High-performance MoS transistors are developed using atomic hexagonal boron nitride as a tunneling layer to reduce the Schottky barrier and achieve low contact resistance between metal and MoS . Benefiting from the ultrathin tunneling layer within 0.6 nm, the Schottky barrier is significantly reduced from 158 to 31 meV with small tunneling resistance.

Polysulfide shuttling and uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth have hampered the application of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Although various materials have been utilized to overcome these obstacles, simple and scalable methods are still needed for Li–S battery commercialization. It is shown for the first time that the layer‐by‐layer (LbL) self‐assembly of 2D nanomaterials can be used to controllably fabricate multifunctional separators that simultaneously trap polysulfides and suppress lithium dendrite growth. The double‐sided “nanobrick wall” structure, constructed by MoS2/poly(diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride) hybrid in conjunction with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), provides a physical shield against polysulfides and the chemical adsorption of such species by MoS2 and PAA. At the same time, the robust and Li‐ion conducting MoS2 layers strengthen the separator and regulate Li deposition, thereby effectively suppressing Li dendrite formation. As a result, a simple sulfur cathode battery with an ultralight separator coating (0.10 mg cm−2) is able to achieve an outstanding cycle stability with a capacity decay as low as 0.029% per cycle over 2000 cycles and a reversible areal capacity ≈2.0 mAh cm−2 at 1 C. The proposed LbL approach opens the door to the simple, scalable, and economic fabrication of advanced functional separators for use in the real world.

A novel cell configuration allows a Te nanowire positive electrode for delivering an ultrahigh discharge capacity in tellurium–aluminum batteries.

Graphene-plasmonic hybrid platforms have attracted an enormous amount of interest in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS); however, the mechanism of employing graphene is still ambiguous, so clarification about the complex interaction among molecules, graphene, and plasmon processes is urgently needed. We report that the number of graphene layers controlled the plasmon-driven, surface-catalyzed reaction that converts para-aminothiophenol (PATP)-to-p,p9-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) on chemically inert, graphene-coated, silver bowtie nanoantenna arrays. The catalytic reaction was monitored by SERS, which revealed that the catalytic reaction occurred on the chemical inertness monolayer graphene (1G)-coated silver nanostructures. The introduction of 1G enhances the plasmon-driven surface-catalyzed reaction of the conversion of PATP-to-p,p9-DMAB. The chemical reaction is suppressed by bilayer graphene. In the process of the catalytic reaction, the electron transfer from the PATP molecule to 1G-coated silver nanostructures. Subsequently, the transferred electrons on the graphene recombine with the hot-hole produced by the localized surface plasmon resonance of silver nanostructures. Then, a couple of PATP molecules lost electrons are catalyzed into the p,p9-DMAB molecule on the graphene surface. The experimental results were further supported by the finite-difference time-domain method and quantum chemical calculations.

Mesoporous spindlelike iron oxide/ZnO core-shell heterostructures are successfully fabricated by a low-cost, surfactant-free, and environmentally friendly seed-mediate strategy with the help of postannealing treatment. The material composition and stoichiometry, as well as these magnetic and optical properties, have been examined and verified by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, the thickness of ZnO layer can be simply tailored by the concentration of zinc precursor. Considering that both α-Fe2O3 and ZnO are good photocatalytic materials, we have investigated the photodegradation performances of the core-shell heterostructures using organic dyes Rhodamin B (RhB). It is interesting to find that the as-obtained iron oxides/ZnO core-shell heterostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to the as-used α-Fe2O3 seeds and commercial TiO2 products (P25), mainly owing to the synergistic effect between the narrow and wide bandgap semiconductors and effective electron-hole separation at the interfaces of iron oxides/ZnO.

"One key to one lock" hybrid sensor configuration is rationally designed and demonstrated as a direct effective route for the target-gas-specific, highly sensitive, and promptly responsive chemical gas sensing for room temperature operation in a complex ambient background. The design concept is based on three criteria: (i) quasi-one-dimensional metal oxide nanostructures as the sensing platform which exhibits good electron mobility and chemical and thermal stability; (ii) deep enhancement-mode field-effect transistors (E-mode FETs) with appropriate threshold voltages to suppress the nonspecific sensitivity to all gases (decouple the selectivity and sensitivity away from nanowires); (iii) metal nanoparticle decoration onto the nanostructure surface to introduce the gas specific selectivity and sensitivity to the sensing platform. In this work, using Mg-doped In2O3 nanowire E-mode FET sensor arrays decorated with various discrete metal nanoparticles (i.e., Au, Ag, and Pt) as illustrative prototypes here further confirms the feasibility of this design. Particularly, the Au decorated sensor arrays exhibit more than 3 orders of magnitude response to the exposure of 100 ppm CO among a mixture of gases at room temperature. The corresponding response time and detection limit are as low as ∼4 s and ∼500 ppb, respectively. All of these could have important implications for this "one key to one lock" hybrid sensor configuration which potentially open up a rational avenue to the design of advanced-generation chemical sensors with unprecedented selectivity and sensitivity.

Despite the fact that many strategies have been developed to improve the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the precise modulation of the surface electronic properties of catalysts to improve their catalytic activity is still challenging. Herein, we demonstrate that the surface active electron density of Co3O4 can be effectively regulated by an argon‐ion irradiation method. X‐ray photoelectron and synchrotron x‐ray absorption spectroscopy, UV photoelectron spectrometry, and DFT calculations show that the surface active electron density band center of Co3O4 has been upshifted, leading to a significantly enhanced absorption capability of the oxo group. The optimized Co3O4‐based catalysts exhibit an excellent overpotential of 260 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope of 54 mV dec−1, superior to the capability of the benchmark RuO2, representing one of the best Co‐based OER catalysts. This approach could guide the future rational design and discovery of ideal electrocatalysts.

Charge trapping layers are formed from different metallic nanocrystals in MoS2 -based nanocrystal floating gate memory cells in a process compatible with existing fabrication technologies. The memory cells with Au nanocrystals exhibit impressive performance with a large memory window of 10 V, a high program/erase ratio of approximately 10(5) and a long retention time of 10 years.