Farmers' perceptions of climate change in Lower Mustang, Nepal.

Climate change has become one of the highlighted issues of the world, resulting in vulnerability and adverse effects on livelihoods. It leads to an undeniable challenge for policymakers, the government, and other respective associations to formulate effective strategies; however, before formulating any coping, adaptation, or mitigation strategies, understanding the reality and perception of local people is crucial. This study investigated whether local farmers inhabiting Lower Mustang are aware of climatic change. The study comprised various methodologies, such as household surveys, field visits and focus group discussions (FGD). The farmers' responses were consistent with the actual temperature and precipitation data recorded between 1973 and 2018 at meteorological stations situated near the aforementioned regions. The finding shows that the average annual temperature of this region has risen by 0.021 °C/year over the last 45 years. Similarly, the annual precipitation increased 1.83 mm/year on average, which was also acknowledged by local farmers. From the field visit, it was also noticed that the vulnerability of climate change is considerably high and has insufficient capacity to cope with climate change. Thus, the government, and other stakeholders should assist in building the adaptive capacity of this Himalayan region.

Polyvinylalcohol (PVA)-Assisted Exfoliation of ReS2 Nanosheets and the Use of ReS2-PVA Composites for Transparent Memristive Photosynapse Devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted significant attention for their outstanding optoelectrical properties. Unlike most TMDs with layer-dependent photoresponsivity, rhenium disulfide (ReS2) shows excellent thickness-independent photoresponsivity. Herein, we show a surfactant-free polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-assisted exfoliation method for 2D-TMDs in aqueous solution and a transparent photosensitive memristor synapse device based on ReS2 nanosheets composited with PVA. ReS2 nanosheets are obtained via PVA-assisted exfoliation. After exfoliation, the ReS2-PVA dispersion solution is spin-coated on a substrate and dried to form a nanocomposite film without additional processing. Transparent memristors are then fabricated on plastic or glass substrates to demonstrate the applicability of the ReS2-PVA film. The devices show "write once, read many" memory behavior with a high ON/OFF current ratio (1.0 × 104 at 0.5 V) during electrical operation. In the high resistive state, synaptic functions with long-term memory behavior are successfully mimicked by applying photonic stimuli to the transparent ReS2-PVA memristors. The excitatory postsynaptic current stimulated by the photosignal is gradually reduced by electric stimuli. The proposed PVA-assisted exfoliation method is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and applicable to various TMD nanomaterials. Furthermore, the ReS2-PVA nanocomposite film obtained via a simple solution-based process demonstrates excellent photosynaptic behavior.

Transparent Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells for Indoor Light Harvesting with Conversion Efficiencies of 36% without Photodegradation.

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), indoor photovoltaics are attracting considerable interest owing to their potential to benefit various IoT-related fields. Therefore, this study investigates the use of transparent hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells for a broad range of applications, including indoor light harvesting. High-gap triple layers were employed in the a-Si:H solar cells to obtain a high shunt resistance and high short-circuit current, JSC, and open-circuit voltage, VOC, under indoor illumination. Additionally, multiple color-adjusting layers were added without noticeable costs to the conversion efficiency. The maximum efficiency of 36.0% was obtained at a transmittance of 20.44% under white LED light (3000 lx and 0.92 mW cm-2). Furthermore, the fabricated transparent solar cells show excellent long-term performance, sustaining over 99% of original efficiency under continuous indoor light illumination for 200 h. These cells could accelerate the progress of energy harvesting in IoT applications and facilitate the construction of integrated photovoltaics.

Clean Interface Contact Using a ZnO Interlayer for Low-Contact-Resistance MoS2 Transistors.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have emerged as promising materials for next-generation electronics due to their excellent semiconducting properties. However, high contact resistance at the metal-TMDC interface plagues the realization of high-performance devices. Here, an effective metal-interlayer-semiconductor (MIS) contact is demonstrated, wherein an ultrathin ZnO interlayer is inserted between the metal electrode and MoS2, providing damage-free and clean interfaces at electrical contacts. Using TEM imaging, we show that the contact interfaces were atomically clean without any apparent damages. Compared to conventional Ti/MoS2 contacts, the MoS2 devices with a Ti/ZnO/MoS2 contact exhibit a very low contact resistance of 0.9 kΩ µm. These improvements are attributed to the following mechanisms: (a) Fermi-level depinning at the metal/MoS2 interface by reducing interface disorder and (b) presence of interface dipole at the metal/ZnO interface, consequently reducing the Schottky barrier and contact resistance. Further, the contact resistivity of a Ti/ZnO/MoS2 contact is insensitive to the variation of ZnO thickness, which facilitates large-scale production. Our work not only elucidates the underlying mechanisms for the operation of the MIS contact but also provides a simple and damage-free strategy for conventional aggressive metal deposition that is potentially useful for the realization of large-scale 2D electronics with low-resistance contacts.

