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Colloidal, Nanoelectronic State Machines Based on 2D Materials for Aerosolizable Electronics

Thursday, 17 May 2018: 08:00
Room 201 (Washington State Convention Center)
V. Koman, P. Liu, D. Kozawa, A. T. Liu, A. Cottrill, and M. S. Strano (MIT)
A here-to- fore unexplored property of 2D electronic materials such as graphene, hexagonal boron
nitride, and MoS2 is the ability to graft electronic circuits, transistors, memory, and sensors onto
colloidal particles. Such particles can access local hydrodynamics in fluids to impart mobility and can
otherwise access spaces inaccessible to conventional electronics. Herein, we develop a 2D material
transfer approach combined with conventional lithography to pattern completed, functional circuits on
SU-8 particles (100x100x1 µm3 ) that function as fully autonomous state machines. The circuits are
powered by a p-n heterojunction of MoS2 and WSe2 operating as a photodiode, which powers, as a
chemiresistor circuit element, a distinct MoS2 monolayer for the detection of VOCs or carbon
particulates. Finally, the electrical output is irreversibly stored in a memristor device placed in series
consisting as a distinct MoS2 flake sandwiched between Au and Ag electrodes and protected from the
environment by hBN monolayer. These colloidal state machines are capable of operation after
aerosolization and hydrodynamic propulsion to a target over 0.6 m away. The devices can successfully
detect the presence of select analytes while aerosolized, storing this information in memory on the
particle for retrieval upon capture. An incorporated retroreflector design of the system allows for facile
position location using optical detection. Such state machines, enabled by 2D nanoelectronics, may find
widespread application as probes in the human digestive tract, oil and gas conduits, chemical and
biosynthetic reactors, and as autonomous environmental sensors.