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Chemoelectronic circuits based on metal nanoparticles

Nature Nanotechnology volume 11, pages 603–608 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

To develop electronic devices with novel functionalities and applications1,2, various non-silicon-based materials are currently being explored3,4,5. Nanoparticles have unique characteristics due to their small size, which can impart functions that are distinct from those of their bulk counterparts6. The use of semiconductor nanoparticles has already led to improvements in the efficiency of solar cells7, the processability of transistors8 and the sensitivity of photodetectors9, and the optical and catalytic properties of metal nanoparticles have led to similar advances in plasmonics10 and energy conversion11. However, metals screen electric fields and this has, so far, prevented their use in the design of all-metal nanoparticle circuitry12,13,14,15. Here, we show that simple electronic circuits can be made exclusively from metal nanoparticles functionalized with charged organic ligands. In these materials, electronic currents are controlled by the ionic gradients of mobile counterions surrounding the ‘jammed’ nanoparticles. The nanoparticle-based electronic elements of the circuitry can be interfaced with metal nanoparticles capable of sensing various environmental changes (humidity, gas, the presence of various cations), creating electronic devices in which metal nanoparticles sense, process and ultimately report chemical signals. Because the constituent nanoparticles combine electronic and chemical sensing functions, we term these systems ‘chemoelectronic’. The circuits have switching times comparable to those of polymer electronics, selectively transduce parts-per-trillion chemical changes into electrical signals, perform logic operations, consume little power (on the scale of microwatts), and are mechanically flexible. They are also ‘green’, in the sense that they comprise non-toxic nanoparticles cast at room temperature from alcohol solutions.

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Figure 1: Electronic components built from films of metal nanoparticles.
Figure 2: Logic gates and ‘chemoelectronic’ circuits built from metal nanoparticles.
Figure 3: Electrical characteristics of metal nanoparticle diodes.
Figure 4: Metal nanoparticle sensors.

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Acknowledgements

The work was partly supported by the Non-Equilibrium Energy Research Center (NERC), which is an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award DE-SC0000989. Y.Y. acknowledges support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21571039). B.A.G. acknowledges support from the Institute for Basic Science Korea, Project Code IBS-R020-D1. The authors thank Q. Zhuang for assistance with 2 nm nanoparticle synthesis. The authors also thank K.S. Kim and R. Hołyst for help in modelling the counterion entropy of mixing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yong Yan

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599-3290, North Carolina, USA

    Scott C. Warren

  3. Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599-3216, North Carolina, USA

    Scott C. Warren

  4. NuMat Technologies, Skokie, 60077, Illinois, USA

    Patrick Fuller

  5. IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter and the Department of Chemistry, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea

    Bartosz A. Grzybowski

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  1. Yong Yan
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  2. Scott C. Warren
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  4. Bartosz A. Grzybowski
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Contributions

Y.Y. carried out the experiments and, with S.C.W., performed data analysis. P.F. modelled the experimental results. Y.Y., S.C.W. and B.A.G. wrote the manuscript. B.A.G. conceived and supervised the project.

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Correspondence to Bartosz A. Grzybowski.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Yan, Y., Warren, S., Fuller, P. et al. Chemoelectronic circuits based on metal nanoparticles. Nature Nanotech 11, 603–608 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.39

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