Photo-Carrier-Guiding Behavior of Vertically Grown MoS2 and MoSe2 in Highly Efficient Low-Light Transparent Photovoltaic Devices on Large-Area Rough Substrates.

Two-dimensional MoX2 (X = S, Se) films were vertically grown on highly rough transparent conducting F-doped SnO2 glass substrates for the first time and successfully used as photogenerated carrier-guiding layers (CGLs) in transparent hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells (TFSCs). The MoSe2 CGL layers could be grown at 530 °C using thermally cracked small Se-molecules on transparent FTO glass substrates and significantly improved cell performance. A transparent cell transmitting 26.0% of visible light with a 20 nm-thick vertically grown MoSe2 CGL showed an outstanding power conversion efficiency of 27.1% at a light intensity of 0.16 mW cm-2 (500 lx; corresponding to normal indoor irradiation). The shunt resistance (Rsh) of the TFSCs reached 32,000 Ω at a light intensity of 7 mW cm-2. An Rsh value this large is essential for low-light photovoltaic (PV) devices to prevent the dissipation of photogenerated carriers. These results strongly demonstrate that transparent a-Si:H-TFSCs with vertically grown MoX2 films should find wide use in building-integrated PV windows or indoor PV applications, as they can generate power even in very low-light environments.

Synthesis and gas sensing properties of WS2 nanocrystallites assembled hierarchical WS2 fibers by electrospinning.

A gas sensor based on a hierarchical WS2 structure embedded with vertically aligned WS2 nanocrystallites was demonstrated. The three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical structure provides many edge sites of nanocrystallites and an extremely large gas contact volume, resulting in a high gas response. The decreased contact resistance between the 3D hierarchical WS2 fibers and sensor electrode resulted in improved NO2 response. We fabricated a one-dimensional (1D) conductive WS2 fiber using a two-step annealing process under sulfur flow (sulfurization). It delivers a continuous and conductive carrier path and lowers the potential barrier at the interface of the WS2 nanocrystallites (top) and electrospun WS2 fiber (bottom), resulting in an improved gas response. We developed 3D hierarchical WS2 fibers embedded with vertically aligned WS2 nanocrystallites to increase the gas adsorption site in comparison with that of 1D WS2 fibers without WS2 flakes. Vertically aligned WS2 nanocrystallites were formed after a two-step annealing treatment. Sensors based on the 3D hierarchical WS2 fibers embedded with WS2 flakes, showed higher response to NO2 gas in comparison to that of pure WS2 fibers without WS2 flakes.

Metal-agglomeration-suppressed growth of MoS2 and MoSe2 films with small sulfur and selenium molecules for high mobility field effect transistor applications.

This work reports a breakthrough technique for achieving high quality and uniform molybdenum dichalcogenide (MoX2 where X = S, Se) films on large-area wafers via metal-agglomeration-suppressed growth (MASG) with small chalcogen (X-) molecules at growth temperatures (TG) of 600 °C or lower. In order to grow MoS2 films suitable for field effect transistors (FETs), S-molecules should be pre-deposited on Mo films at 60 °C prior to heating the substrate up to TG. The pre-deposited S-molecules successfully suppressed the agglomeration of Mo during sulfurization and prevented the formation of protruding islands in the resultant sulfide films. The small X-molecules supplied from a thermal cracker reacted with Mo-precursor film to form MoX2. The film quality strongly depends on the temperatures of cracking and reservoir zones, as well as TG. The MoS2 film grown at 570 °C showed a thickness variation of less than 3.3% on a 6 inch-wafer. The mobility and on/off current ratio of 6.1 nm-MoS2 FET at TG = 570 °C were 59.8 cm2 V-1 s-1 and 105, respectively. The most significant advantages of the MASG method proposed in this work are its expandability to various metal dichalcogenides on larger substrates as well as a lower TG enabled by using reactive small molecules supplied from a cracker, for which temperature is independently controlled.

High performance self-gating graphene/MoS2 diode enabled by asymmetric contacts.

