Advancing Silver Bismuth Sulfide Quantum Dots for Practical Solar Cell Applications.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) show unique properties that distinguish them from their bulk form, the so-called quantum confinement effects. This feature manifests in tunable size-dependent band gaps and discrete energy levels, resulting in distinct optical and electronic properties. The investigation direction of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) materials has started switching from high-performing materials based on Pb and Cd, which raise concerns regarding their toxicity, to more environmentally friendly compounds, such as AgBiS.

High Volumetric Energy Density Supercapacitor of Additive-Free Quantum Dot Hierarchical Nanopore Structure.

The high surface-area-to-volume ratio of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) positions them as promising materials for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. However, the challenge lies in achieving a highly accessible surface area, while maintaining good electrical conductivity. An efficient supercapacitor demands a dense yet highly porous structure that facilitates efficient ion-surface interactions and supports fast charge mobility.

Single PbS colloidal quantum dot transistors.

Colloidal quantum dots are sub-10 nm semiconductors treated with liquid processes, rendering them attractive candidates for single-electron transistors operating at high temperatures. However, there have been few reports on single-electron transistors using colloidal quantum dots due to the difficulty in fabrication. In this work, we fabricated single-electron transistors using single oleic acid-capped PbS quantum dot coupled to nanogap metal electrodes and measured single-electron tunneling.

Enabling metallic behaviour in two-dimensional superlattice of semiconductor colloidal quantum dots.

Semiconducting colloidal quantum dots and their assemblies exhibit superior optical properties owing to the quantum confinement effect. Thus, they are attracting tremendous interest from fundamental research to commercial applications. However, the electrical conducting properties remain detrimental predominantly due to the orientational disorder of quantum dots in the assembly.

Solid-state nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with tunable emission prepared by a microwave-assisted method.

Tunable emissive solid-state carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) have been successfully synthesized by a facile synthesis through microwave irradiation. Modulating microwave interaction with the sample to generate abrupt localized heating is a long-term challenge to tailor the photoluminescence properties of CNPs. This study systematically revealed that the sample temperature through microwave irradiation plays a crucial role in controlling the photoluminescence properties over other reaction conditions, such as irradiation time and microwave duty cycle.

Correction: Solid-state nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with tunable emission prepared by a microwave-assisted method.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D1RA07290K.].

Role of Intrinsic Points Defects on the Electronic Structure of Metal-Insulator Transition -FeS.

Hexagonal iron sulfide (h-FeS) offers huge potential in the development of metal-insulator transition devices. A stoichiometric h-FeS is hard to obtain from its natural iron deficiency. The effect of this iron deficiency on the electronic properties is still obscure.

Evidence of band filling in PbS colloidal quantum dot square superstructures.

PbS square superstructures are formed by the oriented assembly of PbS quantum dots (QDs), reflecting the facet structures of each QD. In the square assembly, the quantum dots are highly oriented, in sharp contrast to the conventional hexagonal QD assemblies, in which the orientation of QDs is highly disordered, and each QD is connected through ligand molecules. Here, we measured the transport properties of the oriented assembly of PbS square superstructures.

Carbon-Based Quantum Dots for Supercapacitors: Recent Advances and Future Challenges.

Carbon-based Quantum dots (C-QDs) are carbon-based materials that experience the quantum confinement effect, which results in superior optoelectronic properties. In recent years, C-QDs have attracted attention significantly and have shown great application potential as a high-performance supercapacitor device. C-QDs (either as a bare electrode or composite) give a new way to boost supercapacitor performances in higher specific capacitance, high energy density, and good durability.

Exclusive Electron Transport in Core@Shell PbTe@PbS Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystal Assemblies.

Assemblies of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) in the form of thin solid films leverage the size-dependent quantum confinement properties and the wet chemical methods vital for the development of the emerging solution-processable electronics, photonics, and optoelectronics technologies. The ability to control the charge carrier transport in the colloidal NC assemblies is fundamental for altering their electronic and optical properties for the desired applications. Here we demonstrate a strategy to render the solids of narrow-bandgap NC assemblies exclusively electron-transporting by creating a type-II heterojunction shelling.

Tunable electronic properties by ligand coverage control in PbS nanocrystal assemblies.

It is well-known that controlling electronic properties of nanocrystal (NC) assemblies can be achieved by the usage of various types of ligands on the NC surface. However, the ligand coverage, which could also tune electronic properties, is always ignored. It is due to the lack of accurate evaluation methods of ligand amounts on the surface of NCs and the difficulty of ligand binding control at the nanoscale.

Photoinduced Rashba Spin-to-Charge Conversion via an Interfacial Unoccupied State.

At interfaces with inversion symmetry breaking, the Rashba effect couples the motion of the electrons to their spin; as a result, a spin charge interconversion mechanism can occur. These interconversion mechanisms commonly exploit Rashba spin splitting at the Fermi level by spin pumping or spin torque ferromagnetic resonance. Here, we report evidence of significant photoinduced spin-to-charge conversion via Rashba spin splitting in an unoccupied state above the Fermi level at the Cu(111)/α-Bi_{2}O_{3} interface.

Endeavor of Iontronics: From Fundamentals to Applications of Ion-Controlled Electronics.

