Printable van der Waals Nanoparticles for Additive Technologies.

Abstract

The growing demand for high-performance, nanoscale building blocks for printing technologies necessitates a scalable method to produce clean, stable nano-inks without performance-degrading additives. Layered van der Waals (vdW) materials are promising candidates due to their unique properties and can be used to create such nano-inks. Current approaches often rely on surfactant residues or high-boiling point solvents to achieve colloidal stability, which can be incompatible with chemically sensitive substrates. A robust methodology based on pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) provides a purely physical, single-step alternative to circumvent these limitations. This approach directly generates a portfolio of additive-free, spherical vdW nanoparticles that exhibit exceptional, long-term colloidal stability, an intrinsic property that stems from a native surface charging mechanism, eliminating the need for stabilizing agents. Our work establishes a universal platform for vdW nano-inks, offering a powerful new tool for next-generation optoelectronics, sensing technologies, and flexible devices.