A graphene-MoS2 (GM) heterostructure based diode is fabricated using asymmetric contacts to MoS2, as well as an asymmetric top gate (ATG). The GM diode exhibits a rectification ratio of 5 from asymmetric contacts, which is improved to 105 after the incorporation of an ATG. This improvement is attributed to the asymmetric modulation of carrier concentration and effective Schottky barrier height (SBH) by the ATG during forward and reverse bias. This is further confirmed from the temperature dependent measurement, where a difference of 0.22 eV is observed between the effective SBH for forward and reverse bias. Moreover, the rectification ratio also depends on carrier concentration in MoS2 and can be varied with the change in temperature as well as back gate voltage. Under laser light illumination, the device demonstrates strong opto-electric response with 100 times improvement in the relative photo current, as well as a responsivity of 1.9 A W-1 and a specific detectivity of 2.4 × 1010 Jones. These devices can also be implemented using other two dimensional (2D) materials and suggest a promising approach to incorporate diverse 2D materials for future nano-electronics and optoelectronics applications.

Visible Light-Erasable Oxide FET-Based Nonvolatile Memory Operated with a Deep Trap Interface.

A new concept of a tunneling oxide-free nonvolatile memory device with a deep trap interface floating gate is proposed. This device demonstrates a high on/off current ratio of 107 and a sizable memory window due to deep traps at the interface between the channel and gate dielectric layers. Interestingly, irradiation with 400 nm light can completely restore the program state to the initial one (performing an erasing process), which is attributed to the visible light-sensitive channel layer. Device reproducibility is enhanced by selectively passivating shallow traps at the interface using in situ H2 plasma treatment. The passivated memory device shows highly reproducible memory operation and on-state current during retention bake tests at 85 °C. One of the most significant advantages of this visible light-erasable oxide field-effect transistor-based nonvolatile memory is its simple structure, which is free from deterioration due to the frequent tunneling processes, as compared to conventional nonvolatile memory devices with tunneling oxides.

Tunable Electron and Hole Injection Enabled by Atomically Thin Tunneling Layer for Improved Contact Resistance and Dual Channel Transport in MoS2/WSe2 van der Waals Heterostructure.

Two-dimensional (2D) material-based heterostructures provide a unique platform where interactions between stacked 2D layers can enhance the electrical and opto-electrical properties as well as give rise to interesting new phenomena. Here, the operation of a van der Waals heterostructure device comprising of vertically stacked bilayer MoS2 and few layered WSe2 has been demonstrated in which an atomically thin MoS2 layer has been employed as a tunneling layer to the underlying WSe2 layer. In this way, simultaneous contacts to both MoS2 and WSe2 2D layers have been established by forming a direct metal-semiconductor to MoS2 and a tunneling-based metal-insulator-semiconductor contacts to WSe2, respectively. The use of MoS2 as a dielectric tunneling layer results in an improved contact resistance (80 kΩ µm) for WSe2 contact, which is attributed to reduction in the effective Schottky barrier height and is also confirmed from the temperature-dependent measurement. Furthermore, this unique contact engineering and type-II band alignment between MoS2 and WSe2 enables a selective and independent carrier transport across the respective layers. This contact engineered dual channel heterostructure exhibits an excellent gate control and both channel current and carrier types can be modulated by the vertical electric field of the gate electrode, which is also reflected in the on/off ratio of 104 for both electron (MoS2) and hole (WSe2) channels. Moreover, the charge transfer at the heterointerface is studied quantitatively from the shift in the threshold voltage of the pristine MoS2 and the heterostructure device, which agrees with the carrier recombination-induced optical quenching as observed in the Raman spectra of the pristine and heterostructure layers. This observation of dual channel ambipolar transport enabled by the hybrid tunneling contacts and strong interlayer coupling can be utilized for high-performance opto-electrical devices and applications.

Enhanced sulfurization reaction of molybdenum using a thermal cracker for forming two-dimensional MoS2 layers.

We propose a method to fabricate two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) layers to overcome issues in typical fabrication processes by promoting the sulfurization reaction of molybdenum (Mo). A thin sputtered-Mo layer was sulfurized using a sulfur (S) thermal cracker to form 2D MoS2 layers. The effects of key process parameters such as cracking-zone temperature (TC-zone), thickness of the sputtered-Mo layer, and Ar pressure during deposition of the Mo layer were systematically investigated. The degree of thermal treatment of evaporated S vapor is controlled by varying TC-zone. The higher TC-zone enabled easy formation of thin MoS2 layers at a low substrate temperature of 250 °C due to the greatly enhanced sulfurization reaction. The thickness of the final MoS2 layers was controlled by changing the initial thickness of the sputtered-Mo film. Ultra-thin MoS2 film about 2-layers-thick was obtained by sulfurizing a 2 Å-thick Mo film. The chemical state of the MoS2 layers largely depended on the Ar pressure during the sputtering process of the initial Mo. Lower Ar pressure enhanced MoS2 formation due to more efficient substitution of the MoS2 phase for the MoO3 phase. By using the S thermal cracker, we demonstrate a method to easily fabricate 2D MoS2 layers, excluding some problematic issues such as toxic and expensive reactants, non-vacuum conditions susceptible to contamination, and high substrate temperature.

