NSF-BSF: The Hard-Soft Interface -- Integrating 2D Semiconductors with Functional Polymers for Nanoscale Optoelectronics

非技术性描述：二维（2D）材料是一类由极薄的薄片（厚度为一个或几个原子）组成的晶体材料，具有制造更小，更快的电子和光学器件的潜力。然而，由于现有的方法用于制备这样的设备是不适合的二维材料，必须发现新的方法，促进其容易集成到设备结构。该项目研究涂有聚合物的2D材料，这些材料可以非常精确地应用于操纵特定位置的物理和电子特性。这促进了在单片2D材料内廉价、大规模地制造电子和光学器件，从而实现了在低功率、纳米级电子和光学器件中的应用，包括可穿戴和适形器件。该项目包括为初中和高中学生提供暑期研究机会，以及在马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校招募和指导代表性不足的少数民族学生，并向马萨诸塞州西部的社区推广。技术描述：利用2D材料制造光电器件的主要挑战来自于对载流子浓度（掺杂）进行精确控制的有限途径。该项目的重点是Mo和W过渡金属二硫属化物（TMDC），其目标是通过新型界面化学来调节其光电特性，这些界面化学比TMDC本身的直接替代掺杂更直接，更耐用。一个综合的理论合成表征方法有利于合理的设计和应用的有机硫族元素和偶极丰富的功能聚合物的精确，空间有针对性的控制载流子掺杂，功函数，和带隙的TMDC。这种软硬结合的2D材料平台能够使用可扩展且与现有半导体技术兼容的方法在2D单层内制备光电二极管、晶体管和逆变器等光电器件-数字电子器件的关键构建模块。聚合物-TMDC半导体开发的根本性进展对光电器件产生了深远的影响，使计算，数据存储和消费电子技术成为可能。该研究计划与来自少数民族服务机构的本科生以及当地初中和高中学生的形成性夏季研究机会相结合，从而培养下一代材料科学家和工程师。研究人员还向马萨诸塞州西部的广大公众提供非正式讲座，以激发人们对新兴的二维材料领域的兴趣。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nontechnical description: Two-dimensional (2D) materials are a class of crystalline materials composed of extremely thin sheets (one or a few atoms in thickness) with the potential to create smaller and faster electronic and optical devices. However, since existing methods for preparing such devices are not suitable for 2D materials, new approaches must be discovered that promote their easy integration into device constructs. This project studies 2D materials that are coated with polymers, which can be applied with extreme precision to manipulate the physical and electronic properties at specific locations. This promotes inexpensive, large-scale fabrication of electronic and optical devices within single sheets of 2D materials, enabling applications in low-power, nanoscale electronic and optical devices, including wearable and conformable devices. This project includes summer research opportunities for middle and high school students as well as recruitment and mentoring of underrepresented minority students at UMass Amherst, and outreach to the community in Western Massachusetts. US-Israel scientific collaborations are enhanced by graduate students exchanges between partner institutions.Technical Description: A major challenge in harnessing 2D materials for optoelectronic devices arises from limited avenues for exercising precise control over charge carrier concentrations (doping). This project focuses on Mo and W transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with the goal of modulating their optoelectronic properties through novel interfacial chemistries that are more straightforward and robust to implement than direct substitutional doping of the TMDC itself. An integrated theory-synthesis-characterization approach facilitates rational design and application of organochalcogen- and dipole-rich functional polymers for precise, spatially-targeted control over carrier doping, work functions, and band gaps of TMDCs. This hard-soft, 2D materials platform, enables the preparation of optoelectronic devices such as photodiodes, transistors, and inverters - key building blocks of digital electronics - fabricated within 2D monolayers using methods that are scalable and compatible with existing semiconductor technology. Fundamental advances in the development of polymer-TMDC semiconductors project far-reaching impact on optoelectronic devices, enabling technologies in computing, data storage, and consumer electronics. The research program is integrated with formative summer research opportunities for undergraduates from minority-serving institutions, as well as local middle- and high-school students, thereby nurturing the next generation of materials scientists and engineers. Researchers also deliver informal lectures to the broader public in Western Massachusetts to kindle interest in the emerging field of 2D materials. US-Israel scientific collaborations are enhanced by graduate students exchanges between partner institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.