Advanced Materials

A metal-cluster-decoration approach is utilized to tailor electronic transport properties (e.g., threshold voltage) of III–V NWFETs through the modulation of free carriers in the NW channel via the deposition of different metal clusters with different work function. The versatility of this technique has been demonstrated through the fabrication of high-mobility enhancement-mode InAs NW parallel FETs as well as the construction of low-power InAs NW inverters.

Amorphous SiO₂ coating layers with thicknesses of ca. 2, 7, 10, and 15 nm are introduced into bulk@nanowire core@shell Si particles via direct thermal oxidation at 650–850 °C. Of the coated samples, Si with a coating thickness of ca. 7 nm has the best electrochemical performance. This sample shows an initial discharge capacity of 2279 mA h g⁻¹ with a Coulombic efficiency of 92% and displays 83% capacity retention after 50 cycles at 0.2C rate.

Robust aerogels derived from a thiol-ene clicked bridged silsesquioxane precursor are obtained by a facile vacuum-drying method. With rather low densities, the flexible aerogels are still robust enough to bear at least 20 times repeating compressions and further functionalization by wet doping. The durability and facile preparation procedure promise the aerogels wider practical applications.

Using planar junctions between the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS and various electrolytes, it is possible to inject common ions and directly observe their transit through the film. The 1D geometry of the experiment allows a straightforward estimate of the ion drift mobilities.

The first demonstration of polymer nanowire (PNW) crystals based on a diketopyrrolopyrrole-based copolymer (i.e., PDTTDPP), and their application to field-effect transistors (FETs) is reported. Remarkably, transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction analyses of the PNW reveal its single-crystalline (SC) nature. FETs fabricated of a SC PNW exhibit a maximal charge carrier mobility of ≈7.00 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, which is almost one order of magnitude higher than that of the thin-film transistors made of the same polymer (PDTTDPP).