IIT-Mandi breakthrough Advanced 2D material for durable next-gen electronics

Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, researchers have developed a flexible and durable 2D material fabrication technique for next-generation technology.

A researcher here stated that globally, there was a major push towards flexible and wearable electronics, ranging from bendable smartphones to medical sensors that could monitor health in real time. The success of these technologies depends heavily on advanced materials research. Graphene, a thin two-dimensional (2D) material with extraordinary properties, is predicted to be the foundation for next-generation devices such as photodetectors, sensors, supercapacitors and flexible electronics.

“However, graphene has many limitations. Over a four-year period, oxidation and degradation of such thin 2D materials (WS2) were observed. This meant poor device efficiency. Besides, transfer techniques used in these cases often damaged the delicate flakes, resulting in slippage, weak adhesion and loss of optical or electrical properties,” he added.

“To address this, researchers at IIT Mandi have developed WS2–PDMS composite fabrication. A long-lasting and flexible material for such devices,” he added.

The research, led by Prof Viswanath Balakrishnan along with Yadu Chandran, Dr Deepa Thakur and Anjali Sharma from IIT Mandi, introduces a water-mediated, non-destructive transfer method that enables chemical vapour-deposited WS2 (a widely studied semiconductor) monolayers to be sandwiched within PDMS layers.

Speaking about the breakthrough, Prof Balakrishnan, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, IIT Mandi, said “This is a significant development towards making flexible, wearable electronics from 2D materials. By protecting atomically-thin layers of the materials used while not giving up their optical or electrical properties, we have defined a scalable, long-lived platform for the next generation of sensors, displays and health-monitoring.”

This research will be helpful in creating wearable health-monitoring sensors, flexible displays, smartphones, solar cells, light-harvesting devices, strain sensors, memristors, optoelectronic systems and quantum technologies such as valleytronics and photon emitters.”