Solution-processed and high-performance ionic-paper gated field-effect transistors from two-dimensional layered semiconductor nanosheets with high thermal resolution

Abstract

The remarkable properties of layered semiconductor nanosheets (LSNs), such as scalable production, bandgap tunability and mechanical flexibility, have promoted them as promising building blocks for nanoelectronics and bioelectronics. However, it is still a challenge to efficiently control the charge transport in LSNs. Here, we demonstrate a novel LSN field-effect transistor (FET) using ionic paper (i-paper) as a solid-like gate dielectric, achieving a highly efficient ionic control of hole and electron transport in MoS₂ and WSe₂ LSNs, respectively. The i-paper contains a three-dimensional (3D) nanopore structure that allows ionic liquids (ILs) to infiltrate the LSN surface, providing a very large ion/carrier interfacial region as well as an efficient ion transport channel. We achieve an ultra-high current on–off ratio of over 10⁵ for both p-type and n-type i-paper gated LSN FETs. By directly attaching one common i-paper to both n-type and p-type LSN layers, a flexible LSN-based inverter circuit with a gain of ∼3 is realized. Moreover, high-performance i-paper gated LSN FETs are capable of detecting a temperature change as low as 0.02 K. Our results can hold great implications for wide applications of i-paper gated LSN FETs in the future.