Fully inkjet-printed two-dimensional material field-effect heterojunctions for wearable and textile electronics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Electronics Engineering

Background:

• Wearable electronics require robust multi-layer stacks for field-effect transistors.
• Solution-processed graphite and layered materials offer low-cost inkjet printing for electronic devices.
• Challenges include limited 2D-material ink quality and lack of suitable dielectric inks for textile applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate fully inkjet-printed two-dimensional (2D) material heterostructures for wearable electronics.
• To fabricate flexible and washable field-effect transistors on textile using printed graphene and hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) inks.
• To enable the creation of functional electronic circuits on textiles via inkjet printing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized solution-processed graphene and hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) inks for inkjet printing.
• Fabricated multi-layer heterostructures comprising active channel, dielectric, and conductive contact layers.
• Developed fully inkjet-printed field-effect transistors on textile substrates.

Main Results:

• Achieved field-effect mobility of approximately 91 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ at low voltages (<5 V).
• Demonstrated successful fabrication of flexible and washable field-effect transistors on textile.
• Enabled the creation of fully inkjet-printed electronic circuits, including memory cells and logic gates.

Conclusions:

• Fully inkjet-printed 2D heterostructures are viable for creating durable wearable electronics on textiles.
• The developed method overcomes limitations of previous 2D-material ink processing for textile applications.
• This work paves the way for low-cost, scalable fabrication of advanced printed electronics on flexible substrates.