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The Effect of Solvent Mixing Ratios on the Exfoliation of 2D NiTe2 Thin Films for Transparent Electrodes

  • Original Article - Electronics, Magnetics and Photonics
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Abstract

NiTe2 thin films have been considered promising candidates for transparent electrodes due to their high electrical conductivity and 2-dimensional (2D) layered structure. The transparency of 2D thin films with layered structure can be further improved by the exfoliation process. In the process, the increase in electrical resistance should be minimized by maintaining electrical continuity in the thin film. In this study, the mixing ratio of ethanol, acetone, and DI water in the solvent for the liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) process was optimized to achieve high transmittance while suppressing the increase in electrical resistance. We prepared three solvents by varying the mixing ratio (ethanol:acetone:DI water = 2:4:4, 3:3:4, and 4:2:4). In the three mixed solvents, NiTe2 thin films were removed by two mechanisms: separation from the substrate and layer-by-layer exfoliation. Some of the NiTe2 grains were separated from the glass substrate in the early stage of the LPE process, and layer-by-layer exfoliation became the major mechanism when LPE proceeded longer than 6 h in the three solvents. Among the three solvents, the one with a 3:3:4 ratio more effectively suppressed the increase in electrical resistance during the separation of the NiTe2 thin film. The separation of NiTe2 grains provided an advantageous condition for layer-by-layer exfoliation. Additionally, the similarity of the polarization and dispersion ratio of 3-3-4 with the one of NiTe2 accelerated layer-by-layer exfoliation. The optimized solvent of 3-3-4 improved the transmittance of the NiTe2 thin film from 59.6% to 68.4% after the 8-h LPE process.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA2386-20-1-4081 and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021R1F1A1047375), by the Education and Research Promotion Program of KOREATECH in 2021, and by the KOREATECH Sabbatical Program in 2020. XRD, XPS, AFM, and SEM analyses were performed at the Cooperative Equipment Center at KOREATECH.

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  1. School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan, 31253, South Korea

    Chae Yoon Im, Jong Gyeom Kim, Min Young Kwon & Suk Jun Kim

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  1. Chae Yoon Im
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Im, C.Y., Kim, J.G., Kwon, M.Y. et al. The Effect of Solvent Mixing Ratios on the Exfoliation of 2D NiTe2 Thin Films for Transparent Electrodes. Electron. Mater. Lett. 18, 361–369 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-022-00350-y

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