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Water-flow electric-gating effect on a van der Waals surface.
Hua Kang1,2,3,4, Yang Yue1,3,5, Jiayu Liang6,7
1State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Science Advances
|October 3, 2025
Summary
Moving water molecules create an electric effect on pristine surfaces, unlike ion-dependent effects. This discovery enables new water-flow gated transistors (WGTs) for efficient hydroelectronic signal transduction.
Area of Science:
- Physics and Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Science
Background:
- Electric effects at fluid-solid interfaces are well-studied since the 19th century.
- Traditional effects rely on ion migration or surface functional groups.
- The intrinsic electric effect of water flow on pristine surfaces remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the intrinsic electric effect of water flow on pristine van der Waals surfaces.
- To explore a novel hydroelectronic phenomenon beyond ion- or functional group-dependent effects.
- To develop a new device for efficient transduction of water flow signals.
Main Methods:
- Experimental investigation of water flow on graphene, WSe2, and MoS2.
- Fabrication and characterization of water-flow gated transistors (WGTs).
- Measurement of voltage responsivity and signal transduction capabilities.
Main Results:
- Discovery of a water-flow electric-gating effect on pristine van der Waals materials.
- Demonstration of WGTs transducing flow signals as low as 600 nm/s.
- Achieved voltage responsivity up to 1.53 × 10^4 V/(m·s), significantly higher than existing devices.
Conclusions:
- The water-flow electric-gating effect is an intrinsic property of water-surface interactions.
- WGTs offer a new paradigm for hydroelectronic devices with high sensitivity.
- This technology enables efficient signal transduction and logical operations in microfluidic systems.
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