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Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Electric-field Control of Electronic States in WS2 Nanodevices by Electrolyte Gating
Published on: April 12, 2018
Local Chemical Enhancement and Gating of Organic Coordinated Ionic-Electronic Transport
Tamanna Khan1, Terry McAfee2,3, Thomas J Ferron2
1Department of Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA.
Abstract:
Superior properties in organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) over inorganic counterparts have inspired intense interest in biosensing, soft-robotics, neuromorphic computing, and smart medicine. However, slow ion transport relative to charge transport in these materials is a limiting factor. Here, it is demonstrated that hydrophilic molecules local to an interfacial OMIEC nanochannel can accelerate ion transport with ion mobilities surpassing electrophoretic transport by more than an order of magnitude. Furthermore, ion access to this interfacial channel can be gated through local surface energy. This mechanism is applied in a novel sensing device, which electronically detects and characterizes chemical reaction dynamics local to the buried channel. The ability to enhance ion transport at the nanoscale in OMIECs as well as govern ion transport through local chemical signaling enables new functionalities for printable, stretchable, and biocompatible mixed conduction devices.
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