Nano Tungsten Diselenide Will be Used to Develop Flexible Electronic Devices

Recently, a team of materials scientists at the University of Connecticut has stretched nano tungsten selenide to improve its performance by special methods. This research will prove that nano tungsten selenide can be used in flexible electronic devices and optical sensors.

The main structure of single-layer nano tungsten diselenide is composed of one layer of selenium atoms connected with the middle layer of tungsten atoms. The interaction force between two adjacent WSe2 layers is weak Van der Waals force structure. This material structure makes it have surprising semiconductor properties. Scientists believe that tungsten selenide is the high-quality semiconductor material they have been looking for. The secret may be that the structure of tungsten selenide makes them particularly suitable for bending and stretching.

Scientists have proved for the first time that thin atomic materials can be manipulated mechanically to improve their properties. This discovery can significantly illustrate the development of faster computer processors and more powerful sensors. According to the researchers, straining the material can produce some surprising effects. When strain is applied to tungsten diselenide double layer with hexaatomic thickness, it shows a 100-fold increase in photoluminescence. Scientists measured the effect of strain on tungsten diselenide single crystal bilayer films. They encapsulated it in a layer of acrylic glass. Thereafter, the material is heated in an argon chamber; this is a key aspect of the experiment because exposure to air eventually destroys the sample. Thermal processes help to strengthen the bonding between materials and polymer substrates, making strain transfer almost perfectly, a feat that was almost impossible in previous experiments. Finally, scientists customized a bending device so that they could carefully increase the strain of the material.

Ultimately, scientists have found that increasing strain levels on materials can alter their electron flow, which is reflected in the increased intensity of photoluminescence. In theory, their process can control the band gaps of tungsten diselenide and other atomic-grade thin materials, which is important for design engineers seeking faster and more efficient semiconductors and sensors. Semiconductors with indirect bandgap operating very close to the direct bandgap transition point will produce extremely fast processing power.

It is understood that the scientific team's research results are published in the international academic journal Nano Letters. Scientists believe that this is the first conclusive international report on the research results of external control of indirect to direct electronic band gap conversion. The results of the experiment and the experiment itself have fundamentally changed the game rules of semiconductor. This research result will allow computational scientists to use artificial intelligence design in the future. New materials with extremely strain-resistant or strain-sensitive structures are very important for the next generation of high-performance flexible nanoelectronics and optoelectronic devices.

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