Graphene Flagship researchers from AMBER at Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with scientists from TU Delft, Netherlands, have fabricated printed transistors consisting entirely of layered materials. The team's findings are said to have the potential to cheaply print a range of electronic devices from solar cells to LEDs and more.
The team used standard printing techniques to combine graphene flakes as the electrodes with other layered materials, tungsten diselenide and boron nitride as the channel and separator to form an all-printed, all-layered materials, working transistor.
While the performance of these printed layered devices cannot yet compare with advanced transistors, the researchers believe there is great potential to improve the performance of their printed transistors. Professor Coleman, an investigator in AMBER and Trinity's School of Physics, said, "In the future, printed devices will be incorporated into even the most mundane objects such as labels, posters and packaging. Printed electronic circuitry will allow consumer products to gather, process, display and transmit information: for example, milk cartons will send messages to your phone warning that the milk is about to go out-of-date. We believe that layered materials can compete with the materials currently used for printed electronics."
All of the layered materials were printed from inks created using the liquid exfoliation method previously developed by Professor Coleman and already licensed. Using liquid processing techniques to create the layered materials inks is especially advantageous in that it yields large quantities of high quality layered materials which helps to enable the potential to print circuitry at low cost.