Compound Quantum Dot-Perovskite Optical Absorbers on Graphene Enhancing Short-Wave Infrared Photodetection.

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) combined with a graphene charge transducer promise to provide a photoconducting platform with high quantum efficiency and large intrinsic gain, yet compatible with cost-efficient polymer substrates. The response time in these devices is limited, however, and fast switching is only possible by sacrificing the high sensitivity. Furthermore, tuning the QD size toward infrared absorption using conventional organic capping ligands progressively reduces the device performance characteristics. Here we demonstrate methods to couple large QDs (>6 nm in diameter) with organometal halide perovskites, enabling hybrid graphene phototransistor arrays on plastic foils that simultaneously exhibit a specific detectivity of 5 × 1012 Jones and high video-frame-rate performance. PbI2 and CH3NH3I co-mediated ligand exchange in PbS QDs improves surface passivation and facilitates electronic transport, yielding faster charge recovery, whereas PbS QDs embedded into a CH3NH3PbI3 matrix produce spatially separated photocarriers leading to large gain.

Science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems.

We present the science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems, targeting an evolution in technology, that might lead to impacts and benefits reaching into most areas of society. This roadmap was developed within the framework of the European Graphene Flagship and outlines the main targets and research areas as best understood at the start of this ambitious project. We provide an overview of the key aspects of graphene and related materials (GRMs), ranging from fundamental research challenges to a variety of applications in a large number of sectors, highlighting the steps necessary to take GRMs from a state of raw potential to a point where they might revolutionize multiple industries. We also define an extensive list of acronyms in an effort to standardize the nomenclature in this emerging field.

Layered memristive and memcapacitive switches for printable electronics.

Novel computing technologies that imitate the principles of biological neural systems may offer low power consumption along with distinct cognitive and learning advantages. The development of reliable memristive devices capable of storing multiple states of information has opened up new applications such as neuromorphic circuits and adaptive systems. At the same time, the explosive growth of the printed electronics industry has expedited the search for advanced memory materials suitable for manufacturing flexible devices. Here, we demonstrate that solution-processed MoOx/MoS2 and WOx/WS2 heterostructures sandwiched between two printed silver electrodes exhibit an unprecedentedly large and tunable electrical resistance range from 10(2) to 10(8) Ω combined with low programming voltages of 0.1-0.2 V. The bipolar resistive switching, with a concurrent capacitive contribution, is governed by an ultrathin (<3 nm) oxide layer. With strong nonlinearity in switching dynamics, different mechanisms of synaptic plasticity are implemented by applying a sequence of electrical pulses.

Graphene nanoarchitecture in batteries.

We compare three different carbon nanoarchitectures used to produce standard coin cell batteries: graphene monolayer, graphite paper and graphene foam. The batteries' electrochemical performances are characterised using cyclic voltammetry, constant-current discharge and dynamic galvanostatic techniques. Even though graphene is the fundamental building block of graphite its properties are intrinsically different when used in batteries because there is no ion intercalation in graphene. The nanoarchitecture of the graphene electrode is shown to have a strong influence over the battery's electrochemical performance. This provides a versatile way to design various battery electrodes on different demands.

Ultrafast graphene oxide humidity sensors.

Sensors allow an electronic device to become a gateway between the digital and physical worlds, and sensor materials with unprecedented performance can create new applications and new avenues for user interaction. Graphene oxide can be exploited in humidity and temperature sensors with a number of convenient features such as flexibility, transparency and suitability for large-scale manufacturing. Here we show that the two-dimensional nature of graphene oxide and its superpermeability to water combine to enable humidity sensors with unprecedented response speed (∼30 ms response and recovery times). This opens the door to various applications, such as touchless user interfaces, which we demonstrate with a 'whistling' recognition analysis.

A nanostructured electrochromic supercapacitor.

We report the first successful application of an ordered bicontinuous double-gyroid vanadium pentoxide network in an electrochromic supercapacitor. The freestanding vanadia network was fabricated by electrodeposition into a voided block copolymer template that had self-assembled into the double-gyroid morphology. The highly ordered structure with 11.0 nm wide struts and a high specific surface to bulk volume ratio of 161.4 µm(-1) is ideal for fast and efficient lithium ion intercalation/extraction and faradaic surface reactions, which are essential for high energy and high power density electrochemical energy storage devices. Supercapacitors made from such gyroid-structured vanadia electrodes exhibit a high specific capacitance of 155 F g(-1) and show a strong electrochromic color change from green/gray to yellow, indicating the capacitor's charge condition. The nanostructuring approach and utilizing an electrode material that has intrinsic electrochemical color-change properties are concepts that can be readily extended to other electrochromic intercalation compounds.

