Search for: All records

Solution-processable semiconductors hold promise in enabling applications requiring cost-effective electronics at scale but suffer from low performance limited by defects. We show that ordered defect compound semiconductor CuIn₅Se₈, which forms regular defect complexes with defect-pair compensation, can simultaneously achieve high performance and solution processability. CuIn₅Se₈transistors exhibit defect-tolerant, band-like transport supplying an output current above 35 microamperes per micrometer, with a large on/off ratio greater than 10⁶, a small subthreshold swing of 189 ± 21 millivolts per decade, and a high field-effect mobility of 58 ± 10 square centimeters per volt per second, with excellent uniformity and stability, superior to devices built on its less defective parent compound CuInSe₂, analogous binary compound In₂Se₃, and other solution-deposited semiconductors. They can be monolithically integrated with carbon nanotube transistors to form high-speed and low-voltage three-dimensional complementary logic circuits and with micro-light-emitting diodes to realize high-resolution displays. 

Abstract Materials keeping thickness in atomic scale but extending primarily in lateral dimensions offer properties attractive for many emerging applications. However, compared to crystalline counterparts, synthesis of atomically thin films in the highly disordered amorphous form, which avoids nonuniformity and defects associated with grain boundaries, is challenging due to their metastable nature. Here we present a scalable and solution-based strategy to prepare large-area, freestanding quasi-2D amorphous carbon nanomembranes with predominant sp²bonding and thickness down to 1–2 atomic layers, from coal-derived carbon dots as precursors. These atomically thin amorphous carbon films are mechanically strong with modulus of 400 ± 100 GPa and demonstrate robust dielectric properties with high dielectric strength above 20 MV cm⁻¹and low leakage current density below 10⁻⁴ A cm⁻²through a scaled thickness of three-atomic layers. They can be implemented as solution-deposited ultrathin gate dielectrics in transistors or ion-transport media in memristors, enabling exceptional device performance and spatiotemporal uniformity. 

Smart-coating foils for orthopedic implants prevent infection and provide early diagnosis of instrument failures.