Shi Yue, Yamamoto Eisuke, Kobayashi Makoto, Osada Minoru
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability (IMaSS), Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 May 10;15(18):22737-22743. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c02250. Epub 2023 Mar 30.
The effective application of 2D materials is strongly dependent on the mass production of high-quality large-area 2D thin films. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for the automated manufacturing of high-quality 2D thin films using a modified drop-casting approach. Our approach is simple; by using an automated pipette, a dilute aqueous suspension is dropped onto a substrate heated on a hotplate, and controlled convection by Marangoni flow and liquid removal causes the nanosheets to come together to form a tile-like monolayer film in 1-2 min. TiO nanosheets are utilized as a model system for investigating the control parameters such as concentrations, suction speeds, and substrate temperatures. We perform the automated one-drop assembly of a range of 2D nanosheets (metal oxides, graphene oxide, and hexagonal boron nitride) and successfully fabricate various functional thin films in multilayered, heterostructured, and sub-micrometer-thick forms. Our deposition method enables on-demand large-size (>2 inchϕ) manufacturing of high-quality 2D thin films while reducing the time and sample consumption.
