Rice University researchers develop method to transfer entire 2D circuits to any smooth surface
What if a sensor sensing a thing could be part of the thing itself? Rice University engineers believe they have a two-dimensional solution to do just that.
Rice engineers led by materials scientists Pulickel Ajayan and Jun Lou have developed a method to make atom-flat sensors that seamlessly integrate with devices to report on what they perceive
Electronically active 2D materials have been the subject of much research since the introduction of graphene in 2004. Even though they are often touted for their strength, they’re difficult to move to where they’re needed without destroying them.
The Ajayan and Lou groups, along with the lab of Rice engineer Jacob Robinson, have a new way to keep the materials and their associated circuitry, including electrodes, intact as they’re moved to curved or other smooth surfaces.
The results of their work appear in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.
The Rice team tested the concept by making a 10-nanometer-thick indium selenide photodetector with gold electrodes and placing it onto an optical fiber. Because it was so close, the near-field sensor effectively coupled with an evanescent field– the oscillating electromagnetic wave that rides the surface of the fiber – and accurately detected the flow of information inside.
The benefit is that these sensors can now be imbedded into such fibers where they can monitor performance without adding weight or hindering the signal flow.
“This paper proposes several interesting possibilities for applying 2D devices in real applications,” Lou said. “For example, optical fibers at the bottom of the ocean are thousands of miles long, and if there’s a problem, it’s hard to know where it occurred. If you have these sensors at different locations, you can sense the damage to the fiber.”
Lou said labs have gotten good at transferring the growing roster of 2D materials from one surface to another, but the addition of electrodes and other components complicates the process. “Think about a transistor,” he said. “It has source, drain and gate electrodes and a dielectric (insulator) on top, and all of these have to be transferred intact. That’s a very big challenge, because all of those materials are different.”
Raw 2D materials are often moved with a layer of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), more commonly known as Plexiglas, on top, and the Rice researchers make use of that technique. But they needed a robust bottom layer that would not only keep the circuit intact during the move but could also be removed before attaching the device to its target. (The PMMA is also removed when the circuit reaches its destination.)
The ideal solution was polydimethylglutarimide (PMGI), which can be used as a device fabrication platform and easily etched away before transfer to the target. “We’ve spent quite some time to develop this sacrificial layer,” Lou said. PMGI appears to work for any 2D material, as the researchers experimented successfully with molybdenum diselenide and other materials as well.
The Rice labs have only developed passive sensors so far, but the researchers believe their technique will make active sensors or devices possible for telecommunication, biosensing, plasmonics and other applications.
Learn more: Form-fitting, nanoscale sensors now make sense
The Latest on: 2D circuits
[google_news title=”” keyword=”2D circuits” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: 2D circuits
- Citrus Circuits concludes 20th season at World Championshipon April 26, 2024 at 5:56 pm
Davis robotics team 1678 Citrus Circuits concluded its 20th season as third in the world after the FIRST World Championship. This is the 10th consecutive year it won its division ...
- First look – Ride onboard the new 296 Challenge at Circuit of The Americason April 26, 2024 at 3:32 pm
This weekend at Circuit of The Americas, the Ferrari 296 Challenge racecar makes its worldwide debut during the first Ferrari Challenge North America event of 2024. Step inside the cockpit with ...
- Lawsuit: Disgraced ex-judge Scott DuPont not eligible to run for circuit benchon April 26, 2024 at 2:33 pm
A lawsuit says ex-judge Scott DuPont is not eligible to be a circuit judge because he has not been a Florida Bar member for for the past five years.
- Parking Garage Rally Circuit Revives '90s Arcade Racing in All Its Gloryon April 24, 2024 at 7:35 am
This upcoming indie racer goes to amazing lengths to capture the look and feel of Sega's golden-era racing games.
- Brooke County staff prepare for early votingon April 24, 2024 at 12:14 am
WELLSBURG — The start of early voting next week will bring temporary changes to the Brooke County Courthouse. Among them is the Brooke County Commission’s meeting room on the first floor, which will ...
- Second Circuit Nixes New York Charging Order Protection For Many LLCson April 22, 2024 at 5:14 pm
A U.S. District Court has ordered a judgment debtor to turnover shares in a Delaware LLC without regard to charging order exclusivity of remedy.
- Supreme Court Resolves Circuit Split and Holds ‘Pure Omissions’ Outside Reach of Section 10(b) Liabilityon April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
On April 12, a unanimous Supreme Court held in Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L.P. that material omissions are actionable under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and its enabling SEC ...
- Second Circuit Affirms District Court’s Summary Judgment Dismissal Of Securities Fraud Class Action Against Pharmaceutical Companyon April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
On April 15, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed in a non-precedential summary ... Litig., No. 23-720-cv (2d Cir. Apr. 15, 2024). Reviewing the district court ...
- 2D transistors can mimic a locust's brain to avoid collision— super-efficient tech could lower the energy costs of tomorrow's AIon April 22, 2024 at 10:01 am
IIT Bombay and King's College researchers worked together to create a 2D transistor in a research project studying advancements in AI machines.
via Bing News