Comparison of trapped charges and hysteresis behavior in hBN encapsulated single MoS2 flake based field effect transistors on SiO2 and hBN substrates.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) based field effect transistors (FETs) are of considerable interest in electronic and opto-electronic applications but often have large hysteresis and threshold voltage instabilities. In this study, by using advanced transfer techniques, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) encapsulated FETs based on a single, homogeneous and atomic-thin MoS2 flake are fabricated on hBN and SiO2 substrates. This allows for a better and a precise comparison between the charge traps at the semiconductor-dielectric interfaces at MoS2-SiO2 and hBN interfaces. The impact of ambient environment and entities on hysteresis is minimized by encapsulating the active MoS2 layer with a single hBN on both the devices. The device to device variations induced by different MoS2 layer is also eliminated by employing a single MoS2 layer for fabricating both devices. After eliminating these additional factors which induce variation in the device characteristics, it is found from the measurements that the trapped charge density is reduced to 1.9 × 1011 cm-2 on hBN substrate as compared to 1.1 × 1012 cm-2 on SiO2 substrate. Further, reduced hysteresis and stable threshold voltage are observed on hBN substrate and their dependence on gate sweep rate, sweep range, and gate stress is also studied. This precise comparison between encapsulated devices on SiO2 and hBN substrates further demonstrate the requirement of hBN substrate and encapsulation for improved and stable performance of MoS2 FETs.

Observation of negative differential resistance in mesoscopic graphene oxide devices.

The fractions of various functional groups in graphene oxide (GO) are directly related to its electrical and chemical properties and can be controlled by various reduction methods like thermal, chemical and optical. However, a method with sufficient controllability to regulate the reduction process has been missing. In this work, a hybrid method of thermal and joule heating processes is demonstrated where a progressive control of the ratio of various functional groups can be achieved in a localized area. With this precise control of carbon-oxygen ratio, negative differential resistance (NDR) is observed in the current-voltage characteristics of a two-terminal device in the ambient environment due to charge-activated electrochemical reactions at the GO surface. This experimental observation correlates with the optical and chemical characterizations. This NDR behavior offers new opportunities for the fabrication and application of such novel electronic devices in a wide range of devices applications including switches and oscillators.

Photodetector Based on Multilayer SnSe2 Field Effect Transistor.

We demonstrate a high-performance photodetector with multilayer tin diselenide (SnSe2) exfoliated from a high-quality crystal which was synthesized by the temperature gradient growth method. This SnSe2 photodetector exhibits high photoresponsivity of 5.11 × 105 A W-1 and high specific detectivity of 2.79 × 1013 Jones under laser irradiation (λ = 450 nm). We also observed a reproducible and stable time-resolved photoresponse to the incident laser beam from this SnSe2 photodetector, which can be used as a promising material for future optoelectronic applications.

Na-Cation-Assisted Exfoliation of MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se) Nanosheets in an Aqueous Medium with the Aid of a Polymeric Surfactant for Flexible Polymer-Nanocomposite Memory Applications.

2D nanosheets of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been attracting attention due to their sizable band gap. Facile and effective Na-cation-assisted exfoliation of TMDC (MX2 , M = Mo, W; X = S, Se) nanosheets in an aqueous medium and their application as a composite filler in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix are explored in this work. The presence of Na cations is highly beneficial for exfoliating defect-free and few-layer MX2 nanosheets in water in the presence of small-sized micelles of polymeric surfactant, and significantly elevates the exfoliation yield by more than one order of magnitude compared to a conventional surfactant-assisted exfoliation. The strategy suggested in this work is very advantageous compared to both Li cation intercalation in organic solvents and conventional low-yield surfactant-assisted exfoliations. As an application of the exfoliated nanosheets, the fabrication of memory devices with the configuration of Ga-doped ZnO/MX2 -PVA/Ag is demonstrated, and they exhibit bistable and write-once-read-many-times resistive switching behavior with a high ON/OFF current ratio of 3 × 103 at -1.0 V (for WS2 ) and 2.0 V (for MoS2 ). Furthermore, MX2 -PVA nanocomposite fibrous films and mats are successfully fabricated using an electrospinning technique, which can expand the use of TMDC nanofillers in applications involving highly flexible polymer-based MX2 composites.

