Charge-Density-Wave Thin-Film Devices Printed with Chemically Exfoliated 1T-TaS<sub>2</sub> Ink
Saba Baraghani, Zahra Barani, Yassamin Ghafouri, Amirmahdi Mohammadzadeh, Tina T. Salguero, Fariborz Kargar, Alexander A. Balandin
Abstract
We report on the preparation of inks containing fillers derived from quasi-two-dimensional charge-density-wave materials, their application for inkjet printing, and the evaluation of their electronic properties in printed thin-film form. The inks were prepared by liquid-phase exfoliation of CVT-grown 1T-TaS2 crystals to produce fillers with nm-scale thickness and μm-scale lateral dimensions. Exfoliated 1T-TaS2 was dispersed in a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and ethylene glycol to allow fine-tuning of filler particles thermophysical properties for inkjet printing. The temperature-dependent electrical and current fluctuation measurements of printed thin films demonstrated that the charge-density-wave properties of 1T-TaS2 are preserved after processing. The functionality of the printed thin-film devices can be defined by the nearly commensurate to the commensurate charge-density-wave phase transition of individual exfoliated 1T-TaS2 filler particles rather than by electron-hopping transport between them. The obtained results are important for the development of printed electronics with diverse functionality achieved by the incorporation of quasi-two-dimensional van der Waals quantum materials.