Iontronics is a newly emerging interdisciplinary concept which bridges electronics and ionics, covering electrochemistry, solid-state physics, electronic engineering, and biological sciences. The recent developments of electronic devices are highlighted, based on electric double layers formed at the interface between ionic conductors (but electronically insulators) and various electronic conductors including organics and inorganics (oxides, chalcogenide, and carbon-based materials). Particular attention is devoted to electric-double-layer transistors (EDLTs), which are producing a significant impact, particularly in electrical control of phase transitions, including superconductivity, which has been difficult or impossible in conventional all-solid-state electronic devices.

Single-Crystal-Like Organic Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated from Dinaphtho[2,3-b:2',3'-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DNTT) Precursor-Polystyrene Blends.

High-mobility short-channel organic thin-film transistors fabricated using a dinaphtho[2,3-b:2',3'-f]thieno[3,2-b]-thio--phene (DNTT) precursor (5,14-N--phenylmaleimide DNTT, endo-isomer-rich fraction) and polystyrene (PS) blends are reported. The DNTT grains are "single-crystal"-like and the field-effect mobility of the devices ranges up to 4.7 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).

High gain hybrid graphene-organic semiconductor phototransistors.

Hybrid phototransistors of graphene and the organic semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) are presented. Two types of phototransistors are demonstrated with a charge carrier transit time that differs by more than 6 orders of magnitude. High transit time devices are fabricated using a photoresist-free recipe to create large-area graphene transistors made out of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition.

High mobility and low density of trap states in dual-solid-gated PbS nanocrystal field-effect transistors.

Dual-gated PbS nanocrystal field-effect transistors employing SiO2 and Cytop as gate dielectrics are fabricated. The obtained electron mobility (0.2 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) ) and the high on/off ratio (10(5) -10(6) ), show that the controlled nanocrystal assembly (obtained with self-assembled monolayers), as well as the trap density reduction (using Cytop as dielectric), are crucial steps for the future application of nanocrystals.

Carbon nanotube network ambipolar field-effect transistors with 10(8) on/off ratio.

Polymer wrapping is a highly effective method of selecting semiconducting carbon nanotubes and dispersing them in solution. Semi-aligned semiconducting carbon nanotube networks are obtained by blade coating, an effective and scalable process. The field-effect transistor (FET) performance can be tuned by the choice of wrapping polymer, and the polymer concentration modifies the FET transport characteristics, leading to a record on/off ratio of 10(8) .

Conjugated polymer-assisted dispersion of single-wall carbon nanotubes: the power of polymer wrapping.

The future application of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in electronic (nano)devices is closely coupled to the availability of pure, semiconducting SWNTs and preferably, their defined positioning on suited substrates. Commercial carbon nanotube raw mixtures contain metallic as well as semiconducting tubes of different diameter and chirality. Although many techniques such as density gradient ultracentrifugation, dielectrophoresis, and dispersion by surfactants or polar biopolymers have been developed, so-called conjugated polymer wrapping is one of the most promising and powerful purification and discrimination strategies.

Determination of the electronic energy levels of colloidal nanocrystals using field-effect transistors and Ab-initio calculations.

Colloidal nanocrystals electronic energy levels are determined by strong size-dependent quantum confinement. Understanding the configuration of the energy levels of nanocrystal superlattices is vital in order to use them in heterostructures with other materials. A powerful method is reported to determine the energy levels of PbS nanocrystal assemblies by combining the utilization of electric-double-layer-gated transistors and advanced ab-initio theory.

Outlook and emerging semiconducting materials for ambipolar transistors.

Ambipolar or bipolar transistors are transistors in which both holes and electrons are mobile inside the conducting channel. This device allows switching among several states: the hole-dominated on-state, the off-state, and the electron-dominated on-state. In the past year, it has attracted great interest in exotic semiconductors, such as organic semiconductors, nanostructured materials, and carbon nanotubes.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes on demand by polymer wrapping.

Efficient selection of semiconducting SWCNTs of large diameter range (0.8-1.6 nm) on demand is demonstrated.

Low driving voltage and high mobility ambipolar field-effect transistors with PbS colloidal nanocrystals.

PbS colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) are promising materials for optoelectronic devices, due to their size-tunable properties. However, there is still minimal understanding of their charge transport mechanism. Through a combination of ligand selections, ambipolar transistor structure optimization, and electrochemical gating usage, high carrier mobility is achieved.

Organic single-crystal light-emitting transistor coupling with optical feedback resonators.

Organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) are of great research interest because they combine the advantage of the active channel of a transistor that can control the luminescence of an in-situ light-emitting diode in the same device. Here we report a novel single-crystal OLET (SCLET) that is coupled with single crystal optical feedback resonators. The combination of single-crystal waveguides with native Fabry-Perot cavities, formed by parallel crystal edges, drastically lowers the threshold energy for spectral narrowing and non-linear intensity enhancement.

High performance ambipolar field-effect transistor of random network carbon nanotubes.

Ambipolar field-effect transistors of random network carbon nanotubes are fabricated from an enriched dispersion utilizing a conjugated polymer as the selective purifying medium. The devices exhibit high mobility values for both holes and electrons (3 cm(2) /V·s) with a high on/off ratio (10(6) ). The performance demonstrates the effectiveness of this process to purify semiconducting nanotubes and to remove the residual polymer.