Printed transistors made of 2D material-based inks

Large-area electronics for the Internet of Things requires a new generation of light-weight, flexible, low-power electronics, based on advanced materials able to provide high-throughput fabrication of reliable, stable and cost-effective field-effect transistors that can be easily integrated onto flexible substrates such as plastic, paper and textiles. The family of 2D materials comprises a range of crystals with different chemical composition, structures and electronic properties that can be used as building blocks in transistors. Solution processing of 2D materials does not require the use of glove boxes, can be performed with minimal chemical processing and enables the use of printing technologies for device fabrication — these factors represent a critical advantage over traditional high-performance materials in terms of ease of processing, compatibility with flexible substrates, fabrication costs, large-volume manufacturing and scalability. Nevertheless, the electronic quality of solution-processed 2D materials is a bottleneck for the development of next-generation printed and flexible devices. This Review surveys solution-processed 2D material-based transistors, discussing the figures of merit, state of art and performance limits of devices, and describes the open challenges and future perspectives of this field.