MoS2, Gold Nanoparticles Combine for “Diverse Applications”

IEEE Spectrum reported that researchers at Kansas State University have combined molybdenum sulfide (MoS2) with gold nanoparticles; they believe that together, the materials can be used in “diverse applications such as transistors and biochemical sensors.”

As quoted in the market news:

The research, which was published in the journal NanoLetters (‘Controlled, Defect-Guided, Metal-Nanoparticle Incorporation onto MoS2 via Chemical and Microwave Routes: Electrical, Thermal, and Structural Properties’), focused on the surface structure of MoS2. The team decided that MoS2′s strong chemical bond with noble metals, like gold, could be an avenue for investigation.

They were not disappointed. They quickly discovered that once a bond had been established between the MoS2 and gold nanostructures, the bond behaved like a highly coupled gate capacitor. Following on this discovery, the Kansas State team was able to further enhance the transistor characteristics of MoS2 by manipulating it with the gold nanostructures.

‘The spontaneous, highly capacitive, lattice-driven and thermally-controlled interfacing of noble metals on metal-dichalcogenide layers can be employed to regulate their carrier concentration, pseudo-mobility, transport-barriers and phonon-transport for future devices,’ Vikas Berry, a professor at Kansas State and a leader of the research, said in a press release.

Click here to read the full IEEE Spectrum report.