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Iontronic components: From liquid- to solid-states

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Abstract

In modern electronics, the ionic charges have not occupied the same role as the electrons mainly because of their relatively low mobilities. However, these “slow” charge carriers contribute to brain computing with high efficiency and extremely low power consumption. Inspired by the “ionic” life, iontronic components have recently attracted considerable attention. In this review, we first introduce the progress of iontronic devices operating with the involvement of water, specifically, two types of systems—nanofluidic and hydrogels. Next, the issues and challenges within these liquid-state ionic devices are summarized. To avoid the negative impact of water, we also propose two solid-state materials—ionogels and charged metal nanoparticles—to construct several basic ionic devices such as diodes and transistors. Finally, we summarize this review and outlook the promising directions for the further developments of iontronic devices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22071037 and 22201054), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB36000000), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No. 2021M700983).

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  1. Tao Xiao and Xing Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Tao Xiao, Xing Zhao, Yuchun Zhang & Yong Yan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Tao Xiao & Yong Yan

  3. School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yong Yan

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  1. Tao Xiao
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Correspondence to Yong Yan.

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Xiao, T., Zhao, X., Zhang, Y. et al. Iontronic components: From liquid- to solid-states. Nano Res. 16, 13343–13357 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5914-5

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