Synthesis of Ultrathin Metal Nanowires with Chemically Exfoliated Tungsten Disulfide Nanosheets

Copper inks for printed electronics: a review

Conductive inks have attracted tremendous attention owing to their adaptability and the convenient large-scale fabrication. As a new type of conductive ink, copper-based ink is considered to be one of the best candidate materials for the conductive layer in flexible printed electronics owing to its high conductivity and low price, and suitability for large-scale manufacturing processes. Recently, tremendous progress has been made in the preparation of cooper-based inks for electronic applications, but the antioxidation ability of copper-based nanomaterials within inks or films, that is, long-term reliability upon exposure to water and oxygen, still needs more exploration. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of copper inks for printed electronics from ink preparation, printing methods and sintering, to antioxidation strategies and electronic applications. The review begins with an overview of the development of copper inks, followed by a demonstration of various preparation methods for copper inks. Then, the diverse printing techniques and post-annealing strategies used to fabricate conductive copper patterns are discussed. In addition, antioxidation strategies utilized to stabilize the mechanical and electrical properties of copper nanomaterials are summarized. Then the diverse applications of copper inks for electronic devices, such as transparent conductive electrodes, sensors, optoelectronic devices, and thin-film transistors, are discussed. Finally, the future development of copper-based inks and the challenges of their application in printed electronics are discussed.

Biomimetic Hierarchically Silver Nanowire Interwoven MXene Mesh for Flexible Transparent Electrodes and Invisible Camouflage Electronics

Flexible transparent electrodes demand high transparency, low sheet resistance, as well as excellent mechanical flexibility simultaneously, however they still remain to be a great challenge due to"trade-off" effect. Herein, inspired by a hollow interconnected leaf vein, we developed robust transparent conductive mesh with biomimetic interwoven structure via hierarchically self-assembles silver nanowires interwoven metal carbide/nitride (MXene) sheets along directional microfibers. Strong interfacial interactions between plant fibers and conductive units facilitate hierarchically interwoven conductive mesh constructed orderly on flexible and lightweight veins while maintaining high transparency, effectively avoiding the trade-off effect between optoelectronic properties. The flexible transparent electrodes exhibit sheet resistance of 0.5 Ω sq^-1 and transparency of 81.6%, with a remarkably high figure of merit of 3523. In addition, invisible camouflage sensors are further successfully developed as a proof of concept that could monitor human body motion signals in an imperceptible state. The flexible transparent conductive mesh holds great potential in high-performance wearable optoelectronics and camouflage electronics.

Enhanced Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Tungsten Disulfide via Thiolated Ligand Conjugation

Two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are of particular interest as a new active material for future triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) owing to their excellent electrical properties, optical transparency, flexibility, ultrathin thickness, and biocompatibility. Here, we propose a new approach to engineer the surface of TMDs via conjugation with thiolated ligands having different alkane chain lengths and to develop TMD-based TENG devices that exhibit enhanced output performance for the first time. The triboelectric charging behaviors of ligand-conjugated TMDs are successfully investigated, and the electrical output performance of TMD TENGs based on TMD-to-polymer device geometries with a vertical contact-separation mode is dramatically improved, exhibiting an output voltage of 12.2 V and a power density of 138 mW/m². Furthermore, the ligand-conjugated TMD TENG device exhibits a highly stable operation under repeated contact and separation over 10 000 cycles, as well as high chemical stability, as a result of novel defect engineering via thiolated ligand conjugation. Detailed investigation reveals that the improved performance of the ligand-conjugated TMD TENG device originates from the synergistic effect of defect engineering and the p-type doping effect of TMDs, correlated with the increased electric potential difference between triboelectric layers. These findings provide a new potential of TMDs as a promising building block for the next-generation energy harvesting system.

Recent Advancement of Emerging Nano Copper-Based Printable Flexible Hybrid Electronics

Printed copper materials have been attracting significant attention prominently due to their electric, mechanical, and thermal properties. The emerging copper-based flexible electronics and energy-critical applications rely on the control of electric conductivity, current-carrying capacity, and reliability of copper nanostructures and their printable ink materials. In this review, we describe the growth of copper nanostructures as the building blocks for printable ink materials on which a variety of conductive features can be additively manufactured to achieve high electric conductivity and stability. Accordingly, the copper-based flexible hybrid electronics and energy-critical devices printed by different printing techniques are reviewed for emerging applications.

Recent Advances in Nanomaterial-Enabled Wearable Sensors: Material Synthesis, Sensor Design, and Personal Health Monitoring

Wearable sensors have gained much attention due to their potential in personal health monitoring in a timely, cost-effective, easy-operating, and noninvasive way. In recent studies, nanomaterials have been employed in wearable sensors to improve the sensing performance in view of their excellent properties. Here, focus is mainly on the nanomaterial-enabled wearable sensors and their latest advances in personal health monitoring. Different kinds of nanomaterials used in wearable sensors, such as metal nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials, metallic nanomaterials, hybrid nanocomposites, and bio-nanomaterials, are reviewed. Then, the progress of nanomaterial-based wearable sensors in personal health monitoring, including the detection of ions and molecules in body fluids and exhaled breath, physiological signals, and emotion parameters, is discussed. Furthermore, the future challenges and opportunities of nanomaterial-enabled wearable sensors are discussed.

Single-unit-cell-thick layered electrocatalysts: from synthesis to application

Electrocatalysts are critical for water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction, and zinc-air battery. However, the low-exposed surface areas of bulk electrocatalysts usually limit the complete utilization of active sites. Ultrathin electrocatalysts have noteworthy advantages in maximizing the use of active sites. Among the pioneering works on such performing catalysts, the development of single-unit-cell-thick layered electrocatalysts (STLEs) has attracted extensive attention owing to their superior specific surface area and large number of vacancies, which can provide abundant available surface active sites. Therefore, this minireview provides recent advances in STLE synthesis and applications, which are helpful for electrocatalysis-oriented researchers. Finally, the future perspectives and challenges for developing high-performance STLEs are proposed.