Hole dephasing caused by hole-hole interaction in a multilayered black phosphorus.

We study the magnetotransport of holes in a multilayered black phosphorus in a temperature range of 1.9 to 21.5 K. We observed a negative magnetoresistance at magnetic fields up to 1.5 T. This negative magetoresistance was analyzed by weak localization theory in diffusive regime. At the lowest temperature and the highest carrier density we found a phase coherence length of 48 nm. The linear temperature dependence of the dephasing rate shows that the hole-hole scattering processes with small energy transfer are the dominant contribution in breaking the carrier phase coherence.

Junctionless Diode Enabled by Self-Bias Effect of Ion Gel in Single-Layer MoS2 Device.

The self-biasing effects of ion gel from source and drain electrodes on electrical characteristics of single layer and few layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field-effect transistor (FET) have been studied. The self-biasing effect of ion gel is tested for two different configurations, covered and open, where ion gel is in contact with either one or both, source and drain electrodes, respectively. In open configuration, the linear output characteristics of the pristine device becomes nonlinear and on-off ratio drops by 3 orders of magnitude due to the increase in "off" current for both single and few layer MoS2 FETs. However, the covered configuration results in a highly asymmetric output characteristics with a rectification of around 103 and an ideality factor of 1.9. This diode like behavior has been attributed to the reduction of Schottky barrier width by the electric field of self-biased ion gel, which enables an efficient injection of electrons by tunneling at metal-MoS2 interface. Finally, finite element method based simulations are carried out and the simulated results matches well in principle with the experimental analysis. These self-biased diodes can perform a crucial role in the development of high-frequency optoelectronic and valleytronic devices.

Unimer-Assisted Exfoliation for Highly Concentrated Aqueous Dispersion Solutions of Single- and Few-Layered van der Waals Materials.

We suggest a unimer-assisted exfoliation method for the exfoliation of van der Waals two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, MoS2, and h-BN and show that the micellar size is a critical parameter for enhancing the exfoliation efficiency. To explain the effectiveness of the unimers in the exfoliation, the influence of the micellar size of a biocompatible block copolymer, Pluronic F-68, is evaluated in view of the yield and thickness of exfoliated 2D flakes. By the addition of water-soluble alcohols, the surfactants exist in the form of a unimer, which facilitates the intercalation into the layered materials and their exfoliation. The results showed that the high exfoliation efficiency could be achieved by controlling the micellar size mostly to be unimers; the average yield rate of MoS2 exfoliation was 4.51% per hour, and the very high concentration of 1.45 mg/mL was obtained by sonication for 3 h. We also suggested the dielectrophoresis technique as a method for forming a film composed of 2D flakes for diverse applications requiring electrical signals. The unimer-assisted exfoliation method will be substantially utilized to achieve highly concentrated aqueous dispersion solutions of 2D materials.

Tunable electrical properties of multilayer HfSe2 field effect transistors by oxygen plasma treatment.

HfSe2 field effect transistors are systematically studied in order to selectively tune their electrical properties by optimizing layer thickness and oxygen plasma treatment. The optimized plasma-treated HfSe2 field effect transistors showed a high on/off ratio improvement of four orders of magnitude, from 27 to 105, a field effect mobility increase from 2.16 to 3.04 cm2 V-1 s-1, a subthreshold swing improvement from 30.6 to 4.8 V dec-1, and a positive threshold voltage shift between depletion mode and enhancement mode, from -7.02 to 11.5 V. The plasma-treated HfSe2 photodetector also demonstrates a reasonable photoresponsivity from the visible to the near-infrared region of light.

Gate-Tunable Hole and Electron Carrier Transport in Atomically Thin Dual-Channel WSe2 /MoS2 Heterostructure for Ambipolar Field-Effect Transistors.

An ambipolar dual-channel field-effect transistor (FET) with a WSe2 /MoS2 heterostructure formed by separately controlled individual channel layers is demonstrated. The FET shows a switchable ambipolar behavior with independent carrier transport of electrons and holes in the individual layers of MoS2 and WSe2 , respectively. Moreover, the photoresponse is studied at the heterointerface of the WSe2 /MoS2 dual-channel FET.