All-Solid-State Textile Batteries Made from Nano-Emulsion Conducting Polymer Inks for Wearable Electronics.

A rollable and all-solid-state textile lithium battery based on fabric matrix and polymer electrolyte that allows flexibility and fast-charging capability is reported. When immerged into poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nano-emulsion inks, an insulating fabric is converted into a conductive battery electrode for a fully solid state lithium battery with the highest specific energy capacity of 68 mAh/g. This is superior to most of the solid-state conducting polymer primary and/or secondary batteries reported. The bending radius of such a textile battery is less than 1.5 mm while lightening up an LED. This new material combination and inherent flexibility is well suited to provide an energy source for future wearable and woven electronics.

Graphene from electrochemical exfoliation and its direct applications in enhanced energy storage devices.

Graphite was electrochemically exfoliated in mixtures of room temperature ionic liquids and deionized water containing lithium salts to produce functionalized graphenes and such an electrochemical exfoliation technique can be directly used in making primary battery electrodes with significantly enhanced specific energy capacity.

Properties of graphene inks stabilized by different functional groups.

Different graphene inks have been synthesized by chemical methods. These uniform dispersions were stabilized by various functional groups such as room temperature ionic liquid, polyaniline, polyelectrolyte (poly[2,5-bis(3-sulfonatopropoxy)-1,4-ethynylphenylene-alt-1,4-ethynylphenylene] sodium salt) and poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS). The dispersions can be easily cast into high-quality, free-standing films but with very different physiochemical properties such as surface tension and adhesion. SEM and AFM methods have been applied to have a detailed study of the properties of the inks. It is found that graphenes modified by p-type polyaniline show the highest surface tension. Diverse surface adhesive properties to the substrate are also found with various functional groups. The different viscoelasticities of graphene inks were related to the microscopic structure of their coating layer and subsequently related to the configuration, chemistry and molecular dimensions of the modifying molecules to establish the property-structure relationship. Modifications of graphene inks made from chemical reduction cannot only enable cost-effective processing for printable electronics but also extend the applications into, for example, self-assembly of graphene via bottom-up nano-architecture and surface energy engineering of the graphenes. To fabricate useful devices, understanding the surface properties of graphene inks is very important. It is the first paper of this kind to study the surface tension and adhesion of graphene influenced by different functional groups.

Template-free electrochemical nanofabrication of polyaniline nanobrush and hybrid polyaniline with carbon nanohorns for supercapacitors.

Polyaniline (PANI) nanobrushes were synthesized by template-free electrochemical galvanostatic methods. When the same method was applied to the carbon nanohorn (CNH) solution containing aniline monomers, a hybrid nanostructure containing PANI and CNHs was enabled after electropolymerization. This is the first report on the template-free method to make PANI nanobrushes and homogeneous hybrid soft matter (PANI) with carbon nanoparticles. Raman spectroscopy was used to analyze the interaction between CNH and PANI. Electrochemical nanofabrication offers simplicity and good control when used to make electronic devices. Both of these materials were applied in supercapacitors and an improvement capacitive current by using the hybrid material was observed.

Electrochemical biosensors at the nanoscale.

The general mechanism of chemical sensing is based on molecular recognition linked to different transduction strategies based on electrochemical, optical, gravimetric or thermal effects that can convert the signal to digital information. Electrochemical sensors support accurate, fast, and inexpensive analytical methods with the advantages of being easily embedded and integrated into electronics, and having the greatest potential impact in the areas of healthcare, environmental monitoring (e.g. electronic noses), food packaging and many other applications (E. Bakker and Y. Qin, Anal. Chem., 2006, 78, 3965). Nanoscale electrochemical biosensors offer a new scope and opportunity in analytical chemistry. The reduction in the size of electrochemical biosensors to nanoscale dimensions expands their analytical capability, allowing the exploration of nanoscopic domains, measurements of local concentration profiles, detection in microfluidic systems and in vivo monitoring of neurochemical events by detection of stimulated dopamine release (R. Kennedy, L. Huang, M. Atkinson and P. Dush, Anal. Chem., 1993, 65, 1882). This article reviews both state of art developments in electrochemical nanosensing, and the industrial outlook.

A solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell based on a novel ionic liquid gel and ZnO nanoparticles on a flexible polymer substrate.

This paper describes a new strategy to make a full solid-state, flexible, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on novel ionic liquid gel, organic dye, ZnO nanoparticles and carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film stamped onto a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The CNTs serve both as the charge collector and as scaffolds for the growth of ZnO nanoparticles, where the black dye molecules are anchored. It opens up the possibility of developing a continuous roll to roll processing for THE mass production of DSSCs.