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High-mobility patternable MoS2 percolating nanofilms

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Abstract

Fabrication of large-area and uniform semiconducting thin films of two-dimensional (2D) materials is paramount for the full exploitation of their atomic thicknesses and smooth surfaces in integrated circuits. In addition to elaborate vapor-based synthesis techniques for the wafer-scale growth of 2D films, solution-based approaches for high-quality thin films from the liquid dispersions of 2D flakes, despite underdeveloped, are alternative cost-effective tactics. Here, we present layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly as an effective approach to obtaining scalable semiconducting films of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) for field-effect transistors (FETs). LbL assembly is achieved by coordinating electrochemically exfoliated MoS2 with cationic poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) through electrostatic interactions. The PDDA/MoS2 percolating nanofilms show controlled and self-limited growth on a variety of substrates, and are easily patterned through lift-off processes. Ion gel gated FETs are fabricated on these MoS2 nanofilms, and they show mobilities of 9.8 cm2·V−1·s−1, on/off ratios of 2.1 × 105 with operating voltages less than 2 V. The annealing temperature in the fabrication process can be as low as 200 °C, thereby permitting the fabrication of flexible FETs on polyethylene terephthalate substrates. The LbL assembly technique holds great promise for the large-scale fabrication of flexible electronics based on solution-processed 2D semiconductors.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51873088), Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 18JCZDJC38400), and 111 Project (B18030) in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Xiangxiang Gao, Jun Yin, Gang Bian, Hai-Yang Liu, Chao-Peng Wang, Xi-Xi Pang & Jian Zhu

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Metal and Molecule-Based Material Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory for Rare Earth Materials and Applications, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Jian Zhu

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  1. Xiangxiang Gao
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  2. Jun Yin
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Gao, X., Yin, J., Bian, G. et al. High-mobility patternable MoS2 percolating nanofilms. Nano Res. 14, 2255–2263 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3218-6

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