Deformable Catalytic Material Derived from Mechanical Flexibility for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Deformable catalytic material with excellent flexible structure is a new type of catalyst that has been applied in various chemical reactions,especially electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).In recent years,deformable catalysts for HER have made great progress and would become a research hotspot.The catalytic activities of deformable catalysts could be adjustable by the strain engineering and surface reconfiguration.The surface curvature of flexible catalytic materials is closely related to the electrocatalytic HER properties.Here,firstly,we systematically summarized self-adaptive catalytic performance of deformable catalysts and various micro–nanostructures evolution in catalytic HER process.Secondly,a series of strategies to design highly active catalysts based on the mechanical flexibility of lowdimensional nanomaterials were summarized.Last but not least,we presented the challenges and prospects of the study of flexible and deformable micro–nanostructures of electrocatalysts,which would further deepen the understanding of catalytic mechanisms of deformable HER catalyst.

Recent advances on liquid intercalation and exfoliation of transition metal dichalcogenides: From fundamentals to applications

The weak van der Waals gap endows two dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides(2D TMDs)with the potential to realize guest intercalation and host exfoliation.Intriguingly,the liquid intercalation and exfoliation is a facile,low-cost,versatile and scalable strategy to modulate the structure and physiochemical property of TMDs via introducing foreign species into interlayer.In this review,firstly,we briefly introduce the resultant hybrid superlattice and disperse nanosheets with tailored properties fabricated via liquid intercalation and exfoliation.Subsequently,we systematically analyze the intercalation phenomenon and limitations of various intercalants in chemical or electrochemical methods.Afterwards,we intensely discuss diverse functionalities of resultant materials,focusing on their potential applications in energy conversion,energy storage,water purification,electronics,thermoelectrics and superconductor.Finally,we highlight the challenges and outlooks for precise and mass production of 2D TMDs-based materials via liquid intercalation and exfoliation.This review enriches the overview of liquid intercalation and exfoliation strategy,and paves the path for relevant high-performance devices.

Modifying the Power and Performance of 2-Dimensional MoS_(2)Field Effect Transistors

Over the past 60 years,the semiconductor industry has been the core driver for the development of information technology,contributing to the birth of integrated circuits,Internet,artificial intelligence,and Internet of Things.Semiconductor technology has been evolving in structure and material with co-optimization of performance–power–area–cost until the state-of-the-art sub-5-nm node.Two-dimensional(2D)semiconductors are recognized by the industry and academia as a hopeful solution to break through the quantum confinement for the future technology nodes.In the recent 10 years,the key issues on 2D semiconductors regarding material,processing,and integration have been overcome in sequence,making 2D semiconductors already on the verge of application.In this paper,the evolution of transistors is reviewed by outlining the potential of 2D semiconductors as a technological option beyond the scaled metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors.We mainly focus on the optimization strategies of mobility(μ),equivalent oxide thickness(EOT),and contact resistance(RC),which enables high ON current(Ion)with reduced driving voltage(Vdd).Finally,we prospect the semiconductor technology roadmap by summarizing the technological development of 2D semiconductors over the past decade.

Defects as a factor limiting carrier mobility in WSe2： A spectroscopic investigation

The electrical performance of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides （TMDs） is strongly affected by the number of structural defects. In this work, we provide an optical spectroscopic characterization approach to correlate the number of structural defects and the electrical performance of WSe2 devices. Low-temperature photoluminescence （PL） spectra of electron-beam-lithography- processed WSe2 exhibit a clear defect-induced PL emission due to excitons bound to defects, which would strongly degrade the electrical performance. By adopting an electron-beam-free transfer-electrode technique, we successfully prepared a backgated WSe2 device containing a limited amount of defects. A maximum hole mobility of approximately 200 cm2.V -1.s-1 was achieved because of the reduced scattering sources, which is the highest reported value for this type of device. This work provides not only a versatile and nondestructive method to monitor the defects in TMDs but also a new route to approach the room-temperature phonon-limited mobility in high-performance TMD devices.

Realization of vertical and lateral van der Waals heterojunctions using two-dimensional layered organic semiconductors

Van der Waals （vdW） heterojunctions based on two-dimensional （2D） atomic crystals have been extensively studied in recent years. Herein, we show that both vertical and lateral vdW heterojunctions can be realized with layered molecular crystals using a two-step physical vapor transport （PVT） process. Both types of heterojunctions show clean and sharp interfaces without phase mixing under atomic force microscopy （AFM）. They also exhibit a strong interfacial built-in electric field similar to that of their inorganic counterparts. These heterojunctions have greater potential for device applications than individual materials. The lateral heterojunction （LHJ） devices show rectifying characteristics due to the asymmetric energy barrier for holes at the interface, while the vertical heterojunction （VHJ） devices behave like metal-insulator-semiconductor tunnel junctions, with pronounced negative differential conductance （NDC）. Our work extends the concept of vdW heterojunctions to molecular materials, which can be generalized to other layered organic semiconductors （OSCs） to obtain new device functionalities.