) monolayer, enabling layer-by-layer design. With the controlled multistacking of different bandgap QD layers, we are able to probe the interlayer energy transfer among different QD monolayers. By controlling the emission spectrum through such designed monolayer stacking, we have achieved white emission with stable optoelectronic properties, the closest to pure white among the QD lightemitting diodes reported so far.
Flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices can be potentially applied in displays, biosensors, biomedicine, robotics, and energy generation. The use of nanomaterials with superior optical properties such as quantum dots (QDs) is important in the realization of wearable displays and biomedical devices, but specific structural design as well as selection of materials should preferentially accompany this technology to realize stretchable forms of these devices. Here, we report stretchable optoelectronic sensors manufactured using colloidal QDs and integrated with elastomeric substrates, whose optoelectronic properties are stable under various deformations. A graphene electrode is adopted to ensure extreme bendability of the devices. Ultrathin QD light-emitting diodes and QD photodetectors are transfer-printed onto a prestrained elastomeric layout to form wavy configurations with regular patterns. The layout is mechanically stretchable until the structure is converted to a flat configuration. The emissive and active area itself can be stretched or compressed by buckled structures, which are applicable to wearable electronic devices. We demonstrate that these stretchable optoelectronic sensors can be used for continuous monitoring of blood waves via photoplethysmography signal recording. These and related systems create important and unconventional opportunities for stretchable and foldable optoelectronic devices with health-monitoring capability and, thus, meet the demand for wearable and body-integrated electronics.
Although triboelectrification is a well-known phenomenon, fundamental understanding of its principle on a material surface has not been studied systematically. Here, we demonstrated that the surface potential, especially the surface dipoles and surface electronic states, governed the triboelectrification by controlling the surface with various electron-donating and -withdrawing functional groups. The functional groups critically affected the surface dipoles and surface electronic states followed by controlling the amount of and even the polarity of triboelectric charges. As a result, only one monolayer with a thickness of less than 1 nm significantly changed the conventional triboelectric series. First-principles simulations confirmed the atomistic origins of triboelectric charges and helped elucidate the triboelectrification mechanism. The simulation also revealed for the first time where charges are retained after triboelectrification. This study provides new insights to understand triboelectrification.
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