Low-voltage electric-double-layer MoS2 transistor gated via water solution

Two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has attracted growing interests due to its intriguing electrical, optical, and scalable properties. Exploring 2D MoS2-based electronic devices which are compatible with the biological systems are of great significance. Herein, a proof-of-concept water-gated multilayer MoS2 transistor is successfully demonstrated by using a side-gated device architecture. Electric-double-layer (EDL) effect is observed in such water-gated multilayer MoS2 transistor. The device exhibits a good performance with a high current on/off ratio of 4 × 103, a small subthreshold swing of 0.27 V/dec, and a low operation voltage of ∼1.5 V, respectively. Furthermore, an ion-contributed quasi-EDL model can be further confirmed by the frequency-dependent capacitance and phase angle measurements. Such merits of water-containing systems coupled with MoS2 opens new opportunities to harness the excellent physical and electrical properties of 2D MoS2 for the potential bioelectronic devices integrated in biological systems for monitoring, diagnostic, and medical applications.